Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1890-01-15

sorrel horse to the door, and Eben,
whose benevolent heart had prompted
him to a duty in spite Of itself, put on
his back the two bushels of corn, SO as
to form kind of a saddle, ono bushel
one side, and the other on the other.
Take the corn to the mill" said
Eben; "have it ground, then take the
meal to Peter Rugg, and be sure to tell
him that 1 sent it,"
Harry was no idiot boy like that in
Wordsworth's tale of Bette Foy, but
this morning his wits went wool-gather-
ing. The Ode on Science and his mu-
steal triumphs Of the night before had
quite turned his head, and he started
of singing:
The morning sun shines from the east
And spreads its glories to tho west"
This was literally true. The morning
was bright and the air exhilarating, and
the mountains in all the over-hoods of
glory most inspiring. After singing the
Ode on Science, Harry essayed "Majes-
ty," and he made the woods ring with:
ION cherub and on cherubim
Full royalty he rode,
And on the wings Of mighty winds
Came flying all abroad"
He made even the chipmunks run,
and the grave jays stop 10 listen.
He was happy boy, very happy
boy. 1t was a long way from the red
house and barn of Eben Browns farm to
the great wooden mill-wheel on the
Housatonic, but Harry did not urge the
roam horse, who had no disposition to be
urged. Why should one travel fast
when every thing is bright and beauti-
fulp
Eben had tied the bag tightly the
night before, after he had reduced the
four bushels of corn to two. He picked
up every kernel of corn that he had
CHANGED to scatter over the floor, and put
it into the bag.
Now, in the house there were mice
sly mice. And when all the family were
in the other world of dreams on the
night before, one or two of these mice
had explored the kitchen, and, finding
not so much as a single kernel of corn,
after all the vigorou sshelling, had each
gnawed a little hole, one in either end
of the bag, and had made dainty meal,
and slipped away, leaving the two little
holes. The motion of the sorrel horse,
as he walked mathematically along, be-
gan to slip out the corn through either
end of the bag, slowly at first, but very
freely at last, unperceived by Harry,
whose mind was on wings in the far-off
musical sky.
AS he went on singing and whistling,
and sitting the corn unperceived, a
strange annoyance befell the felicitous
knight of the two bushels of corn. The
Il
houses, the great f1ocks of turkeys COB
bling, the waddling geese quacking.
He passed the great dairy farms under
the cool shadow of Greylock and the
Park Lane Ridge; everywhere there fol-
lowed him great fiocks of poultry-hens,
ducks, geese and turkeys; they grew to
be almost an army at last, cackling,
quacking, gobbling.
But Harry did not stop to investigate
the cause of all this gathering Of wings
and bills behind him. The fowl all
seemed happy; so was he; it was bright
and happy morning.
Once or twice he shook his fist at some
new flocks of turkeys that came flying
and gobbling down from an old stone
wall.
and then went on, singing.
The composite army of farm fowl left
him at last, and he came in sight of the
foaming mill-wheel that was tossing the
cool waters Of the Housatonic near the
grand old orchards of what was once one
of the New Providence farms. New
Providence Is vanished village now.
its churches and inns used to be on Stat
ford Hill, but Cheshire village has taken
its place. One can not so much as find
New Providence on the map. 1t was
settled by the Masons and Browns
and Coles from Swansea, Mass. and Gov
entry, R. l. The colony went to Sack
vile, N. B., first, but finding the cli-
mate too rigorous, followed their pastor,
Elder Mason, to the Berkshire Hills and
founded Cheshire under the name Of
New Providence.
Suddenly Harry ceased singing. The
horses's back began to grow hard. He
thought that he would adjust the bag
and make his position easier. He clasp
ed the bag-and what look of amaze
ment must have come into his facet
there was nothing in it, not so much as
single kernel of corn!
Harry had heard of witches and thinps
bewitched, of people casting an evil eve,
OF the awful ghost story that Elder Lee
land used to tell. He recalled his
mothers wish, and wondered if that had
not bewitched the bag. Had the bag
united? He look to see. No, there was
the string. His heart thumped, and he
felt hot flashes and cold shivers Green
over him,
He stopped the horse. Crows cawed
above him. The mill-wheel turned and
turned before him. Why should he 20
forward? He had nothing for the miller
and what, oh, what could he say to
the miller if he went to the mill with
an empty bagl
He would retrace his way, and see If
that would offer any clue to the appall-
ing mystery. But it offered none.
There was not so much as kernel of
corn in the road, and the turkeys and
geese and ducks and pnllets everywhere
seemed contented, with full crops and
fat sides. They did not even gobble or
quack or cackle. The world all seemed
serene and happy.
What should he say to his father?
And to his mother?
And what would the world say now2
And Elder Leland, who had been visited
by ghost and had heard voices from
the sky?
So towards the red farmhouse Harry
Brown turned his horses head in won
der and amusement He thought of the
awful Indian tales and ghost tales az 01d