Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-10-31
THE GOLDEN TABLE.

St Paul Pioncer-Press.
THE GOLDEN TABLE.
1t was in the summer OF 1925, in an out
of the way cottage in a lonely New Eng
land town, that one might have heard the
following conversation:
81 tell We what, mum, I'm a-goin' to git
out o. this: Pm tired O. hoein' an a-plant-
in an a-cuttin' stocks in the fall, an
a-thrashin' the fail half the winter. Pm
a-goin' to Furnaceville to go inter the fac
try where l can besomebodyl You'd orter
seen how the fellers from there look! They
was just drest to kill last Sunday, when l
ketched 'em a-stealin' apples over'n our
back orchard. Shiny caps an starched
shirts ev'ry one on 'enl! Some on 'em earn
three an four dollars a week sides payin'
board, an they say they live like kings at
the fact'ry boardin' house,
"Wall, Joe, you hev spelt. Mebbe there's
more N yer head than I think, but land O.
massy, yeou don't talks eff there was.
You RS big a fool as yer Uncle Glib. He
never mounted to shuclls, only sot round
on the aige O. Little Pond an dreamed
O. how to git that ere gold table, an yer
dad an I jest dug the meat Off our bones
to feed you young uns an him. To think
yer dad an should go to work an hev a
fool in the fambiy," and poor Mum Her
ring seized pail of swill which she had
been scalding, and went out of the little
doorway to feed the pigs, whose pen was
but a portion Of the back yard fenced off
cornerwise by short strip of rail fence
JOSH Herring sat silent. What was it
about this gold table? Surely he had heard
it before. ''Mum'' was so mad with him
now for wishing to get away from home
that he knew she would tell him no more,
lest it should make him good for nothing,
as Uncle Glib. But if there was a gold
table there might not that be a better thing
to go in for than to go to the factory?
When "mum' came back from the pig
pen JOSH was missing She shifted and
said, "Gone, to the fact'ry; he's no count
anyway"
But he had gone to Neighbor Sanders to
learn about that table.
At the home of Neighbor Sanders this
anomaly, an ambitious Herring, listened
to a strange tale.
Ages and ages ago one of the historically
lazy, non-working Herring family had
been possessed by 8 strong passion for
money, piles of money, earned easily and
quickly. A travelling pack man sought
nights lodging at Herring's cabin, disap-
peared mysteriously, or SO the neighbors
thought when they were not visited by
him they next morning as they expected.
Not to see the contents of his pack was
of itself deep disappointment to these
simple people, who rarely saw peddler
more frequently than thrice year, and
surely never INDUCED in the luxury of
trading with more than one out OF that
thrice.
Jake Herring had made great deal OF
talk about the cheating scamp who, he as
serted, had risen early while the family
were sleeping and gone away without pay
ing for his supper and bed. Yet the neigh
bors WHISPERED their doubts to each other.
and in a few months the Herring family
were suspiciously well dressed. They
talked of presents from hitherto unheafd
of wealthy relatives. But the neighbors
talked of the missing peddler! They be-
lieved the fine clothes came from his pack,
and wondered if sit would ever come to
light"
Some wears afterward one of the more
ambitious farmers of this locality resolved
to rid a certain field Of it's tangle of bar
berry bushes. Jake Herring was resting
peacefully in his grave, as far as any knew.
But there were grave doubts in the neigh
bors' minds when Neighbor Rand, to his
horror, unearthed from beneath barberry
bush the skeleton Of man and long,
leather shoulder strap. such as peddlers
used for carrying their packs.
ssMurder will out" cried all the town,
'and Jake did kill that peddler, and must
have used the strap to drag the body from
- 10 I'll 10 NJ7
under the thorny barberry bush"
Then followed the tradition that curse
came then upon the Herrings that all
should remain poor, and wherever they
went a barberry bush should spring up,
even where none could ever be made to
grow before, SO that the whole world should
know the danger-that a Herring was near
But as to all crimes some atonement is
permitted, or some expiatory achievement
is allowed to wipe out the SIM SO in this
case had it in some way become known
that in Littles pond depths lay a golden
table. and if this could be secured by the
industry and skill of some one, compare
lively sinless, all the sins of his ancestors
might be atoned and the curse pronounced
upon even the third and fourth generation
might be removed.
No wonder that Glib Herring had pom
dered long how to obtain it, and whenever
he heard of white bull calf born at some
neighbours had tried to purchase it. Ira
dition said, Twelve yoke of spotlessly
white oxen attached to a grapnel iron and
driven through the pond by brave indus
trious, pure young man would bring to
light the golden table and lift the curse Of
ancestral sins from his own and future
generations" Were he sinful or indus
trious only in pretense then he and the
oxen would sink in the, to that day, I'M
fathomed depths of the pond; while the
heavy grapnel iron would against all laws
of Iature) float for seven days as a warn
ing to all that the sin Of hypocrisy would
never be permitted to prosper or advance
one in life.
Where the cultured can scarcely shake
off superstition it is not strange that tii5
ignorant cling to it. JOSH Herring Went
home in deep thought; twenty-four white
oxen he knew must first be trained and in
his possession, and he must go steadily to
work. He went out late at night, and find
ing a luXuriant barberry bush he dug it
up with quick, vigorous thrusts of the
spade and shovel. Then, with his heavy
boots, he trampled it under foot, crushing
the blood hued berries at every stamp of
his heavy, cowhide number mines; then
kneeling down beside the gravelike exca-
yation he had made he solemnIy vowed
with the moon for witness. that he would
never rest till he possessed both oxen and
table.
Years were spent in the search, years CT
hard labor first on one farm, and then an
other. Twenty dollars month and board
for seven months in the year, and $40 in
the winter for chores and wood chopping
! and wood drawing. was no small amount
of ready cash for Herring, How careful
ly he husbanded that money and counted
| it over and over! With wise forethought
he not only bought each pure white calf of
which he could hear, and sent it home to
be pastured on the old meadows hired of
his father, but realizing how great was the
profit in the growth of stock, he bought