Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1888-01-26

caught We at it, interposed Boylestoh;
ian he said he wuz surprised that two
young folks who had been brought up
in the ncrtur an admonition O. the
Lord could carry on SO"
Lem married Hepsy Burdette-
good. lively gal as ever lived" said
Brattle Street ''Use ter be mighty
clipper when she fust come inter the
choir, but when she found her fine
clo'es an ribbins an feathers wuz
a-draggin' her down to perdition, she
gin 'em to her sister Matildy."
Hiram remembered this venerable
witticism, and he remembered Hepsy
Burdette and Lem Haskell, too. Lem
was troubled with fts-a mild sort Of
epilepsy. Between the enfeebled con-
dition of his intellect and his weekly
employment at pumping the organ he
fell into and maintained the pleasing
notion that he himself made all the
music the organ emitted.
And so they hummed and whispered
to him-these old, familiar tunes of
the Carmina: Duke Street. and ''Ux-
bridge and "Windham'' and "Dun-
dee' and "Olive's Brow" and "Ol-
mutz''-ay, all these old friends of
Hiram's boy life among the Vermont
hills. They talked with him of the
common, the old courthouse, the
tavern, the bobbin factory, the spellin
schools, the huskin-bees, the saw-mill,
the trout brook, the buryin' ground on
the hill, oil Gineral Kimball's orchard,
and the long flower-beds in front O.
the old homestead; and they talked of
the times when Hiram went sugarin
off, and played hi-spy in the meetin'-
house sheds, and went slidin' down.
hill on moonlight winter evenin's, or
attended general trainin', and played
three old-cat on the common, and
chased butterflies in the home lot, and
got scolded for tramplin' down the
rowen. And as they talked they spoke
of the war.
mo, we didn't 60 ter the war, !"
said Old Rockingham, "but we KEEP
the wimmin folks comp'ny while the
men an boys wuz away, an calclate
we saw a grander martyrdom than
you could ha' found on any O yer
battle-felds. The men he'd lots ter
keep EN- braced up, for there wuz the
activity O war, the excitement O.
change, an the thought o fame,
country, an al that sort o thing; but
the wimmin folks-there wuz nothin'
fur them ter do but ter wait, an ter
pick lint, an ter pray"
"The hills stood guard all round, "
said Dedham, 'as much as ter say;
There sha'n't no sorrer come to the
wimmen folks if we kin keep it away
an it seems as if they tried to KEEP
their word, too, for the stage that
fetched the mail from Brattleboro allus
broke down two OF three times on the
road, whenever it had bad news from
the boys who had gone to the war;"
"Oh, but how sort o. fierce like the
minister use ter read out the hymns il
them days." said Ortonville; IAN how
he KEEP fightin' over the battles O. the
war in his prayers an sermons.
San how the hull congregation ust
ter rise up an sing Praise God from
whom all blessings flow, wheneve1
} there wuz news that the Green Mount
ain boys he'd won battle" cried Ole
Hundred, proudly.
Eyes. yes, we must hev played ON
part in the struggle" said Near, sol
EMMY, "for we helped ter give thu
wimmen folks heart-an' it's win
mems prayers. tell We, that win hal
the battles men fight"
The old tune-book was hummin,
and murmuring to Hiram Atkins whel
he fell asleep, and he dreamt he wa
a boy again.
5 All around him were the rugged
| hills, with their patches of moss ant
+ their brown rocks, that stood out lik
, bic warts on their honest, homcl
+ faces. The air was cool and fresh nn
+ full of the fragrance of lilacs and @
wintergreen.
He saw the old homestead, with it
r great yard and tall trees and the nal
row walk between the flower-beds
a The robins fluttered in the naples O
}. hoped through the green grass, an
e there, among the daffodils and swee
v williams, stood gran'ma!
Z, She was coming 10 meet the littl
boy who had been gone so long! Ho'
t her kindly eyes beamed through he
a gold-bowed specs! A big velvet ba
v hung over her arm; it was full {
r cookies and nutcakes and lozenge'
d The little boy knew mat, and he ran
n clasp gran dear hands.
But it was only a dream. Hiral
y was asleep. you know, and with i
/ Thousand holy harmonies the old tun
lt hook sunu softly IN the slun harer :