St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-12-25
My Quarter Section.

together I'D one Oi our ward schools fOl
six years. Together we had defied the
petty tyranny of the man whom an in
scrutable providence had placed over
us i'll the capacity of principal. To-
gether we had prepared the "spreails, -
and ''blowoutS," generic names for the
official show of examination papers,
drawings, etc, that are exhibited to
the world of admiring parents as the
individual and collective result of their
individual and collective progeny. In
the long vacations we had gone on va
rlous excursions together, read the
most approved educational and litera-
ry works, and, in short, wintered it
and summered it together for six years.
OF course we had planned alway to
live together and keep the most de-
lightful of old maids halls, and-well,
we were all that is meant by the term
of intimate friends.
| think it was the March of 1882
that the idea struck us. do not re-
member what paper it was that illum-
ined our darkness; however, that is of
no consequence. 1t was Il wet March
morning and | was standing in the hall
of the sixth ward school house, trying
to dry my draggled skirts at the reg
lister and feeling-well, as though it
would be eminently safe for the future
candidates for the presidency to cult
vate the foreign accomplishment of
walking Spanish for that day when
Miss Arabella Thompson came in with
a wet umbrella in one hand and pa
per in the other. ThOmpy was always
sunny. 1t would have taken veri-
table deluge of forty days and forty
nights to have made her willing to ac-
knowledge that it was bad weather.
She came in smiling, with Il bright
Good morning" and, without waiting
for me to air my eloquence on the sub
ject, she began:
''See here, my dear, | have the
brightest plan you ever heard of for
our summer vacation" and she pro-
ceeded to unfold her paper and her
plan. The paper contained IL glowing
account of the opening splendOrs of the
mighty territory of Dakota, and the
unparalleled chances for making for
time and gaining Il home by going out
to the vast unOccupied prairies and
taking up il claim" just picking it up
you know, 50 easy and comfortable.
Then followed Il statement Of the laws
regarding the acquiring of the various
kinds of claims, homestead, pre-emp-
ton and timber claims.
''You just go out there, enter your
claim, put up II sod house, live in it
six months, prove up, pay Sl.25 an
acre, and YOU have your claim to live
on or to sell"
"Just like old Jack Means" l inter
rupted.
eyes," said Thompy, laughing, "and
make heaps an gohs o money, all out
o congress land"
But" objected, ''you forget that
the school year is nine months, and
our worthy forefathers in arranging
the year, have, with their usual want
OF foresight planned for only twelve
months. Where are you going to get
the other three ~
Bnt no objection that | could urge
had any weight with Thompy, for
though | am much older than she, she
is much better looking than 1, and
consequently very headstrong. SO she
overruled every objection that | could
bring forward, and arranging with the
board of education for II six months
vacation, said we would go.
The upshot of the whole matter was
that meelily yielded, and our moons
and rccesses for the next three months
were spent in making calculations as
to what it would cost us to carry out
plans, what supplies in the way OF
books, provisions, etc, we should take
with us, and how we should dress.
was for dressing in bloomer costume
and carrying Il few revolvers, but
ThOmpy would hear 10 neither. She
said there was no need of our looking
like frights, just because we were GO
ing to do something little unusual,
but then she was always vain of heI
good looks. As to revOlvers, she de-
clared that she could not sleep with
one in the house. yielded about the
dressing; but was firm about the
revolver.
"You would be in pretty condition
wouldn't you," said |, ''if when you
got your house of mud and dirt like
the foolish little pigs of our nursery
days, some tramp or other wild ami
mails would come along and take {
notion to murder you9 No, | mean to
have some means of protection" and
did.
wish in the cause of public instruc
! tiOn, which, as Il teacher, of course
am interested in, that had our calcu
lations to give to the world, bnt un
fortunately they are lost, and the tabl,
of our real expenses does not help me
to reproduce them. All, we'll! | feal
that, could present it to You, it woult
be robbed of its illusions. and, like tn,
rose which the cunning alchemist re-
created from its own ashes,
| Without the bloom, without the lost perfume.
| However, | remember that the ex
penses of our six months vacation ant
our quarter section were to cost us JUS
! S354.23. We were very exact. | sug
| gested to ThOmpy that we could spent
| the extra two cents in chocolate creams
and have an even p, but she was al
ways close, and she said no, we wOult
do no such thing, that it looked bette
a good deal to have the three cent
there than not; that ia all official re
ports they always managed To have al
uneven lumber to show how very ex
act they We're in their calculations.
We always spoke of our possession
as our Equarter sections as it sounde,
a great deal larger that way. We too
half bushel of walnnts to plant, wal
nut timber is so valuable you know
Thonlpy said we were like the ma
WHO planted acorns for his first croI
We took about a peck Of garden seed
and hoe withouta a handle, hut tim
would fail me to tell of all the absurd
ities We perpetrated. We were read
at last. | presume the journey wa
very much like that of any other Ion
| teachers who shonld undertake til