St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-03-15
GRANDPA VESTS STORY.
BY LIZZIE M. wHITTLEsEY.

/ COat VII Oul lJChOh otoFOs
eyes," replied l, as l filled a pan
with apples and prepared to cut them,
"and more shame to him, too. Brought
then left town with another girl, and
without one word to Fam"
"Shame !" repeated good Grandpa
West, with an indignant flash from
ewes blue and clear as at twenty-o
ats a disgrace to any Christian church
to let one of it's members 60 on so.
Time vas when he wouldn't have gone
scot-free as he has now"
"But what could have been done qn
| inquired.
Ozone? He'd have had the full
broadside of church discipline on his
shoulders fifty years ago. He ought
to be dealt with as Harmon Page was"
concluded grandpa, meditatively.
Chow was that 7" inquired l, inter-
ested at once
81 wonder if you neve heard that
story J" said he, with a curious glance
L understood better afterwards. "See
here; it's a rainy day, and mother
won't be expecting me home. Hand
over IL knife, and I'll help you with
your apples and tell that yarn at the
same time"
Well pleased with the plan, | took
another pan and our fingers flew as
grandpa went on with the true and au-
thentic history of Harmon Page.
"You see," he began, GALL this hap
pened fifty years ago, and Amityville
wasn't then the slow-going, dull little
place it is now 1t was comparatively
new, and vas as lively and enterpris-
ing as the new places of the West are
today. There were a good many old
aristocratic families, though, and l tell
We they held their heads high. The
very meetin'-hOuse slips had to be
gagged accordin' to the rank of the
buyer, and | tell We old Deacon Avery
would never have got the scowl out of
his forehead if Squire Page had hap
pened to had a seat in front of his.
"Deacon Avery had a daughter-a
quiet, gentle girl, with a slight, grace
full figure, and Il face-well, you don't
see such nowadays ; a clear, fine COM
plexiOn, with a delicate pink trembling
up into her cheeks, when she was
spoken to. Her eyes were great linn
pid wells, changing with every thought,
and her hair was II soft chestnut brown
waving about her face in it's own way
ward style.
"She was a lovely girl, became a
professor young, and was always to be
seen in the end of the deacon's pew
every Sunday, rain or shine. She'd
had much company, for there
was II kind of dignified reserve about
her that kept the fellows at a distance.
But when she was long bout eighteen
or twenty, Harmon Page began to go
with her.
ale was "a handsome, high-spirited
chap, lively and full of talk, and as
different from Mercy Avery as two
persons could well be, But they loved
each other; there's no doubt about
that. Many's the time Pve seen her
grand eyes sparkle, and pretty checks
flush, at Harmon's witty speeches, till
she was really brilliant. And he, with
all his proud spirit, always grew
strangely gentle with Mercy.
$50, in spite of the rivalry that had
always existed between the two fami-
lies, no one would have disturbed the
two had it not been for Virginia Wake.
She was Il cousin of Colonel Ford's
first wife, and came there yisitin' from
the South.
"Virginia was called a handsome
girl, with her brunette face, flashing
black eyes, and heavy black curls, she
was never tired of jingling around her
neck. She had ii good deal, too, of
what you cali Style and Amity vile
folks who didn't know as much of the
ways of the world us they do now
were completely fascinated with her
taking ways. The young fellows in
particular lowered around her like
moths around a candle.
"All except Harmon Page. He had
engaged himself to Mercy, and at first
gave the wcom the go-by. The
Pages and FOrds had a family feud of
Il good many years standing which
kept them apart for one thing, and
Virginia had plenty of company be-
sides Harmon.
"But | suppose HarmOn's indiffer-
ence piqued the girl, and she snubbed
the other boys, and exerted all her
charms on Harmon.
"She came in the fall, and along
bout Christmas time, the neighbors
began 10 notice that Virginia was
mighty thick at the Pages.
"The two houses were pretty neal
together, and she used to run over to
mother Pages on some excuse or other
twenty times a day. Perhaps it 'twa'n't
strange that Harmon began to be fiat
tered by it. He had as good a turn
out us any chap in the place, and he
got in the habit of taking Virginia
considerable.
"YOu see POSITIONS everything in
more cases thar one, and Virginia was
right there handy while Mercy lived
at the top of one of our old-fashioned
Connecticut hills, with a dreadful hard
road leading to it.
"Whether she knew how much Har-
mon was taking the other girl wasn't
known some thought not. She did
not get out much except to meetin'I
that winter, and she had enough of
her fathers spunk about her, not to
let on that she saw Harmon foolin'
with Virginia Wake at the %noonin's.
"There was splendid sleighing that
days, and some of the young folks
wanted to have a general sleighride.
1t was put off from time to time, till
twas finally set for one Thursday
night.
weekly prayer-meeting and, after the
time of the ride was settled, Harmon,
who was the only professor in the par
ty, tried a little to have it changed.
But Virginia Wake declared, with a
shake of those jingling curls, that she
could say her prayers just as we'll in a
sleigh as she could coOped up in that
stupid barn of a meetin'-hOuse.
Everybody thought afterwards she
fixed the ride for that night, to show
Mercy Avery the power she had over
Harmon Page.
"Well, the party started from Ami
t--;llo lan~ ahunt 6ua oioIooIx W