St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-07-19

came near shooting for burglar on
of them who had gone down stairs TO
drink, and who, believe, conscien
tiously fell over every chair, table ant
stool In the kitchen, and ended by fall
ing down the cellar stairs. Only las
week, long since those children hav,
been gone, they cropped up again
John went to Cranberry, and happen
ing to meet that Bill Houseman there
called him to account about that mort
gage story, and they had a fight ant
were both up before the squire, an(
now the whole neighborhood is full oil
it, and half the people in the neighbor
hood believe that my husband is heel:
over head in debt, and that Bill House
man holds the mortgage, all from the
doings of those poor laundering, limo
cent little fresh air children. If any
body ever offers me fresh air child
again I'll just offer to pay its board
somewhere else"
"Well," said Mrs. Lewis, "indeed
Mrs. Randolph, l can sympathize with
you. The five they sent me were al
nice little girls, and though they didn't
do anything for which one could blame
them much, don't want any more OF
them, and my daughter Annie declares
she never wants to see another fresh
air child until it is roasted and cold
enough to eat"
"What did they do to Annie 2"
"They broke off her engagement
with that young Mr.. De Coupon from
New Brunswick, though don't believe
she cares anything about it now that
her cousin Morgan has come home.
You see, De Coupon was away up in
money, style, dignity and all that sort
of thing. Well, the day after the
children arrived, who should calf but
De Coupon, wearing blue Norfolk
jacket and one of those absurd cork
helmets. The little girls were all sit
ting out on the grass playing with a
lot of Annie's old play things. AS De
Coupon came up the drive they stared
at him with wide open eyes, and as he
| passed one of them remarked in an aw-
full whisper-One of the kind you can
hear for half mile:
"'Oh! git onto the dear little cop
with the baby waist onto his pantys y
eff l had known that humiliation
would be my fate the next minute |
could not have helped laughing, as L
saw the awful glare of De Coupon, the
Mortified look of Annie and the calm
air of conscious innocence on the faces
of the little offenders.
"sWh- VIII wh-ah those thingsF de-
manded De Coupon as he waved a su :
percilious gesture toward the children.
"'They are fresh air children sent
out here to board for two weeks for
their health
"'Haw' 'scuse me; 1 didn't know
you kept baby farm, you know
cit was now Annie's turn to glare
and she did it to perfection. She just
walked out and grabbed up the first of
the astOnished youngsters she could
get her hand on and held il up before
De Coupon, saying:
"'Mr. De Coupon, you will please
kiss this child at once, or else leave
| these premises
"'But really, now, Miss Annie, L
cawn't do it, you know
Then you can leave, and if you
don't do it at once, 1 will certainly call
my brother Tom and set him on you
"'But our engagement, you know
"9Just consider our engagement can
celled and yourself at liberty to go and
make fool of yourself somewhere
else.'
"De Coupon went off, and Annie,
kissing the child, set it down, where
upon it at once ran back to its play
mates and she had the satisfaction of
hearing the grateful little thing re-
mark:
"'She's just bully, she is. l don't
believe she wears store hair at all, like
that gal sed as was here to dinner
"The 'gar referred to was Marion
Clancy and that evening Annie and
she had formal dissolution of their
lifelong friendship, which made them
the talk of Cranberry for a week.
~ know it will be at least six months
before we have got over the social
storms those innocent children raised
in the little time they were here. 1t
seems to me that | have so many quar-
rels on hand that l can't count them,
and they all come from those poor lit
tie innocents trying to take Annie's
part or mine whenever they heard us
spoken of. If you want to have live
ly neighborhood over winter just you
lay in few fresh air little girls for a
short time during the summer"