News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-08-07
Where she seemed to see vision of
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aSln my ears anu Oh! Sne eXcla1m-
ed. clapping her hands, how smart
did lookl" Then after a pensive rev.
ery of a half moments duration, she
said: Mother, | wish had a pair
of ear-bobs like Mis- Barton's.'
Missy, don't you know that the
tenth commandment SAYS: Thou
shalt not covet anything that is thy
neighbours An, MISSY. don't be
a-handlin' of the ladies things; just
do your stint and come away; and as
for all them gew-gaws, | don't take
any stock in 'em. never did b'lieve
in cuttin' holes n our bodies to stick
gold in; it's too much like slittin' th'
ears of hogs an heifers to mark 'em
am too much like the heathens,
too; if was goin' to hang bangles on
my body | think I'd s lief hang 'em
on my nose like the Iniin women.
Anyhow, that kind o. fxin' up want
good taste in the gS1!Itry, folks like
tn Swinburns don't get themselves
up that way. Now be off, MISSY,
we've been trifiin' with time-and,
Missy" she called, after the girl had
started, dom let General MacClellan
follow you-there's too much hurry
for any foolin' ~
The General Mcclellan alluded to
was only a young rooster, but a most
important member of the Blount
| family.
Having been abandoned in embryo
he had pecked his way into the world
under the genial warmth of Mrs
Blount's kitchen range, and was
mothered by the family in general,
and Melissy in particular. He had
been granted the freedom of the
house, and was usually to be found
at Melissy's heels. Sometimes he was
overtaken with gregarious mood,
when he would join his feathered
friendsin the door-yard. The coming
of Mrs Barton, however, brought
cloud upon the horizon of General
MacClellan. The second day after her
arrival her majesty returned from the
beach and found General MacClellan
pecking around her domain with all
the nOnchalance that characterized
his barnyard strolls. The volley of
missiles, in the shape of slippers, hair
brushes, combs and other toilet arti-
cles, to say nothing of vigorous cpl
thets which she angrily hurled after
his roOstership, sent him flying with
the usual velocity and noisy remOn-
STRANGE peculiar to a chicken in re-
treat
From that day war seemed to have
been declared between the two, and
Mrs. Barton's quarters became con-
tested territory 1t was amusing to
watch him recommending for a renew
ed invasion. The field once clear of
the enemy, General MacClellan would
walk in and, with all the majesty of
the great chieftian whose name he
bore, would review the lists, turning
his head from right to left, then, as
though glorying in conquest, he
would give vent to a succession OF
deafening crows.
We would have to have gained a
deeper insight into the psychology of
fowls to determine whether General
MacCIeligSn's s4iazSs~rsAaaoFs during.
these invasions We're owing to mad
vertence or a disposition for revenge
against his antagonist.
But Mrs Barton could not be con-
WINGED that it was not "pure spite
work y that prompted that fiend of
a chicken" to upset her powderboX
and track its contents over her dress
er. But we must leave the young
miscreant and return to his betters
Melissy returned, not with the old
est Hackeldorn girl, who could not be
spared from home, but with her sis
IL NJ ,lI do
nominated as "half cracked" The
latter, however, consoled herself with |
the reflection that if the girl had not
"head" she had a pair of strong,
willing hands which, under her own
able direction, might do until "a more
efficient substitute could be found.
Mrs Blount had just sent the girl
to the cellar to execute some commits
sion there, and she and her spouse
were chanting out their satisfaction |
at the array of pies, cakes, and other |
edibles upon their larder shelves,
which had been concocted in spite of
the difficulties in the way, when Me
lissy came running toward them
wringing her hands.
"Oh, mother motheri' she sobbed |
out, "you know them big diamond |
earbobs of Mis- Barton's-one of
'em's gone, and, oh, mother! she
thinks | took it, cause she saw me |
a-handlin' OF it Oh whatever shall | |
do. You know | wouldn't sneak a
thing away like that even if | did
want it; don't you, mother?'
"Oh mercy me to be sure | do,
then turning to her husband, who |
stood with wide-open mouth, looking
as though his wits had taken flight, |
she exclaimed: "Moses, you heerd, |
didn't youl didn't you Don't stand |
there a-gapin' an lookin' so wild
like. Tell us what to-"
IDOL Pears like I'd like to have
somebody tell me, mother" replied
the old man, with a quavering voice.
"To think p exclaimed Mrs. BlOunt,
with an angry energy unusual to her,
''that I've been keepin' boarders |
these thirty year
"Thirty-one wear, mother, countln'
from the time tn"
COIL well, it's no time for a-split
tin hairs-for thirty-one year then,
an nothin' like this ever to have hap
pened beforel After all, Moses, it's
better to stick to the -"
''Aristocracy,"
''Yes; for one knows but that this
is a blackmail game. You know, an
know that our MISSY didn't take
her stun, an that just leaves one
other way t. explain it" then turning
to the weeping Melissy, she said
Leastwise We'll go up and take
hunt for t, things do have way o.
gettin' under tn mattin' sometimes
Come, M'lissyl'
Janet HackeldOrn now come up
from the cellar and said:
"You said, mum, to kill a chicken
after I'd done my stint in the cellar;
any partic'lar one?"
''Ohl any of 'em; just so it amt !
any of the layin' hens; now come,
Missy"
They found Mrs. Barton in a state
of great excitement. With a majestic
strut that might be likened to a
tragedian of the old school she was
moving up and down the room, the
picture of one who thought she had
been wronged. She was attired in a
pink cashmere teagown, with a long
train swinging behind her. Her
coarse, grizzly hair was arranged a
Ia squaW-that is, in scattering, un-
even bangs, which had once been friz-
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