St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-02-23
A MIDNIGHT ROUNDUP.
The shadow ON the sherrard Hearth.

tile fields. The professors wife ana
his twenty year-old son John share his
pastoral retreat. John has won local
fame as base ball umpire. The fam
lily is happy, and but one thing has
ever crept in to disturb it's peace. That
disturber hasn't crept in exactly either.
Sometimes it has come in with jump
over a five-rail fence. Sometimes it
has unlocked the garden gate with it's
horn and stalked in as unblushingly as
the lightning rod agent. If the six
foot bars of the pasture lot have babe
it pause sometimes, it has paused only
long enough to butt down the bars and
come in with crash.
This shadow OH the Sherrard hearth
is cows. 1t seems as if every cow in
the township regarded itself as can
Gidate at large for place in Professor
Sherrard's orchard, garden, or front
yard, and loses no opportunity to prove
it's eligibility and make it's election
sure. This prediction on the part of
the township cow to pass in and Occu
Ply the Sherrard premises, besides be-
ing a lurking menace to domestic tran
guilty, so to speak, was tough on the
hired man. He had to protest, at all
hours, with clubs and stones and an
|
lection, and it disturbed his slumbers
and broke his rest. So he resigned a
few days ago and left the Sherrard fam
ify alone with it's sorrow.
The night after the hired man left
Professor Sherrard woke up and heard
the tramp of cows in his orchard.
There being no hired man to show the
sweet breathed kline the quickest way
off the grounds, the professor resolved
to go out and eject them himself. His
wife was asleep, and for fear of waking
her he did not dress himself, merely
drawing on his slippers.
"This night shirts enough to have
on to drive cows out at midnight" said
he. at won't take long, anyhow"
Then the professor tip-toed out of
the house and went into the orchard to
evict the COWS. Shenango township
cows are like all other COWS. They
will open a gate or break down panel
of fence to get into lot, but when you
go to drive them out they pretend they
don't know how in the world to get
out, although ten rods of broken down
fence may yawn for them and open
gates confront them at every turn. So
Professor Sherrard was still engaged
in the inspiriting effort to surround
and head off half dozen COWS that
persisted in taking as many different
directions in evading the open panel of
orchard fence when his wife awOke
and found him gone. She was startled
for moment, but remembered the
shadow on their hearth.
"COws !" she cried, and sprang out of
bed.
She went to the window and, looking
out, saw the awful sight of the super
intendent of common schools of Law
renee county, robed in his night shirt,
chasing impudent and obstinate cows
around and around his orchard, dOdg
ing like a spectre in and out among the
trees, but plunking stones at the cattle
with unmistakable cOrporeal vim.
"Oh, my !" said the wife, 81 wonder
If hadn't better go help him shoe
them out 2"
Waiting only long enough to slip on
her shoes, she hurried out, and pres
emily there were two white clad figures
fitting about in the orchard on the
trails of headstrong cows. The pro-
fessOr's wife had not been long with
him in the midnight roundup when Mr..
John Sherrard, the son, quit sleeping.
He rose up in bed. He listened.
"COws!" said he.
John got up. He put on his trous-
ers, his hat, his coat, and his shoes.
"I'll slip out quietly" said he, "and
throw these cattle over the fence with
out waking up the old folks"
He went out of the front door. The
combined efforts of the professor and
his wife, it seemed, had convinced the
cows that it was the desire of the fam
81,
John reached the yard. The cows
were passing along toward the gate.
John drove them all out, and then
saw two white figures coming toward
him along the orchard fence. Now
there had been reports in that part of
the township that certain persons had,
at different times, seen ghost stalking
abroad at midnight, or thereabout,
now at one place and then at another.
John had heard these reports, and
when he saw the two white figures
moving in the orchard he was startled.
But he wasn't scared. He had umpir-
ed too many base ball games to be
scared by little thing like ghosts.
"Hello !" said he to himself. "Here's
the ShenangO township spook
wonder who's the fraud he's along
with him."
Then John stopped down and pick
ed up a stone. He threw it in the
direction of the spectres. 1t whizzed
past their heads, and quick as a flash
they turned and ran back few yards
and lodged down in a fence corner.
"Fll have some fun with the GHOSTS"
said John, and he began bombarding
the fence corner with stones. They
ratified about on the ground, and by
and by one of the ghosts shouted in a
deep, masculine voice:
"Hey there! Let up on this, or I'll
have you arrested ~
That struck John as being so funny
that he made up his mind to go back
and wake his father up and tell him
about it. He entered the professors
room. The light was burning, and
showed the empty bed. A glimmer of
shot across Johns mind. {
"ROaring Jupiterw he exclaimed, {
and started for the yard again. Be- c
fore he got out of the house the back 9
door was thrown open, and two pant i
ing and f1ustered figures in white, with G
mud on their clothes, came hurriedly O
N. They looked at John, and John
ooked at them. At last John said, in
mock surprise:
"What in the worlds the matter. and !,
where"
"Cows !" exclaimed his mother, "and ..
you ought to be ashamed of yourselfw !;
"COws!" exclaimed his father; "and :
you pack yourself back to bed, sir ~
Then they all went to bed, and the
shadow on the Sherrard hearth deep