Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-04-30

l. though
 Tho sky was IS bright and as blue.
 ras waters were pure as before and as cool
 AS green were the woods and the dell,
 Hut something was gone since l. thirsty, from
 school,
 Drank joy from the old homestead we'll. | -H. c. Dodge. in Detroit Free Press 1 A CYCLOPEDIA STORY.
 Pathetic Scene Witnessed Upon
 the Delivery of Volume 2.
 Hav1n' lived next door to the Hobart place fr goin' on thirty years, calclate that l know jest about ez much about the case as any body else now on airth, except in perhaps it's ol' Jedge Baker, and he's so plaguey old nd so powerful feeble that he don't know nothin'.
 It seems that in the spring uv 47-the year that Cy Watson's oldest boy wuz drowned, in West river-there come along a book agent sellin' volyumes md tracks fir | the diffusion uv knowledge, md, havin' got the recommend of the minister md uv the seaectmen, he done an alfred b.g busi- ness in our part uv the county. His name wuz Lemuel Higgins, md he wuz ez likely a talker ez I ever heerd, barrin' Lawyer l ONSyt N0 SNSAy ol1O"cu tu6G when Conkey wuz 'round he talked SO fast that the town pump ud have to be greased every twenty minutes.
 l One uv the first uv our folks that this Lemuel Higgins struck wuz Leander Ho- bart. Leander had jest marr'd one uv the Peasley girls, md had moved into the old homestead on the Plainville road-old Dea- con Hobart havin' give up the place to him, the other boys havin' moved out West (lke I AInE 0p alarmed fOo1o hot ho1 ander wuz feelin' his oats jest about this 1 time md nuthin' wuz too good fir him. 1 "Hntte, {" sez he, '1 guess I'll have to lay in few books f'r readin' in the winter time, nd I've half notion to subscribe fir acyclopeedy: MT. Higgins hero says they're invalerable in family, and that we orter have 'em."
 1 Waal, to make long story short, Lean der bargained with MT. Higgins for a set uv them cyclopeedies, md he signed his name to a long printed paper that showed how he agreed to take cyclopeedy oncet in so | often, which wuz to be ez often ez 8 new one uv the volumes wuz printed. A cyclopeedy isn't printed all at oncet, because that would make it cost too much; consekently the man | that gets 1t up has 1t strung along fur apart, 1 50 as to hit folks oncet every year or two, and gin'raliy about harvest time. So Le- I ander kind uv liked the idee, and he signed 1 the printed paper md made his affidavit toit afore Jedge Warner
 | The fust vofyume Of the cyclopeedy stood | on 8 shelf in the old seckertary in the set tn'-room about four months before they | had any use fir It. One night 'Squlre Turner's son come over to visit Leander md Hattie, and they got to talkin' about ap- pies, md the sort of apples that wuz the 1 best Leander allowed that the Rhode Island greenin' wuz the best, but Hat tie and the Turner boy stuck up fir the Roxbury russet, until at last happy idee struck Leander, and sez he: "We'u leave it to the cyclopeedy, b gosh Which ever one the cyclopeedy sez is the best will settle it."
 "But you can't find out nothin' bout Rox- bury russets nor Rhode Island greenn's ln our cyclopeedy," sez Hattie.
 'sWhy not, I'd like to know?" sez Leander. kind uv indignant like.
 "Cause ours hain't got down to the k yet," sez Hattie. "All ours tells about is | things beginnin' with Az
 "Well, ain't we talkin' about appless" sez Leander: You aggervate me terrible, Hattie, by iusistin' on knowin' what you don't know nothin' bout"
 Leander went to the seckertary nd took down the cyclopeedy md hunted all through it fir apples, but all he could find wuz "Ap- ple-See Pomology."
 "How in thunder kin see PomoloRy.n sez Leander, ''when there ain't no Pomology to see? Col durn a cyclopeedy, anyhowv'
 And he put the volyume back onto the shelf nd never sot eyes into it agin.
 'That's the way the thing run fir years nd years. Leander would I've gin up the plaguey bargain, but he couldn't; he had signed 8 printed paper md had swore to it afore justice of the peace. Higgins would have had the law on him if he had throwed up the trade.
 The most aggervatin' feature uv it all wuz that 8 new one of them cussed cyclo- peedies wuz alus sure to show up at the wrong time-when Leander wuz hard up or had jest been afflicted some way or other His barn burnt down two nights afore the volyume containin' the letter arrived and Leander needed all his chink to pay fir lumber, but Higgins sot back on that af1- davit and defed the life out uv him. "Never mind, Leander," sez his wife, | soothin' like, tits g good book to have in l the house, anyhow, now that we've got a baby"
 "That's so," sez Leander, sbabies does | begin with B, don't it?'' j You see their fust baby had been born; they named him Peasley-Peasley Hobart after Hattie's folks. So, seein' as how it | wuz payin' fir a book that told about babies, ] Leander didn't begredge that five dollars | 90 very much, after all.
 "LeanQer, SeZ dattle one forenoon, 1 ''that B cyclopeedy ain't no account There l ain't nothin' in 1t about babies except See | Maternityr" --.
 "Waal, I'll be gosh durnedp' sez Le | 'ander. That wuz all he said and he couldn't | donothin' at all, f'r the book agent, Lemuel l Higgins, had the dead wood on him-the | mean. sneakn' critter!
 So the years passed on-one uv them cyclopeedies showin' up now md then, sometimes every two years md sometimes | every four, but allus at time when Le- ander found it pesky hard to give up flyer. It warn't no use cussin' Higgins; Higgins just laffed when Leander allowed that the cycIopeedy wuz no good md that he wuz bein' robbed. Meantime Leander's family wus increasin' and growth. Little Sarey had the hoopin' cough dreadful one winter, but the cyclopeedy didn't help out at all.
 NOTICE.
 HAVE oponAd q anita of droco y,o,p;r~ ron,r~ |