The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-03-01
A STORY FOR TIE Rows.

STORY FOR THE BOYS.
But the hurtin'est thing is, mothers
sick; an she's a awful good mother, sick
or well, Hank. | guess | won't go.
S'posIn' I'd ask her might go with you
to make Charley Norton give us maple
sugar,I know what she'd say-she'd say,
no. Daniel. An so I'm sure won't go.
You're fool, Dan. Amt that so Stub?
And Henry Uncarfer sauntered on, fol-
lowed by Stub. scowling chunk of a
dog, always at his young masters heels.
trying to cock the ears that had been
cropped, and wag the tail cruelty had
cut off.
Henry was the most distinguished
young vagabond of his country cOmmu-
nifty, the provocation of school masters
in winter, young bear in the way of
smaller boys in summer. There had
been several days of March thaw and he
felt sure that little Charlie would have
to be driving the kettles in his faith
er's sugar bush to save the extra run OF
sap He had set out for raid on the
boiling place. And mischief as well as
misery, loving company, he had asked
Daniel Downs to go along; but the
mother culture in him declined.
A little farther on he found his mate
in Robert Waters, the boy of a farmer
in good standing.
Good joke, he said, to scare KID an
sweeten up the kidnappers in the dark.
Across lots at dusk strobe the pair,
with Stub in their wake. Crossing an
orchard, they skirted a mound of earth,
cone shaped, several feet high, with
here and there a straw in sight,
Agnew-th' ole stingy-sald Henry,
s got some fancy russets buried there,
I'll bet.
Why not open the pile for i'm, Hank ?
All right Bob, its done. You are my
style,
Entering the woods of Michigan ma
pie they soon halted, and Henry drew
from his pocket and old black apron,
tore it in two, cut rough eyes and mouth
in each piece, and moment later the
two boys were masked; and with a
handful of mud Stub was soon made
a dog of another color.
They walked in silence close up to the
kettles and young Charley Norton, and
without word signaled him to be off
But his father having told him to stay,
he stuck. One of his school book in
NDlI dliJlb lldl DNtl'g IVY o'NSN va
the burning deck.
So the hooded pair SEIZED each an arm
of Casablanca the second, and they tied
him hand and foot with his own rope,
then laid him tenderly back upon the
straw beneath his own shanty roof.
Cody the uovices at bulldozlng now
dipped into a barrel half the contents of
the sweeter kettle. reused the fire under
it, and started rapidly toward home.
Charley protested vigorously against
being left there all night, neither the
pair nor the painted dog uttered a bark
Of explanation.
Yet half hour latei the boys in wells
sat by the boiling fire munchine Rox-
bury russets, while between them lay
grain sack perhaps a quarter full of re-
served stomach ache.
For an hour or more, without word,
bv turns they sat and munched, then
stood and drank of the syruping kettle.
Later Robert arose, stretched, rubbed
both hands over his distended waistband
and turned round, facing out into the
d lrk of the woods.
Suddenly his eyes fell upon moving
light low down, and away in the direc-
ton of their prisoners home. Quickly
he touched his comrade and pointed;
Henry looked and even his mask frown.
ed. They knew it was Mr.. Norton and
his lantern coming TO see why Charley
didn't come.
Catching up the sack of unfinished
apples, Henry silently led Robert and
Stub again into the dark towards home,
leaving their victim worse COMPOUNDED
than before, and in the kettle they left
their regrets.
Before morning the weather turned
cold, the mud froze, light snow fell.
and TIE marks of the night were cover
ed. A few days later, however, the
weather was again warm, and Farmer
Agnew went into his orchard 10 fetch
basket of those crisp russets from the
apple mound. Instead he fetched home
wrath against the rascals that had un-
capped to the frost his twenty bushels
of spring comforts. He'd catch EN-, he
said, and they'd catch it.
Meeting Mr.. Norton the two went
back to the orchard seeming scamp
tracks, and they found some. They
noted first that all the foot tracks wore
boys boots; and looking closer they
found only two pairs represented, one
pair of which was mismated, consisting
of two left foot boots, one of them run
over at the side and down at the heel.
The other pair. too, was odd, having left
the print of a diamond formed by cal pet
tacks in the sole.
But the queerest track the thief had
left behind was the impression of a
small dog sitting upon his launches in
the moist sand and forgetting to take
his stub of tail in under cover.
A short tail, observed Mr.. Agnew. but
it will help to unfold long tale,
Mr.. Norton mentioned the outrage
upon Charley, and the presence OF rus
set cores before the fire, adding These
troubles must be twins; the cause of one
is father of both.
Next morning Mr.. Agnew rode about
the neighborhooG and told the U ncarfers'
the Downses, and other poor families,