St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1885-01-29
Run Down by the Express.

Tragedy, which is never far from
the most prosperous lives, continually
trod upon the teudcrest- hearted WON
IN in Fairfield. She hated Fairfield
a. "A back ground to her existence, but
there had fate nailed her for life. Ii
was the forlornest of Indiana railroad
stations, looking like an ugly scar on
the face of a beautifully wooded cOun-
try, peopled 10y the descendants OF
poor white CnrOlinians and Tennessee
ans. The male portion of the cOmmu-
nifty sat on the railroad platform in
yellow Jeans. sprawling their naked
toes to- the sun, whiting, and letting
like true tobacco fountains upon
the meerschaum- cOlored boards. The
women might have lived lives Of prim-
tive simplicity, dignitied by child
bearing and ncighbOrly sympathy with
each other but they stained their hui
man kindness with SANDER. And this
one among them all felt the progress
of the age tearing her hcart-strings
out while her circumstances kept her
at a stand still. do not say her life
would have been more symmetrical or
her experience richer If she had lived
in the whirl. She was a plain, ground
loving woman who enjoyed the com
panionship of her fruit trees and flow
ers, and worked with her hands. In
deed. crowds annoyed her, and she
was undecided what tOilettes ought to
be made for u large public. Fhe strip
ed silk dresses of her prosperous days,
the fringcd Grape shaWls and gimp
edged mantillas. agreed i'll with bon
nets of the passing season, aud she had
more respect for what was rich and
old than for all yOur new inventions.
But she was liercelY ambitious for her
children, especially her eldest son and
for him in spite of his misfortune. The
younger boy and girl were still leaping
like colts upon their few remaining
acres, sound in limb aud wind, with
the hopes of future sheathcd in their
healthy present, when Willie was tall
as "a man, and far up in his teens.
His mother had picture of him TAX
en- when he was going TO school in
Cincinnati under his uncle's care. At
that time his auburn curls were un-
shorn, and he was beautiful.
A few days before cOttons took their
terrific rise during the war, Mr.. lIar
bison had stocked in thousands of
NdIuS. ilOSt Ntlc Il diIlltttl > DcSt
days, and he kept general store,
making money So rapidly that the lazy
people around him felt helpleSsly iu
jured. He began his fine brick house,
building on generous aud artistic
plan, at the edge of Fairfield, where
he coItld surround himself with fruit
trees, and have fields for his cattle.
Whether it is more distinct misery
to- build the temple of your home and
see some one else inhabit it., or to shell
ter yourself for years in IA house YOU
have not the power of finishing, the
latter fate was reserved for the Harbi-
sons. With Il Crash they came down
from what had been FaTiield's opu-
lence nearly to level with Fairlield's
poverty. They kept the. house and
grounds and a meadow, but under
such weight of mortgages that it was
comparatively no grief ut all to see the
ornamental coruices lying around the
partly pIastercd parlors, baluStrades
and newel-pOst standing on end be
side the skeleton stairway. and to find
the bath room useless except as u rub
bSh closet. The man who had en-
ployed half of Fairfield was now oblig-
ed to become himself an cmploye, ana
the general verdict of the world against
those who fail was emphasized by
cOmmunistic envy.
But the habit of being woman Of
consideration is not easily forgotten.
Mrs. HARRISON still made the village
respect her She had something to
give To the poorest. She was the wife
of man who had made a fortune be-
fore he lost it, and sat in the State
Senate. More than all, she had her
children, the eldest of them cOntin-
ual surprise to her. He seemed born
to stir her pride aud tenderness tn their
depths. He was tall, fair, and Roman
featured, shy as a girl toward every
one but his mother. and 50 ravenouS
in mind that he was partly through
college when his fathers reverses
brought him home.
Then lie WAS seized with spotted
fever, and approached the next world
50 close that he left part ct his facul
ties there. and was never the same
Willie he had been before. He could
hear nothing, and seldom spoke an au-
dible word Mrs. IlarbiSOn'S boy, who
as made to take the world hy storm
aud what had been the Shvuess of a
hoUted and goat cared fdun. Willie
HARRISON was 10 be seen whrring rs
a. a bat uPon his bicycle
across the open ground at dusk. He
was met coming from the woods, 81
lent as an Indian. and his ewes were
on everything in earth or sky except
the human beings just before him.
Whatever were the faults of Fair
field, il loved and respected Willie
Harrison. and humored his self-wiih-
drawal. And hc loved Fairfield with
"A partiality which saw mere pictur-
csQueneSs in the row of whiting men
and various forms of motherhood on
in the women. tie would
dislnOunt from his wheel to let the
boys tilt with it ut the old warehouse.
He loved the woods he loved Wild
cat and Kitten creeks, which plough
Ell rock bcdded channels through the
woods and what JOY III life he ti>hed
out OF those waters only Willie him
self knew. He loved TO watch from
the mill ou a clear morning that plume
of steam the south hound train sent
around the curve, Ia watch another
plume roll over the tirst, aud finally TO
SEE the train stand suddenly on tlie'I
of the grade, silarp-cIt against
the sky All common life was pleas
ant TO him. Who but his mother could I
be witness that double nature dweit
under his iiOury mill clothes
Willie worked in the mill with his /
father, where the roar of grinding and
boiling aud tho whirr of belts made !
silent livelness around him. This had |
been bitterness To his mother her
Willie should work with his head (
alone but she accepted it as the re-
suit Of bis physical misfortune.