Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-10-01
ABOUT TOWN,

never saw the total depravity of mani
mate objects better illustrated than in a
little occurrence which fell under my eye
the other day The parties implicated
were large Studebaker farm wagon and
a rather small man. The latter was at
tempting to have some fun with the for
mer, by playfully trundling it down the
little rise of ground east OF Smiths feed
store. Grasping the pole firmly in both
hands, the man started the ponderous
wagon down the incline, pushing it be-
! fore him. AS its momentum increased,
the motive power ceased to become mo
tive and the man became Il very insignif
cant sort of an appendage to the wagon.
| Down the hill thundered the twain i'm "A
to suddenly occur to the wagon that
! il might have some fun with the man.
The front wheels gave u conv usvc
start throwing the pole little to one
side. Then, quick as thought, the axle
turned in the other direction, the whole
body of the wagon swung half around,
the pole jerked to one side with a force
that would have taken an elephant off his
feet, and the maxwell, the man was here
and there. He didn't seem to have any
definite plan for the time being. The pole
snapped him off his feet, dragged him in
the dust, rolled him over and over, and
ended up with giving him whack across
the small of the back that woke the
echoes Of the desolate city market build
ing, and conveyed an impression to the
crowd that coroner's services would be
Immediately needed. But the man got
up, brushed the dust from his person and
took his departure. He had had fun
enough for one day.
The ancient Greeks, whenever they ar
rived at the end of voyage, used to beach
their ships-an advantage which modern
pleasure craft of any size have not enjoyed,
until the evolution of the Lake Cham
plain Sharpe yacht This is an immense
advantage in cruising craft, as all camp
erS and pleasure vOyagerS know. 1t OBJ
vates the necessity of towing a tender,
and greatly simpities the ordeal of max
ing landing where ladies are concerned.
For this, and many other reasons, tn.
Sharpe may justly claim to be the ideal
cruising craft
a large number of the readers of the
FREE PRESS have undoubtedly visited the
grave of old John Brown at Elba, n Y.
Time was when one might gaze upon the
ancient stone which marks the martyrs
resting place without let or hindrance
But of late the thrifty owners of the farm
on which the headstOne stands have coy
cred ii with wooden box which is firmly
secured with paddock, and when visitors
ask about it the plea is made that it be
came necessary to protect it because of the
vandalism of sightseerS who Clipped off
pieces as relics. OF course the visitors ask
the fauOr of seeing the stone, and then,
after much reluctance is shown, a hunt
for the key ensues, which proves to a
troublesome task. Then a little girl con
L
the cover. OF course after giving so much
trouble, the visitor offers the girl remunera-
ton, which is always accepted. Is it al
ways going to be the case, that the free
American citizen can not gaze upon the me-
MORALS of his patriotic ancestors without
having to pay for the privilege
-
One of the exhibitors in floral hall this
year, i'll conversation with me, expressed
the opinion that the management ought
to put the hall in better condition for such
an exhibit as is usually ma,le there. The
class of articles displayed, he said, de-
manded something better than an untin-
lshed shed. 1t seems to me that in justice
to the exhibitors, floral hall should he
made little more attractive in Itself. 1t
would be well, too, if a certain portion of
the hall could be set off and appropriated
to distnctively exhibitions of art--the
Very poor light and very incongruous
rendered some of the eXhib-
itions of photography, painting, etc, this
year decidedly unsatisfactory, both to eX-
hibitors and the public. Why can not
these matters be remedied
~
| ran across the statement the other
day, credited to Maine paper, that GER
tain druggist in Kennebec, Me, claims to
have sold over 5000 worth of patent med-
cine in less than four years to one man
and his wife And yet this worthy couple
are in excellent health with the exception
of constitutional WEAKNESS and tend
ency to wear larger head gear after every
dose OF bltterS. 1t is not generally known,
suppose, that large proportion of the
drunkenness in rural communities where
prohibtory law prevails is produced by
patent medicines. This is fact, how
ever, as many candid druggist will adj
nit. 1t is VIGOROUSLY the fact in some
parts Of Vermont. have frequently been
amused by the labored attempts OF certain
worthy people to account for the enor
nous amounts of patent medicines which
are consumed in this country. They are
quite unable to understand how these nos
trums can have such wide popularity
and be so generally effective for all classes
of disease. But the druggists understand
and so do the habitual drinkers.
RAMBLER.
The State Y. VI. c. A.
The 10Th animal convention of tho