Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-08-24


the rabbits, the curse of the country, fell be.
foro the guns, and we're carefully counted
aud taken away with perhaps Il brace Of
pheasants and couple Of rabbits thrown on
the yard pavement at the farmers feet, Just
as the dogcart drove away. Then the return
ing to a so.called luncheon was another mar.
tyrdom. The comingn at FIVE O'Clock, when
ordinary people had theirs at one; the muddy
boots on the tidy green carpet that had been
down some twenty years, and that must last
as long as a carpet was necessary the agtat-
ed creature, the squire's toady, who was di-
vided between his fear of the squire's anger
and still more abject dread of catching cold,
and who would make hurried excursions in
search OF the hostess, to procure dry stock
ings, aud to see that his hat remained warm
ing in front of fire, from the moment il left
his head until he required it on leaving the
smoke all over the house, and at last the tip
sy keepers and beaters to get rid of and salts
fly, before any peace was allowed to enter in
to the desecrated home. All these things
made us thankful indeed that the squire only
shot the coverts once during the entire sea.
son, and that all the rest Of the year the
birds might go free, only coming to grief oc-
casionaly when poacher passed their way,
or the keeper was ordered to shoot few
brace for the squire's table.
1t is pleasanter to turn from this recollec-
tion to the drive to the meet across the mead
ows when the frost gave suddenly, and the
river crept up the lane and entered the low
-four wheel as we went the CHEEKY greetings,
the magnificent view as we waited for the
master on the site Of the old Roman camp,
surrounded by it's three rings or walls, and a
couple Of deep bitches, and crowned by the
clump Of lir-trees in which the wind never
ceased moaning softly; the great, white,
fleecy clouds rushing along over a pale-blue
sky, the sight of the men ploughing little
way off, taking no notice of anything save
the straightness of the furrows and the move
ments of their horses and then as the
hounds went away, the rapid drive acrosss
down.land and through fields cutting of
corners and coming into a lane, where we
waited in lonely silence, listening to the CUR
gle of a wee brook, the busy wind among the
hedges the wakening of the bird world, and
the distant sound Of the hunt.
These had grown distant indeed when
suddenly, out of the copse to the left the
hunted creature crept our host started up
to give the view-h -halloo, but something stop.
ped us; the eye looked SO appealing, the
movement was so abject, that we silently re-
garded each other and said not a word !;
while, as if interpreting our very thoughts,
the fox crept under our "four-wheel" and lay
there, painting hard
Was it a lie, when q red coated stranger
bursting through the brushwood and asking
had We seen the fox, we merely shook our
heads and turned the subject we'll lie or not
we did it, and remained where we were until
sounds told US of the coming of another vic
tim, at whose death we assisted nobly little
later on in the day.
How our conduct was regarded by our host
ess we know not for she was too gentle to
do aught save point speechlessy to her poul-
try-yard, where the next morning lay the
headless corses of sundry turkeys and noble,
motherly hens, who had fallen in the night
time into the mischevous clutches of perhaps
the very fox we had SO foolishly saved, and
who had only mangled the poor creatures, as
it was too late in the year for him to carry
of more than he wanted at the moment,
that being reserved for the time when large
and hungry family requires support and for
the which he forages ruthlessly, taking tur-
keys from the nest, and ducks and hens or
chicken, in fact just whatever fell into his
way first.
Then the year creeps on each season en-
bellished with a most appropriate picture.
mile away from any other habitation, the
farm was village in microcosm, tiny king
dom with our host as a king: a king un.
crowned then, but now talked of with bated
breath as the good man, whose first thoughts
were for his men, and his second for the
land, and his last for himself, and could not
rest where the cottages the landlords prop
erty, mark you, were unfit to house the men
who worked for him. Then, too his pas
sionate attachment to the land was in itself
remarkable.
1t was Joy to him to plan for the welfare
of each field, as if it we're some separate and
well loved child and each season of the
year brought to him subjects for thought and
L. A..
and telling their own story of the silent poet
with whom we were for time permitted to
dwell.
He it was who taught us to watch the gen
tie travelling of the cloud shadows over the
swelling downs to see the soft flash in the
trees that told of a spring to joy in the
tender different tints of the tender copses
to note the divers ways and habits of the
creatures and birds; to tell from the shades
of green in the distant fields which held bar
ley or wheat or swedes or turnips, laughing
at US until we overcame our ignorance and
become as wise as ever he vas in time.
Winter scenes rise up before US, when all
is white and sivery and We follow up the tiny,
half-frozen stream with him in search of
duck and teal evenings when we crouched
in furze bush, clad in curious gray night
raiment, holding the dog back until the last
line Of yellow light got entangled in the
rushes, and the whirr of the snipe told us to
look out because "fght' had in truth began.
Spring scenes, when it was joy enough to
know that we were alive, and that summer
was really coming, when we found every
| flower again, even to the white violets in the
lane, and the wonderful golden lent lilies in
the copse, among the wan anemones and vel.
low primroses when the lane was full OF
mysterious, soft, amber. colored stuff We called
| sago pudding, and that in time gave place to
| myriads of tadpoles, that we never could re-
sist disturbing, even when we were in our
Sunday clothes and marching religously to
| church and when the hedges were white
with blackthorn, or flushing with velvet
| palms, that somehow or other always look
| pink in the distance, although they are yell
| low enough close to. The meadows were
crowded then by cowslips and cuckoo blooms,
and great marsh marigolds glittered in the
sunshine in the "lakes," as we called the
| bitches dug for draining purposes; and the
| village children looked on Gngrily while the
| big iron roller went to and fro over them,
| marking them out in broad ribands of pale
and dark green that crushed the flowers down,
and made it apparent that these favorite
play places were 'laid up" for hay, and were
therefore no longer open to all who liked to
walk them. Summer and autumn have all
such golden memories, memories of drowsy
|
hind the servants was enlivened by our host
esss structures on the broad embroidery trim
med petticoats of the damses, or 'maidens'
as we always termed them. When we used
the afternoons to wander about with our host
becoming learned in this or that farming op
Grafton and seeing with his eyes deep down
into natures very heart, it all seemed SO safe,
SO lasting; it was so certainly place where
change never eame-never could come, that
we were not heartbroken when, the harvest
supper over in the great hot barn, lighted by
yellow horn, that rose suddenly over the
top of the fir clump in Lowood, we realized
that our stay at the North Farm was over
and that we must CO. We had obtained al
we came for health and an intimate knowl
edge of country life; and we were young anC
eager to begin life once more for ourselves
Besides, we could return at almost any time
and so good bye. All me, it was a4ong good
bye, and more than fifteen years had passeC
before we came came again, and entered
those once all familiar, all hospitHble portals
1t was an eere sensation, and one expert
enced always we take it, by those who COM
back on a very familiar spot, and makes one
see no one person who is really there; bu
the forms and faces of those who once wer
component parts of the place, and who ap
pear round corners suddenly, and vanish a
we come up to them, eager to speak and t