Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1885-12-04
TIE YANKEE BOY.

rOad from Long Ago to Now."l
Let US take a look at this Yankee boy, as
he sits on the wooden stttee beside the great,
roaring wood fire, and, by the light Of it's
cheerful blaze, reads The Pilgrims Prog
ress."
He is q tall and sturdy lad with face some
what freckled and hair somewhat bleached
by constant exposure to sunshine, or what
ever other kind of weather the Lord chooses
to send.
He wears q jacket and trousers of coarse,
strong wooden cloth OF the color known as
pepper and salt, and even this simple suit
OF clothes would be ft subject for q collec.
tor of curiosities in our own day. Only a
week ago the wool Of which it was made was
on the sht cps backs.
Jonathan must have new suit of clothes"
bis mother had said, as she carefully set a
round patch into the middle Of the big square
one that Lhe had inserted into his trousers a
month or two ago.
"Patch beside patch is good housewiferie;
''But patch upon patch is sheer beggAri."
II can have the clothes now, if have the
wool but next week come the soap. making
and the quilting, and there will not be much
time to spare"
Then l will shear for you tomorrow,
said her husband and, true TO his word, be
brought her in a black fleece aud q white
one, and the wool was soon carded, and the
spinning wheels in motion.
Thankful, the oldest daughter, was a good
spinner, and their neighbor, Mrs. Deliver
ance Putnam, coming in the next day, began
also TO spin with the big wheel, while she
told her news; so it was not long before the
heavy skeins Of black and white yarn were
ready for the loom.
Mother herself is the best weaver so
Thankful and Betty did the churning and
cooking and sweeping and mendiDg, while
she ''set up" q good piece Of mixed black
and white cloth (pepper and salt), as l said
before.
Then Miss Polly Emerson. the tAiloress,
came to cut out the clothes, and busy hands
(not sewing machines, for who ever dreamed
Of q sewing machine in those days y soon
stitched them together, and there was Jona-
than's new suit, homespun, honewoven,
homemade.
We may have some idea Of what suit Of
clothes is worth when we understand how all
this work has been needed for the making of
it. And now we are ready to charge JOna-
than not to use his clothes cArelessly. He
isn't to wear them every day, Of course his
old ones will still last some months with care
ful patching. But to-day is Sunday, and he
has been to meeting, and sat on the pulpit
stairs through q sermon two hours long by
the hour glass, in the forenoon, and another
scarcely shorter in the afternoon, relieved a
little, however, by the singing from the old
Bay Psalm Book In which the whole con-
gregation joined.
Now, since the sun has set, aud the need
full household chores are done, he may read
''Pilgrim's Progress by the freight.
At noontide he had eaten his dinner of
-. a,,A .ka
where he talked with Reuben Thompson and
Abner Dwight, who had come with their pa
rents to meeting, riding by q bride path
through the woods. Jonathan stood on the
meeting house step0 to watch them ride away
when the afternoon services had ended. Far.
mer Dwight on his brown horse, with his
good wife behind him on pillion, aud Good
man Thompson on his gray, which also car
ried double, for Goodwife Thompson sal
smiling behind her husband, as easy and
comfortable as il in her own chair at home
The two boys rode together on old Dob
bin, and urged him along as best they could
lest they should not get through Prince
woods before dark, for it wasn't unusual tC
meet prowling wolf by the way after night
fall.
miles over rough road, and was ending hi
in the beginning Of the chapter.
He had Just got as far as Giant Despair
and Doubling Castle, when his little siste
Patty, sitting on low stool before the fir'
with her kitten in her lap, called to him Il
look quickly and see the wild geese go up th,
chimney, and there, on the sooty back of tn
great, wild Fireplace, the sparks had caugh
| for moment like q flock of birds, quickl,
moving up the chimney, as one died out ant
q fresh one caught fire.
The children always liked to watch them
and this time Stephen Stackpole, their faith
er's hired man, stopped for an instant Il
watch them too, while he laid fresh armfu
| OF wood beside the fire.
Them amt wild geese, children, " be said
"Them's the folks goin' to meetin'. DON
ye see. there's the parson In front, aud al
the folks hockin' on behind. That's what W
used to call 'em when l was q boy"
Sunday evenings we're short in those days
and Monday morning found our boy up a
day break, and dressed in his patched clothes
He is busy about his morning work. for b
has to help about the milking drive the COW
and sheep to pasture, draw water from tn
we'll with a bucket hung from long pol
called the welLsweep, and then carry tn
hams up TO the little smoke-room that
built into the chimney, and reached throug
the door which opens from the attic for th
best of bacon was smoked in every house
hold chimney in those days.
While he is working we will take a look q
his house-a strange, One-sided lOokin
house, with "lean-to' at the back or mort
side, where there in q cool buttery or pantry
which saves Goodwife Dawson many q tri
down cellar or out to the we'll. For the We
Is used as a sort Of refrigerator, and man
pail Of butter is kept cool and sweet in il
depths.
The cellar has big trap door outside II
house, and ladder-like steps to go down, an
when this door is closed 1t makes 9 comforts
BILE seat where, on a summer afternoon, yO
might see little Patty Dawson sitting wit
her knitting work, for the minute Il
child sat down her mother would put b,
knitting work into her hands, saying "Yc
can rest just as we'll knitting" And Il
consequence was that the little 8.year-O
girl has already become an expert knitte
and has not only knitted a pair Of stocking
for herself but also big stout pair of bit
yarn for her brother.
The cellar had bins for potatoes and tu
nips and other vegetables, and many an ho
has Jonathan worked there, storing away Il
winter stock Of food.
'rhat is Just what the farmers do eVel
winter, now, as well as then" you will say
This Is true of the farmers, but in Jon
than's time this storing of provisions for Il
winter was necessary for every man, for pr
! vision stores were few and far between, al
almost every man had land enough 10 raj
! all that was needed for his own family.
When the cellar door was closed you oou
stand upon it and look In at the east windo
> OF the Kitchen. II was q window of twent
! four small panes of coarse greenish glai
set in heavy sashes, but through it yC
could look into the pleasantest room in q
4 house.
Il extended the whole way across the ba
, | part Of the house and had one east windo
and two west ones, and the sun lay across /
! Aoor ona yyav or tha othar all daV lonQ