St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-01-24
MIR. WINTHROP'S PRESENTS.
A Little Experience with Pen-Wipers
and Slippers.

lV and count the pen-WlpeTS ana
pairs of slippers given it by h soft
err sex. We know not if the custom
of presenting their gentlemen friends
with pen-wipersa and slippers prevails
among the ladies of Patagonia or far
Cathav, but we do know that it eN-
tends all over the morec1vllized parts
of the globe; and the numbe OF such
articles which we receive each Christ
mas must soar far away into that
dizzy region beyond the millions.
Happy is the man whose conscience
is not to-day pricked by the fact that
he does not use a pen-w1per wrought
by some fair hand, which lies on his
desk, but continues to put his pen IN
the rack unwiped, OF jab it i'll a dish
of bird-shot still dripping with ink.
And thrice happy is he who hath no
new slippers to break in. but can en-
Joy his old ones. But the ladies do
the best they can. There aren't
anyhow. Pen-wipers and slippers
seem to cover the ground.
There is probably no man, in this
country, at least, who more sincere
" regrets that he ever received any
| DSII-WlDSlS Vi DDS itih I'm
Mr.. Henry w. Winthrop, of South
Ettrick,. New Jersey. The Rev. Mr..
Winthrop is q young man who was
graduated from college and theologi-
cal seminary not long ago and has
been installed in the little church at
South Ettrick some six months. The
Rev. Mr.. Winthrop is unmarried.
He is tall and has a pleasing address,
and has been from the first a favor
lite, especially the young ladies.
On Christmas, when the shadows
of the night were falling about the
little hamlet of South Ettrick, and as
the last red of the dying day burned
low on the far away western horn
zon, the Rev. Mr.. Winthrop sat down
before the CRATE in his room, and in
the Pickering, dancing light of the
fire, hecounted twenty-slX pen-wlpers
and eleven pairs of slippers. His
head sank lower and he wept.
Now the Rev. Mr. Winthrop,
though in the ministry, has not lost
his taste for harmless sport. He has
a good gun and occasionally INDUCES
in a little shooting. He could not, of
course, derive any pleasure from ty-
lllS ii LII Il ~ boS > lSlii IN II q
man and not q boy. Neither could
he find any enjoyment III letting a
frightened rabbit out of a box and
starting a long, spectral dog, with a
procession of ribs on either side of
him like a picket fence, after the es-
Gaping creature; as we sad, he IS a
man, and not a Long Island imita-
ton Englishman. But hedoes some
times take his gun and go out in a
little strip of woods on the edge OF
town, where he shoots a rabbit or
two, which he gives to his landlady
for the next days dinner. This does
not improve the breed of dogs OF
course, but on the other hand a dog
can witness it without losing his re-
spect for man.
Last Tuesday afternoon two young
ladies of the Rev. Mr.. WinthrOp's
congregation were passing through
the little wood before mentioned.
They could have gone by the road,
but they preferred the wood. 1t was
more romantic. They had heard the
E crack of their pastors gun, but that
did not deter them. They knew he
was a good shot and that he would
llol tI1lSlCtkS lISIl " D'DiN 1hN
walked along a little path earnestly
discussing the dismal failure which
another Young lady, a dear friend o
theirs, had made in her attempt to
foist her last winters hat, newly
trimmed, upon a cOnhdlng public a:
a new one, when suddenly they saw
something on the light o which
lay in a little open place among the
bushes, which attracted their atten
ton. They approached it and pick
ed it up. Horrors! 1t was half o
an autumn-leaf felt pen-wiper which
one of them had made and given tt
their pastor at Christmas, O
, burned, blackened and begrimed b,
powder. Two steps away lay TIL
velvet toe of a slipper which the 9th
> er had given to the same monster
They looked at each other with flash
ing eyes. Then they held a whisper
ed consultation, not loud but deep
and started on, not forgetting t.
take the proofs of the Rev. Mr.. Win
! throp's perfidy with them. They haC
! not gone ten steps when the repOr
of his gun sounded directly in from
= of them. They advanced cautiOusl,
and peeped through a clump O
> bushes. The wretch was standin.
in an open space not ten yards ava.
loading his gun. He calmly poure'
> a charge of powder down the ban
rel and then, with vicious jerk, tor
! two black leaves and a red one iron
= a pen-wiper, made in the form OF
= book, and rammed them down tn
barrel on top of the powder. The
he poured a measure of shot, savage
" wrenched a piece of plush with tw'
rose-buds on it from a slipper an
crowded it on top of the shot. H
O walked away looking for anOthe
rabbit and they hurried home.
e The next day the little village {
l. South Ettrick, was in an uproal
If The treacherOus minister's landlad
: was called upon to spy out the e>
/ tent of the havoc and she repOrte
d that already twelve of the twenty
six pen-wipers were gone, and tina
It of the eleven pairs of slippers onl
three pairs remained, with some 81
i or seven odd ones. This settled maj
o ters for the Rev. Mr.. Winthrop
o Every woman's hand vas agains
him. The men made a feeble effOr
O to rally to his support, most OF the1
d sympathizing with him and secretl
/. admiring his courage, but it did n
good; the dear ladies gave him t
,e understand plainly that they woul
never go to hear him preach again
,e He is still at South Ettrick, but /
J. keeps in the seclusion of his room
It surrounded by scattered pen-wipel
IS and odd slippers, hoping for a call t
W.