Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1883-08-29

.
words, that were heard nll over the far
should things be not quite as he liked the
at the moment. lie was a thorough
typical specimen of thoroughly ba
landlord, and in those days used h
-hooting solely as a means of asceriainin
what Improvements were done on tt
land in each place be went to; if the Ian
did not satisfy him the tenant had motto
to quit, and if all were in order, gates u
aud the land yielding its utmost, owing I
the expenditure of the farmer time an
money, up would 90 the rent, and tn
farmer must either be prepared to pay G
90
No wonder our pretty, smiling, agitate
hostess quivcred when she heard what wa
|expecled; no wonder we shared her indio
nation at having TO prepare her cos
rooms for an incursiOn that would resu
in either raised rent or a fercely expressc
reprmand 10 get ready meal that woul
be eaten to the accompaniment of grea
oaths, that would send the servant mai
shaking fom the room; and to coars
volley of chalf directed at his host, VIII
could afford such uxuries as were pu
before him, and vet objected to Il sligh
rise in the rent.
l. was - curious experience for a Lon
,loner! Neither our host or ourselves wa
expected to shoot; nay, indeed we wer,
not allowed. We could walk with th
shooters if we wished, and our host wa
o igcl to do so, or would be ordered to
in terms more offensive th1n can be
i'm gined in IL free country, while the bird
fed on the farmers com and the rabbits
the curse of the country, fell before the
guns, and were carefully counted anc
taken away, with pc haps a brace o
phpasants and couple of rabbits thrown
on the yard pavement at the farmers feet
just as the dog cart drove away. Then the
returning to n so-called luncheon was
another martyrdom. The coming in n,
five o'clock, when ordinary people had
theirs at one; tine muddy boots on the tidy
green carpet. that had been down some
twenty years, and that must last as long
as Il carpet was necessary; the agitated
creature the squire's toady, who was divi
ded between his fear Of the squre's anger
and still more ahjec dread of catching
cold, and who would make hurried excur
dry stockings, and to see that his hat
remained in front of fire, from the mo
ment it left his head until he required it
on leaving; the smoke all over the house.
and at last the tipsy keepers and beaters
to get rid of and satisfy, before any peace
was allowed to enter into the desecraled
home. All these things made US thankful
indeed that the squire only shot the COW
erts once during the entire season, and
that all the rest of the year the birds
might go free, only coming to grief occa
sionallv when a poacher passed their way,
or the keeper was ordered to shoot few
brace for the squre's table.
1t is pleasanter to turn from this recol.
lection to the drive to the meet across the
meadows, when the frost gave suddenly,
and the river crept up the lane and enter
ed The low flour 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 its
three rings or walls, and couple of deep
bitches, and crowned by the cIump of fir
trees in which tho wind never ceased
softly; the great, white, ileecy
clouds ushing along over pale blue sky,
she sight of The men ploughing little
way Off taking no notice of anything save
the straig ghtness of the burrows and the
of their horses; and then as
the hounds went away, the rapid drive
across corners down land and through
fields, cutting off corners and coming into
Il lane, where we waited in lonely silence,
listening to the gurgle of a wee brook, the
busy wind among the hedges, the waken
ing OF the bird world, and the di tant
sound of the hunt.
These had grown distant indeed; when
out of the copse to the left, the
hunted creature crept; our host started up
10 give the view. halloo, but something
stopped us; the eye looked so appealing,
he movement Was so abject, that we
silently regarded each other and said not |
, word; white, as if interpreting our very
thoughts, the fox crept under our -four
yheel' and lay there, painting hard.
Was it II lie, when red coated stranger
through the brushwood, and ask
NO had we seen the fox, we merely shook
'ur heads and turned the subject; well,
ie or not, we did it, and remained where
We were until sounds told us of the com
ny OF another victim, ut whose death we
assisted molly II little later on in the day.
How our conduct was regarded by our
hostess We know not; for she was too
,cntle to do aught save point speechlessly
o her poultry yard, where the next morn
no lay he headless corses of sundry tur
,eys and noble, motherly hens, who had
allen III the night time into the mischiev
us clutches of perhaps the very fox We
ad so toollshly saved, and who had only
nangled the poor creatures, as 1t was too
tie in the year for him TO carry off more
ban he wanted at the moment, that being
eserved for the time when a large and
ungry family requires support, and for
he which he forages ruthlessly, taking
lrkeys from the nest and ducks anu
ems OF chicken, in fact just whatever fell
lto his way first.
Then the years creep Oh: each season :
mbelishes it with a most appropriate pic
are. A mile away from any other ,
the farm was village in {
tiny kingdom with our host
S IL king; u king uncrowned thep, but
ow talked OF with bated breath as the good
IAN, whose first thoughts were for his {
len, and his second for the land, and his
,st for himself, and could not rest where S
10 cottage, the landlord s property, mark l
on, were unfit to bouse the men who '
'orked for him. Then, too, his passionate 6
ttachment to the land was in itself i
emarkable. I
1t was joy for him TO plan for the |
,elfare o; each field, as if it were some I
,parate and we'll loved child; and each |
Jason of the year brought to him subjects /
" thought and lovely suggestions, given t
1t 10 us at times, and telling their own I
ory of the silent poet, with whom we {
ere for II time permitted to dwell.
He it was who taught us to watch the c
entle travelling of the cloud shadows I
yer the swelling downs; to see the soft t
ash in the trees that told of spring; to Il
" in the tender different tints of the tender t
,pses; to note the divers ways and habits
the creatures and birds; to tell from the /
lades of green in the distant fields, a
hieh held barley or wheat or swedes or /
rnips, laughing at US until we overcame r
If ignorance and become rs wise as e
-er he was in time. E
Winter scenes rise up before us, when G
| is white and sivery and we follow up
e tiny, half frozen stream with him in c
arch of duck and teal; evenings when t
e crouched IN furze bush, clad in
rous night raiment, holding the dog Il
al. ,,,,I tho loc line nj vallOw liuht Jnt h