Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1885-03-11
JUNGLE STANTON"

John G. Whittier in Good Cheer.
JUNGLE STANTON"
The first time l saw Uncle Stanton
he was standing at the open doorway
ot his shop, rubbing his hands on a
leather apron. His face was stained
with the black dust of the forge, and
great beads of perspiration rolled down
on his brow from under his confusion
of hair-hair so thick that used to
wonder the possibility of a comb. He
was short in stature. with small fea-
tured face and restless blue eyes. He
was bent by toll, and his careworn ex-
preston gave emphasis to nervous
habit of twisting one corner OF his
apron when he idled for while. lie
was a shabby old man, but on a Sum
day Git was always called "the Sabbath
at the "Center") he would don a
threadbare suit of ill-ftting broadcloth
in which he was very i'll at ease.
Everybody about the Center-and for
that matter, everybody else for miles
away-knew him as "Uncle Stanton" b"
He was generally respected, and l
doubt if there were any so well IN
formed in the rise and decline of the
old place Yet he had not always
lived in the Center. Years ago when
Joe Wheeler died, there appeared to be
no one at hand to take his place at the
forge. Joe had built the shop in the
early days when the Center promised
to be much more than the pivot whose
radius was then marked by "kirby
Run" and Deacon Greene's vineyard
The dear old Deacon! l can see hin
now with his frecllled face, and hair a!
red as the autumn color of the leaves
which used to fall from the big mapl'
tree III front of my old home. Th'
vineyard was on the side of the hill
steep enough to free it from stone
and brush, yet not so steep but tn
Deacon could keep his foothold, an'
work all through the hot summer days
How often have l seen him with hi
head bobbing above the green leaves
and how often have heard him as
for the folks at home, with God
blessing upon them!'
Well, Joe had mended the wagon
and the ploughs, shod the horses an
been considered pretty handy fo
many years, but it did not occur t
one that a time would come whe
Joe's tools would lie idle for the wan
of his hands to use them. Joe ha
provided for this emergency. "Iv
writ to Uncle Stanton, Marthy,' h
said to his wife when he found himsel
no longer able to rise. "IIes sarti
sort of man, and good one to TAX
hold of the smithy, l never seed
time when he missed the mark h
aimed at, and I've knowed him, Ma
thy, a powerful long while. You Sc
we growed up together, lie was OF
common sharp, and likelier n'me, br
l got the start somehow and wer
away, and Stanton's been trudgin
along the same old rut."
So it came about that four days aft
Joe Wheeler had been put in the lit
yard back of the Methodist Churc
whose steeple covered with rusty ii
. marked the Center for many miles, tt
big, creeky doors of the shop on'
more swung open, the smoke Of I'll
forge was seen curling out of the ia
red chimney. and Uncle Stanton graf
fully welcomed his first customer.
We became acquainted easily enoug
My first visit at the shop was wit
handsome gray Billy. who had cast
shoe. l. can recall even now the moi
! of his hoofs as they clattered over u
oaken floor, and the wonderment e
pressed in the glance of his nobl
! bright eyes, as Uncle Stanton be-
down and critically examined his hoe
n Billy had great many friends, and
\ believe it was never decided which W
- the better animal, mine or the lie;
dark bay which the aggressive N
Mullens, the meat peddler, constant
drove.
They've had bad time over at t
Kirby's, l heard,' Uncle Stanton sa
to me, as he paused over shoe viii
I. he was hammering into shape. "Ty
les funerals less'n week. l didn't !
=, lieve Rube would pull the second G
through-he amt much on feve
not so much as young Hawkins.
- beat the world on fevers Now, the
= was Southworth's boy over at Pin
b vile; t'want week before he W
er up'n about, and that gave Jim sett
y. up. They ought to have had Jim,
IN III my thinkin'."
nd And so Uncle Stanton would rat
gu gu on. The gossip of the village
= came to him somehow; he never f
got what he heard, and very lit
happened in the place that did not
- some shape or other reach Un
Stanton's ears. Concerning hims,
however, he was strangely reticent.
: Sometimes l would stop at the 81
u 'oor in the early evenings when
Y sun was setting back of the hills q
,hrowing its golden mellow on
Le, roofs of the farm houses and linger
'9Ya " in the tree tops. Uncle Stanton
l.. 1, L., ,