Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-10-19

great walnuts from the bending branches,
and whirling the golden leaves of the hicko-
ries down among the woodbine's crimson tan
giles. April, the tickle goddess, may win fa-
vor with her smiles and her tears and June,
the perfect, may be the bride of the summer,
but September, the regal, wears the golden
crown, the crown of the years completeness.
As we rode away out of the busy streets,
out among the yellow cornfelds, past the
golden-brown stretches of stubble, where no
Ruth, but only a modern reaper and binder
had gsrnered in the wheat, we watched the
purple grapes swinging among their upturn-
leaves, and listened to the jays as they chat
tered and called, flashing from limb TO limb
of the great oaks, cleaning in the sun like
bits Of polished lapis lazuli Again a Whit
of mint came stealing along on the winds
wings, up from the little water-course where
the COWS were cropping the short grasses
Somewhere l have used the word lunch
basket" and therefore follows, as night the
day, the word 'picnic." Once at our jour
neys end, we spread our cloth beneath the
giant oaks, boiled our coffee, and-we will be
safe to let the imagination Of the reader sup
ply the rest.
Considering the metamorphosis 30 soon to
follow, perhaps it will be well to describe the
faces that sit around the festive -tabecloth.
Mr.. A. A. Dutton, formerly Of Dummerston,
but on this particular day a western explorer,
whose pockets at this moment were filled with
the chattering teeth Of the brave old chief of
some Indian band, whose bones had been
honored by mound, the sign OF royalty
among the ancient inhabitants Of this particu-
lar section of Mannheim, and whose slumbers
he had ruthlessy and laboriously dug down
into; Mr.. Harry and Miss Lou Martin, for
merly Of Brattleboro Mrs E. L. Clark aud
Mrs S. A. Atherton, at one time residents Of
Dummerston Mrs. NJ. NJ. Walker Miss Lizzie
Walker, and the undersigned. Our post. pran-
dial speeches were few toasts we had none ;
"feasts of reason" we're not the order Of the
day as we rushed, with two exceptions only,
to the dressing.rooms and-metamorphosed.
When we all appeared again-shades of IAN
tiques and horribles" protect us Our own
mothers would never have recognized us
And now a feeling of "preferring one to an
other" ran over the crowd when we peeped
down the fifty foot shaft, and realized that
justice will in the end be meted out to all
men, and that the time had arrived when we
were to have the moose adjusted, and swing
of at ropes end. When from the abyss
came back the message, a moment after we
had sacrificed our first victim, "Ho this is
nothing" then we began to take heart Of
courage, and as the creaking capstan brought
the moose again to the surface offered our
selves, one by one, az passengers in this nov
e mode of travel and seated ourselves in the
moose. 1t is an odd sensation to feel one 8
self dangling out over the darkness aud sink
ing slowly down into it, with the knowledge
that only one mans hand holds you. What
if the rope should slip, or the capstan break /;
or what if the man should forget and let go ?
The result would be simply rapid transit" in
any case, but all such things have way of
dancing about in one consciou, ness at most
inopportune times. But we were safely down
at last, and presently found ourselves in a
narrow passage, each with lighted candle in
our hand, peering about and into the faces
of our fellow explorers. We had not gone a
dozen yards when, coming into a sort of an
open chamber, we began looking about for
some means of egress. When Mr.. Rice-iu
other words the Utgsrd.L .Loki of this under.
world-showed US a small opening and said
we must pass that for so it was ordained to
all spirits who we're dwelers of this Niffleheim
we did not quite see the possibilities, at least
for some of US; but we readjusted ourselves
to a mode of locomotion fsyorite with us in.
dividually-so report says-in an early day.
In plain words, we patterned after four
footed style, more expedent than graceful
and for-wel our Utgard-Loki said about
quarter Of a mile, but we were sure 1t was
five miles-we alterDated between this posi-
tion going through the 'shutes," and a per
pendicular, with our heads tipped back on oui
shoulders, ''ohs" and ''shs" and beautiful =
"fairyland :" and such like adjectives issuing
like exclamation points from our open mouths
! while the hot tallow from our tilted candle
I dribbled over our faces and meandered dowI
, the backs of our ochre-covered hands II
the dining room, a large room with soft gra.
walls, we whitfield out our lights and hushe
ourselves into utter silence. You may no
believe it, as the majority of the party wa
ladies', but we did.
We were glad to be informed Of the fac
that just little beyond this chamber the.
had "struck ore !" we were sure from tn
feeling of our heads that we had ''struck
spar several times before reaching this place
80, fearing a similarity of strikes, we declines
prospecting for galens, and after trying +
trace our name on the grey rocks with tn
smoke from our candles, and not making an
very signal success of it, we began to retrac
our steps. Away to the right, through
side street, lay the beautiful Fairy grotto,
aad between us and it was a stretch of sixt
feet through which we must pass, adopting
style of looomotion practiced by one of Ii
aborigines of the Garden Of Eden. Hei
was a dilemma! We must see the grotto, fC
that We had come but crawl through thI
openng-how could we? Besides, what if
il the space was not big enough2 There WI
no way of finding out except by trying, an
we did try. Before we we're halfway throug
we stopped to give thanks that the good Lor
did not make snakes of US. 1t is not ni'
way to travel But ah the beauties of th
enchanted chamber when we reached
Spar white glittering spar, above and 1
D. about us. Pure snowy white was the vault'
SO roof, fretted in delicate tracery like interw
ven coral while down over the sloping side
like frozen cataract, curved and wound Il
cleaning, glittering masses of solid spar, al
ly from every projection the long icicle-lke st
We lactites depended so frail in appearance
=. " to lead one to imagine that they could
:, broken by the slightest touch. A little to ol
a side of the grotto, like huge Aated oolum
on was sheet of spar reaching from floor
ceiling, so translucent that the light from
candle held on the opposite side gleam
1t; through, giving, in varied shadings, vie