Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-03-29
Up In Vermont.

Here is one of "Fanny Ferns" old sketches,
which friend has resurrected from paper
of twenty years ago and handed us for re-
publication "How did | ever live 80 long
without green mountain in front of my
window That's what | said to myself as
watched the shifting shadows upon it, from
my pro tenn. home in Brattleboro. Perhaps
that accounts for my lack of reverence, who
knows2 | hug theory that no one can be
born in the vicinity of any such grand chal-
lenge of Nature without having a cores
ponding in his own soul and the more am
laughed at for it, the more obstinately |
cling to it. Why that mountain is Just
like church to me. 1t bushes all my nom
sense, and bids me tread with soft and rev.
erent steps toward the heaven that lies b.
yond. Why do rise so early here, when
the day is 80 long in the country2 Do you
think | would miss the gradual lifting of
the mist from the mountain Or that first
peeping of the newly awakened birds " Or
the soft rosy tints that edge, one by one,
those gray clouds Besides, do not find
the day long in the country. could sit
lazily under that tree all day, in trance of
cat-like, purring enjoyment. But I'll tell
you what rouses me out Of it, That group
of city ladies, who come sailing past, inside
those enormous hoops, freighted with round
trimming, and pointed trimming, tripping
daintily, lest an atom of dust should invade
those precious dry-goods. Why, ladies,
should you always travel like a turtle with
your city house on your back ? Surely
suffice without shocking us with patchouli,'
or any of those horrid perfumes that
stand in place of good honest soap and
Uafar / a1iao aUa1tnt Ynu NOT ho1f
as pleasing as that spotted toad hitching
down yonder path, in his awkward indie
pendence. And now, little twoand-a-half-
year old toddles up to me on the grass and
says, Tell me, what are the trees whisper
ing about 2 She's the girl for me. Do
you suppose those dressed.up ladies ever
have such a thought as that? But why
| should | grumble? Surely they have the
worst Of it; compelled to exhibit so many
yards of silk and lace, and so many flowers
and feathers, each day from the rising of
the sun to the going down thereof, and to
keep them immaculate during the process.
| Ladies, you have my sincere pity. / wish
l could provide you all with a comfort
able home in yonder lunatic asylum, but a
humane regard for the directors of that in
stitution prevents. 1t is strange to me that
everybody don't live in Brattleboro. There
is not an ugly walk or drive in the whole
town. I'm exhausted admiring things. /
sat on the coachman's box yesterday, and
forbade him, as we drove along to tell me
of any more 'brosdbrook roads, or cas-
cades, or waterfalls, till l was able to bear
it. That's the state | am in, and Vermont
is answerable for it. How | love to poke
about and explore a new place to pick
handfuls of flowers, and then throw them
away for something prettier; to sit down
on fence when Pm tired, and ask anybody
| see milking COW to give me some. They
are such nice people up here. Why a good
Providence makes some people to take hold
of things by the right handle, and others to
tip everything they touch bottom upwards,
he only knows. | am glad to see that the
repulsive old country churchyard is being
done away with-that old churchyard over.
grown with nettles and mullein-stalks, where
the cows browsed, and where never tree OIL
flower humanized the place. Here there is
a cemetery, on rising ground, command
ing one of the loveliest mountain and river
prospects that was ever seen carefully kept
and ornamented with vines and flowers, and
every way a lovely spot 'Our Baby 'Oul
Children My Wife How quickly even
the stranger-heart responds to such inscrip
tions, whether those nearest to it walk in thi:
sweet sunshine, or lie peacefully with their
eyes forever closed to it."