Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1888-12-21

And oh, the gladncs- u the world.
The glory Of the skies
Because the longed for Christ had SMILED
In Mary's happy eyesl
HDg1rsf Dsla,d
now CIIRLST'MiS CAME ~
TUh'EY'S COTE.
1t was queer, but nothing ever seemed to
come to Tukey's Cove, or, if it did, it was
belated You would never know there
when it was the Fourth of July unless the
wind happened TO be- in such quarter that
you could hear the Fleetwel bells ringing
or some uncommonly fortunate boy had one
or at most two lunches Of crackers, which
he would fire off under a tin pan to get all
| the noise possible out Of them, with all the
| boys and dogs in town to assist that was
the most of celebration they ever had.
| Thanksgiving day never came either-and
it was New England too. The Turkeys
Cove turkeys quaked with dread Of IA far
worse fate than being comfortably and fra
| GRAVITY Drowned in their own homestead
ovens and eaten where their plumpness
aud tenderness would call forth home
| praises and lasting memories they were
| ignobly turned in the nearest market for
flour and tea and other necessaries. Birth
| days could scarcely be said 10 come there,
since no one could remember ever having
had good time or "A present because it was
his birthday Even spring kept away long
after she had come all along the Cape the
east winds blew and blew so that the leaves
and buds dared not come out, AMI the sand
choked the springing grass As 1t was di
! rectly on the sea shore, winter 81 As long IN
coming too, sometimes keeping back his
! frost and snow until Christmas; that is,
until it was Christmas in the amanacs 1t
never seemed to be Christmas at Tukey's
Cove.
'Of course they couldn't expect that,
Nahum Nckerson said, patiently
1t was when Emeretta went out, with her
shawl over her head, TO the wood pile where
he was chopping. and said that she wished
they could have a little bit of Christmas for
little Mary James sake She went out there
to say it because they didn't like to have
their mother know that they thought much
about the things they couldn't have. Moth
er was an invalid. and lay ON the old hair
cloth sofa almost all the time, and little
Mary Jane was delicate, and could never
go out TO play like other children, and Ma
| hum and Emeretta had to work in the stock
| ing factory, and leave them alone all day.
| And the days were long and monotonous,
especially to little Mary Jane, who knew
all the stories in her one picture book 10y
| heart, and could read them upside down,
and could see the pictures with her eyes
shut, and whose one doll was constantly
coming unsewed and unpinned, and turning
again into the old shawl from which it was
evolved, which was very perpexing aud
| distressing TO maternal feelings and had
now, moreover, lost one of its black button
1 L Al. "a & L
it could not be recovered. To have life
look dark to little Mary Jane was, to all the
Others the hardest thing they had to bear.
Nahum thought that perhaps Emeretta
meant that he ought to take the four dollars
and fifty nine cents that he had saved up,
| and make Christmas for little Mary Jane
| but how could he do that when at any time
| the drummer who came from Boston to buy
| goods at the stocking factory might say he
had found for him the situation he had
promised to seek for if he had not money
| enough to pay his fare he could not go His
mother had given her consent to his going
TO Boston-anywher indeed-if he would
not wish to go to sea The reason why 1u
keys Cove was so sad place, where so few
| pleasant things came, was that the fathers
and husbands and brothers were all fisher
men or coasters, and many and many of
!
it seemed to all the women in Tukey's Cove
a cruel treacherous monster, and they
shivered when they heard it calling and
calling to their sons with that voice that is
so apt to be persuasive to boys ears. Ma
hum meant to be somebody in the world, if
he couldn't he sailor. Long long thoughts
! and plannings that no one would have i'm
agined went on inside that round, tow
matched head of his
His mother was to grow strong and hap
| py, and wear a silk dress Emeretta was to
have a new hair ribbon each day ut must be
acknowledged that Emeretta would have
liked that and go TO a high school, and lit
tie Mary Jane-what was not little Mary
Jane to have "a strong back, and the red
dest of cheeks, and whole tovshops and
menageries at her command. There were
to be carpets on the floors, and pictures on
the walls, and always plum cake for sup
per. He was somewhat undecided whether
he should be the editor Of great newspa-
per which should take the right side on ev-
| cry question and be hOnOred and approved
of by every one, or great merchant who
never made bad bargain, or the president
of bank in which every one trusted.
There had been times when he had seriously
contemplated shooting butfaloes, or being
president, or inventng a new kind of bal
loon but he said TO himself that he had
grown wise and practical since then. But
however his views as to his own career
changed, in one determination he never
wavered-he meant to have "A good gun.
Perhaps much of Nahums planning was
foolish and visionary, and yet what may
not a boy do with strong arm and stout
heart and that armor of courage that wards
off all the blows of fortune Z At all events,
if you bad prophesied to Nahum that he
would never succeed he wouldn't have be-
lieved you-nO indeed
Emeretta was going into the house, look
ing disappointed, in spite of the fact that
she had not really expected that Nahum
would spend his four dollars and fifty nine
cents and would scarcely have wished him
to, for Nahum's precious plans were occa-
sionally divulged to her, and she had i'm
plicit faith in them, and Nahum was won
derng whether he had not better call her
back and tell her that he would spend the
ffty-nine cents for something to put into
little Mary James stocking, when MIN Bak
! er, one of their neighbors, who had been
over TO Fleetwell with a load of CLANS
stopped at the door
Here's box for Emeretta that fetch
ed over from the express Office" called
MIN Guess she's got a Christmas pres
ent ~
For me ?" cried Emeretta running ou
to the wagon. 1T must be mistake
Who would send me box y
t "Well, as long as there isn't any othel
Emeretta Ellen Nckerson in these parts,
I calc'late you'll have to take il. Mebbe Santi
p Claus has sent by express, bein' he neve
seems to have time to get round here will
r his reindeer" said MIN, facetiously
/, "Oh, oh, Emeretta did Santa Claus sen,
a it p cried little Mary Jane, dancing aroun,
n the box in wide eyed excitement and de
r light
r Emeretta stood, with clasped hands, at
r respectful distance, and looked it all over
, although there was nothing TO be seen bu
o the four wooden sides, and the address, il
n very large black letters, Miss Emeretta ri
, len Nckerson, Tukey's Cove" But Ma
D hum, who was a boy of action, was alread
e prying off the top with the Ratchet.
n Here's a letter that will tell you al
e about it, he said.
d Emeretta turned the letter over an,
$ over in her hands, looking at it with kin,
of awe and afraid to open it,