Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1888-01-06


as ! well remember. An don't Sc recollect
Mirandy Perkins y
Miranda Perkins, OF course he did
Hiram had waited ON her for two years be
fore he went west She had rcd checks
and glossy black curls and her eyes were
full Of mischef-scemed TO Hiram he could
see her now, ia her bright deainc gown
ana quaint shaker bonnet II was a pleas
ant picture. Miranda used to sing alto in
the choir--the two Morse girls. Susan Bax-
ter, Lew Higgins Hepsy Burdctte, Miriam
da Perkins, and himself, Hiram Atkins
He remembered them all, and by the dear
light the old tune book threw around him
he could see them now too.
Miranda Perkins He wondered what
had become of her she must be wrink-
led and gray haired old woman now--yet,
somehow, he could think of her only as the
red-cheeked, black eyed girl, who had sung
alto TO his bass in the Newfane choir.
"Mirandy married Sam Baxter" said
Lenox. "We wuz all at the wcddn', an
pulitzer couple never sot out together. S'pose
ye don't remember Sam, do yes Lived
with the Of folks on the farm near the
Townshend tUll-gatc use ter sing tenor in
the choir when you wuz there
80 Mirandy TUX up with Sam, did she q
done better !n
Hiram had never liked Sam Baxter now
he hated him. Yet it was twenty five years
since he had seen Sam-or Miranda. either
for that matter. He remembered Sam as
"A loutish fellow, with tow hair and habit
Of singing very much out Of tune, and
when he thought of Miranda Perkins all Of
ilirams recollections Of Sam Baxter's un-
pleasant characteristics we're revived with
intensity.
But they moved down to Pondville the
mex spring after they wuz married said
Migdol, AN we hahn seen en- sence.'
Guess ye wuz sort o. gone on Mirandy
yerself, want We g. inquired Dedham, sly e.
ly. al can rccollect how ye use ter purr
round her.
'Oh, you git out .' said Hiram But the
soft light in Hirams eyes and the faint flush
that peeped through his grzzled whiskers
belied his words
'ltlooked powerful like it, said Dedham
'an' you two young folks use ter cut up
terrible in meetn specially durin' the
second Pray'r. Why, I've seen We eatin'
apples behind the origin an maxim faces at
Deacon Moses skinner. an writin notes
ter each other, an drawin' picters in the
hym book. Once ye borrered Noble Pratt ;
. J
on the back % the origin, an We labeled one
on 'em NJ. fur Mirandy, an 'tother H.
fur Hiram. DO ye remember it g
Yes, an Lem Haskell! the good young
man who pumped the origin, caught We az
1t, interposed Boyleston AN he said he
wuz surprised that two young folks who
had been brought up in the nurtur an ad-
monition o the Lord could carry on So
Lem married Hepsv Buriette-gOOd.
/ likely girl a. ever lived, said Erattle
| street ~ So ter be mighty clipper when
! she fust come inter the choir. but when she
| found that her fine clD'cs an rlbbns an
| feathers wuz a draggn' her down 90 he'll,
| she gin EN- To- her sister Matldy.'
Hiram remembered this venerable witt
| cisn, and he remembered Hep-y Burdett-
/ and Lem Haskell, too. Lem was troubled
/ with iits-a mild sort of epilepsy Between
/ the enieebled condition of hl, intellect and
/ his weekly employment at pumpin- the or
| gan he fell into and maintained the plea,
/ ing notion thet he himself made all the mu-
| SIC the organ emitted.
And So they hummed and whispered To-
him-these old, familiar tunes of the Car
nina Duke Street and "Uxbridge'
and 'Windham' and Dundee and "Olive' :
Brow and "Olmut2 aye, all these old
]
mont hills. They talked with him of the
common, the old court house, the tavern,
the bobhin factory. the spelling schools the
husking bees, the saV,-mIll, the trout brook,
the burying ground on the hill, old General
kimbail s orchard, and the long flower beds
in front of the Old homestead and they
talked of the times when Hiram went su-
caring off, and played hispy in the meeting
house sheds, and went sliding down hill on
moonlight winter evenings or attended
general training. and played three old cat
ON the common, and chased butterflies in
the home lot, and got scolded for trampliuu
down the rowen. And as they talked they
spoke Of the war.
No, We didn't 90 ter the war said Old
I Rockingham, but we kept the women folll-
company while the men nd boys was away,
and calculate We saw II grander martyr
dom than you could have found on any OF
keep 'em braced up, for there was the ac
tivity of war, the excitement Of change
and the thought of fame, country, and all
that sort o thing but the women folks
there want nothin' for them to do but tc
wait, nd 10 pick lint nd 10 pray"
The hills stood guard all round, said
Dedham, ''as much as to say, There shan I
no sorrow come to the women-folks if We
can keep it away and it seemed as if they
tried to keep their word too. for the stage
that fetched the mail from Brattleboro al
lus broke down two or three times ON the
road whenever it had bad news from the
boys who had gone 70 the war"
"Oh, but how sort o fierce like the min.
lister use to read out the hymns in them
| DAYS said Ortonville: "and how he kep
| hghtiu' over the battles o. the war in hi,
PRAYERS nd sermons"
And how the hull congregation used t
rise up nd sing Praise God from whom al
blessings flow whenever there was new,
that the Green Mountain boys had won a
battle - cried Old Hundred, proudly.
Yes, yes, we must have played our part
in the struggle" said Near. solemuly, "fol
baI -, l,. c,1
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