St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-11-15
MISCELLANY.
ONLY A DEAF WOMAN.


neither did it especially matter wheth-
er it was or not, as Blue Station was
one of those s1odges in the vast will
dernessn where time was not reckoned
according to the Wall street standard
and where people took things easy.
The stage for Hemlock Hill was
waiting there-a clumsy cOnglomera-
ton of musty leather, faded paint, and
ancient wood, drawn by two sleepy
horses and driven by a Jehu so old that
one instinctively wondered how he
ever got up and down from his aerial
perch on the box seat. Mr.. Richmond
and his friend Colonel Jones took their
seats, packed their valises snugly I'M
der the seat, and fastened their natty
silk umbrellas in the rack overhead.
There was only one other passenger
woman in a brown waterproof cloak
and green veil with a lidded market
basket in her lap and tremendous ear
trumpet in her hand.
"Only a deaf woman" said Colonel
Jones, glancing toward her.
81 see," observed Mr.. RichfOrd. eve
need put no particular restraint on our
conversation"
care we all ready, driver % shouted
leisurely methods of life in a place like
Blue station. The driver appeared to
rouse himself from il sort of doze.
~ be if you be! !" said he. "Git up,
Kate ! Look out. thar, you SOrrel ~
And away they rolled.
eyes," said Col. Jones, rubbing his
neatly gloved hands, sit will be gen
uine surprise. And | meant it to be.
I g., IL
are"
"Ce1 tainly," said Mr.. Richmond,
lurching from one end of the seat to
the other, as the wheels took big
stone on their way.
"The lad is over head and ears in
love-" said Colonel Jones.
"Young men will be fools," observed
Mr.. Richmond, cynically.
"But school teacher; q district
school teacher!" sighed the colonel,
who was tall and portly and clean
shaven, with very black eyebrows and
hair just dashed with silver.
ga good many nice girls take to that
business" remarked Mr.. Richmond.
Mr.. Richmond was a gaunt gentleman,
with hollow eyes, a parchment-colored
skin, and a general dyspeptic air.
cit isn't that | despise the trade"
said Colonel Jones. "You know that
as we'll us | do, Richmond. If the girl
is good and pretty, I'd as soon she
should be school teacher as anything
else. But l want my boy to have a
real home-like home. My wife gave
me one, and [ solemnly believe it was
the making of me. And Victor's wife
must be no mere book machine or
wearer of fine clothes. If she can't
sew and sweep and cook, she's no fit
mate for my son. Well, you see, |
have been studying the matter over"
~ see," said Mr.. Richmond, holding
desperately to the leather strap above
his head, as the driver guided the
wheels over a succession of stumps on
on the side of the road.
81 give them no time for prepare
tion," said the colonel, chuckling. 81
drop down upon Miss Alden like wolf
on the fold. see just exactly what
she is. Judge for myself. l wouldn't
give fig for all the Latin and guitar
music and china painting in the world
if a woman can't make a loaf of light,
sweet bread and cook a steak Eth
am sure | beg a thousand pardons,
ma'am," as a sudden swing of the
coach precipitated his head against the
basket and sent the ear trumpet roll
ing to the floor.
"Allow me! Did you want to get
out 2"
For the woman with the green veil
was making vehement gestures with
her hand to the driver. She put up
her trumpet with an inquiring express
sion of face.
ou-want-to-get - out2"
roared Col. Jones into it's convOluted
depths, the veins starting out on his
forehead as he did so.
eyes, sir, please" said the woman
and the courteous colonel himself got
out to expedite the removal of the bas-
ket, the trumpet and sundry brown
paper parcels which constituted the
belongings of their fellow passenger.
The green-veiled head bobbed &C
acknowledgements, the colonel lifted his
hat like a modern Don Quixote, and
the stage, enveloped in a cloud of dust,
rolled away toward the brightness of
the western sky. The green-veiled
passenger caught up her parcels, skip
ped over the stone stile with amazing
alacrity for so apparently feeble per-
sOnage, and flew like deer across the
wooded solitudes until she came to
low, red farmhouse, and entered Il cosy
kitchen, where u middle-aged woman
was making blackberry pies.
"Here's your trumpet all mended,
Aunt Roxanna," said she. "And here's
the alpaca dress and the three yards of
flannel and the basket with the tea
and sugar and spices. What are you
going to have for supper 2"
"Spring Chickens" said Aunt Rox-
anna in the soft subdued voice peculiar
to deaf people. "'They're on the butt'ry
shelf, all dressed and ready. And
baked potatoes; and | calculate to
have them pies ready to 60 into the
oven right off"
"Splendid !" said Lurana Hopkins.
81 want one of them. And must have
the chickens and that loaf of ginger
bread"
'La me !" said Aunt Roxanna. 'Ts
the girl crazy 7"
"It's for the schoolma'am, Aunt Rox-
anna" explained Lurana, with her rosy
mouth close to the ear trumpet. "Her
beau's father came up from the train
with me in ZadOc Hawley's stage, and
he took me for deaf woman, because
of the trumpet, L suppose, and talked
before me to his friend real free. And
he's come out here to surprise the
schoolma'am, and find out whether she
is good housekeeper or not. And if
she isn't, he's going to set himself dead
against the match !"
81 never heard nothing like it in my
life," said Aunt Roxanna.
"And she isn't you know she
isn't !" said Lurana. "She just lives
in half of the Widow Skerritt's house,
.,nd hoo rdS LorS1lf OIL, Lro.,d |