Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1885-12-25
FORTY YEARS AGO.
HIS STORY or THE WIDOW WHO'S AND BETSY
FAssErTs CHRISTMAS.


By ED. H. MOTT.
"a weddin' hain't ginerly s'prise party,
boys said the Old Settler as he shut one eve
and peered through cloud OF mist that rose
from pewter mug in his hand, laden with the
sweetly suspicious odor Of cloves. alspice.
lemon and all that they imply but il Bey.
erly G. Fredenbaugh's weddin', foriy-seyen
year ago, this Christmas eve want an up-an'-
up sprise party, then, b'gosh, I've heern of
s'lrise parties, but never see one"
The FIRE in the tavern was 10 bright that
you could stand on one side Of the room and
read clear across on the other, Just as plain as
day, the announcements Of a coming dance at
Welcome Hollow, douation at Dominic Skin
ner's, and turkey shoot and rattle at Nate
GOble's. II was 30 bright that the usual glow
on the Old Settlers nose actually seemed so
much subdued by the unwonted effulyence of
the room that its tone failed to give him one.
half the credit he was entitled 70 az a regular
patron Of that department Of the hoste ry
But the CHEEKY influence Of the light and the
suspicious odor was upon him. and upon the
Squire, the County Clerk, the Sheriff. aud all
tue boys. The Old Settler and his friends were
beaming, and he himself was bubblng over
with reminiscence.
9TH were heap o. fun in Pike county
fOrty-seven year ago" continued the Old Set
tier, Fan no mistake. My brother-'n-law, SIM
Peters-leastwlse he got to be my brother-'n-
law artw'ds, but he want 'dzacly mine then
cause me an NJ riAr hadn't pitched Wit not by
several year, an nuther one on US hadn't ever
thort o te!ch a thing; ez I hadn't never see
Mriar yit, and Mrar hadn't never see me.
Me au Mriar WAS tRlkin over them OF times
unlY tother day. The night we was hitched
were jis' more Than ras'lin' wi the asmy and
were GUNNER, b'gOsh, than deef deeIhoun'.
But Mriar, she were feelin' so durn good that
she were chuck full an runnin over says
10 M'riar unly t'other day, 'Mriar,' Says l.
dye member how glum were the night we
was hitched "
"'Wall / orler,' SAYS she
"'An' dye member how good you felt 2
" i reckon, says Mriar.
"Wall, Saws l. M riar, the reason l felt so
glum that night was that | thort you'd he a
wilder in less n six months, says l.
so did l, rays M'riar an that's the rea-
son felt so durn good e. says she.
Ibis joke Of Mriar's made the boys laugh,
and 1t pleased the squire 30 that he ordered
the landlord to set the pewter mugs to steam
ing.
WALL" the Old Settler went on sim Peters
had farm over in Big Camp Holer The
farm measured twenty-tnree acres, but think,
bgosh, that il they could ha' run it through a
sieve an tuck the dirt eZ were left an spread
1t out agin, it wouldn't ha footed up more n
three acres an a half. But nobody couldn't
make Sim blieve that tn were any more stun
on the place than tn orter be to keep the sile
warm, though he did usety say that it were a
ieete dangerous an a mite extensive, sides
keepin piantin' back cousid'able a havin' to
blast away rock or two eyry time he wante i
to drop hill o beans or 'taters.
81 lived wi Sam in them days, and that's
how know'd bout the fac's I'm gointer give
ye. One o Sims clus neighbors were the Wild
der Wigs. The wilder want ez pcoty ez an
ash saplin bows, but she were list about the
shape o one. Tn want no superho-ous ma
ter al bout the wilder, an wat material tn
we're want 'stribited proper. Wen noses an
teet was give out, The Widder Wigs must ha'
ben the fust one thar fur she got enough o.
both 10 Xix ont three or four ordinary folks ;
but wen ohists an hips was 'stribited she
must ha' ben late gittin' up to the dough
trough, fur she didn't git ez much of either
one OF EN-, b'gosh, ED pass for a grddle
blister on pancake. But then the wilder
had farm wuth easy two hundred an tfty
dollars, mule, Il brindle steer, a bark wagon,
coon dog, bar trap, an a gun. all lef to
to her by oil Lias Wigg which died sudlint.
count o Ialin' offn Dad o hoop poles an
,he mule steppin' onter him. Consistently,
the wilder were quite some punkins in society
at the lioller.
"0l Balaam Topmuck lived on a little place
that lac rented, over or Snipe Ridge. He were
the neRnest OF all the mean Of fppiny-bit
squeeze tn was in that distric an tn was
some eZ could give Odds b'gosh, to all crea-
ton. Wy, oil Topmu.k we're 80 dod-durn
mean that wen his fust wife died he dorked
his hired man a DAYS wages fur knockin off
an goin' to her fuuerl He did, b'gosh OF
Bslaam had a darter JeRny ez ware list ez
mean, if not a leetle meaner than her pap
were. SO, wen Balaam begun TO shine roun'
the Wilder Wigs ev'rybod, know'd, o. course,
the reason fur wy, but nobody in the clearn'
could get it through their conks wy the Wild
der Wigs tuck TO cottOuin' % Balaam. Any
how, he mard the wilder, give up the Snipe
Ridge place, an moved inter the widder's
house, bag, baggage, jimmy an all. From that
day the place want the wldders no more
jimmy aud her pap jist tuck charge OF things
an the fust thing the wilder know d She
want 10 more count 'roun' the plantation
than a one-armed blind man at n shootn'
match.
''The widder-wich o. course she mt the
wilder no more, but everybody called her 70
the wilder had a livn' with her gal nam
ed Betsey Fassett She had tuck Beisey Wen
Betsy were a three-year OF, an were IN Or
phint ON both her mothers an her fathers
side. Time the widder mar'd Baalim an jim
ny. Betsey were rasin' seventeen year, an
were the pc otiest gal in the township, bui jim
ny soon give her to unerstan', h'gosh, that her
place want TO be dandlln ruun' in no set
n room no longer. but that she were TO keep
TO the kitchen an il she didn't Ike it she
could pack her buds an mo.ey ontn thar,
quicker'n OF Ring could hole q mushrat Ez
Betsty hadn't no p'uclllar place waitiu for
her jist thcn she reckoned she'd hef to put up
WI Miss jimmy and the kitchlu, an 50 thur
she staid-