The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1886-01-27
The Dumb Betty Lamp.

-IfEhIE l1.cOu III " llt AWdkt
Captain Trefey's garnet was a rainy-dav
place for children as many a Marblehead
boy and girl of the Cd days can testify.
After all these years the memory of that
garnet is distinct in all its details. l can see
the big chimney in the centre, with its
clumsy open door, serving for smoke-house
rs well as fireplace. I can see the dried cod
fish hanging from the rafters, the old boxes
and barrels, the bars Of sOaD in high brown
piles, and the yellow pumpkins looking MP
at Us with Jolly fat faces, and | can even
now catch the homely odOr of the fenael
and catnip IS distinctly as / sometimes catch
away here in this most up-G ankee of foreign
capitals. the taste of the peppermint which
bring 70 my memory the high-backed seat in
the old church and the surreptitiOus lozenge
which nv dear old grandmother would slip
into my hands at intervals during sremon-
tine.
One rainy afternoon we BOYS had been
having a glorious time in the old garrett
We had snapped the old musket till there
were no more sparks left in the flint; we
had fed the fat spider in the corner of the
window seat until he was so gOrged with
Gainties that he refused a splendid blue
bottle we had captured Tor his dessert. and
finally We found a regular Captain Kidd
treasure OF old coins in the dilapidated
bureau drawer, which brought To our minds
visions OF the privateering times when
Grandpa Trefey sailed away for possible
English prizes in the old 1912 war DAYS.
Suddenly one OF the coins rolled away TO the
ewes Of the slanting roof and we had to call
George 10 help Us find it-though we hated
70 for We desDised girls.
George squeezed her slender little form
into spaces where our stout boy bodies could
not go, but she did not find the coin.
But o. here's something so funny" said
she as she emerged somewhat crumpled and
aINr 80 iron Nnl
With much wonder and questionings we
examined her prize.
What can il be-" we queried.
IL was a round, tin affair about six inches
high and three in diameter, with a copper
tube that turned upward, and a tin spout
under the tube wide rim at the bottom
made a firm base and there was a wire to
hang it by. IL had a cOmical cover and it
was divided into two parts-the upper upper
part with the copper tube fitting into the
lower 10 which the spout was soldered-
One Of the Trefrey boys said that it was an
oil can, while George declared it was a
coffee pot
lets ask your grandmother" l sug-
gested, and to grandmother we went.
The cid Dumb Betty lamp" she ex-
claimed. as We entered her pleasant room,
where she sat in her high-backed yellow
rocking chair, looking out on the mist
covered harbOr; where under the sun did
you md that. children"
a lamp. We had never thought Of such
a thing.
The copper tube, Grandmother said, was
for the wick. The upper part held the oil,
and the spout was 70 catch the drippings
that ran INTO the lower reservoir.
1T was n nice lamp" grandmother con-
tinued; long ago it was the only lamp we
burned for candles were very dear and this
hung IL the chimney corner while we worked
by its Pickering. smoky light. But even
while ] was yet a girl we began TO have better
lamps and don't remember this Dumb Bet
ty being lighted for many years-no, not
since the night of Floyd Ires0n's ride
Floyd Ireson We all knew FLOYD Ireson
"a harmless old man who pushed a hand
cart about town selling fish. / knew the
rhyme that poet Whittier has since used as
theme Of bis famous poem and that the town
boys often called after the poor old fellow
from a safe distance:
Old Flud Ofrson fur his hord hort
Iorrd and bothered and corried 50 q cort
By The Wimmen oil A0E5lcd ed
Jbe thyme came to inc At once when