Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1891-06-19
AN OLD-TIME JOURNEY.
A Vermont hoy. Trip TO boston in 1873

1t Will take month TO 90 and come, or
longer if the snow thaws. Your oxen will
fall sick, you will have your money stolen
or cheated away from you, and when you
get to Boston you'll find that green Yer
monter only fifteen years old is no match
for the traders
"Wel. ma, | think even a boy might do
as well as Uncle Silas, when he snapped
Aunt Prue's bees-waX and yarn mittens
for keg of rum and drank it all on the
way home
Hush, Ephraimr' said a mans voice
from an easy chair by the fireside. "Run
away now and mother and l will talk it
over
Ephraim Robinson left the great farm
kitchen rather anxious about the result of
the domestic conference. He climbed the
stairs to the shed loft and busted himself
scraping and smoothing a nearly finished
axe helve with piece of glass. He heard
below the hum of voices and caught the
stir in the group caused by a new comer's
entrance. Climbing up to the one pane OF
glass high in the peak of the gable, and
clearing away the cobwebs from it, he could
see Parson Stowell's oxen patiently waiting
at the gate. He felt greatly encouraged.
Mr.. Stowell believed in boys, so he was not
much surprised when he was called down
into the kitchen As he stood looking
from one to the other his father said, You
tell him, Parson."
IL think" said Mr.. Stowell in his brisk.
inciSive voice. ''that a good boy can be
trusted away from home as well as a good
many of the men. You get your load
ready ami don't make it too heavy nor yet
too light. Feel your steers well before and
when the rest of Us get ready you shall 90
along. Your father wont get over that
splintered leg before spring, and there's no
one to 20 but you. SO it's all settled. Well.
good-by, Sister Robinson, good-by. brother.
May the Lord send you patience to wait
upon his wllr'
amen, Brother Stowellr' said Mr.. Rob
inson briskly enough: but there was
wistful look upon his pale face as he gazed
at the sparkling winter landscape outside
the window.
Such hustle of preparation as followed
the decision that Eph Robinson was to
drive his fathers sled upon the yearly mar
ket trip to Boston. The boys of his age.
whose envy was too keen to be kept secret.
tried to ''whiten his back upon the snow
to keep Eph from feeling too big about it,
as they would explain.
But Ephraim had little time for wrest-
ling matches. He had his axe helves to
finish, though his father laughed at him
for carrying such wares so far There was
the pork to pack, the chickens to kill,
pluck and hang up to freeze the cheeses to
stow away in long sloping casks. the small
est at the bottom and the largest at the
top; the pearl ash made by teaching
wood ashes and boiling the I've and the ma
pie sugar kept over from last spring make
as good as new, had to be put in boxes
There were dozens OF pairs of yarn nit
tens and stockings and woollen warn in the
skein, and few small tubs of butter care
fully covered with salt, and with all these
must be put on the great sled a number of
bags of corn to feed the oxen during the
first stages of the journey.
Amid all these labors, which occupied
the end OF December and the first of Janu-
ary- Ephraim kept a sharp lookout for set
lied weather. When the January thaw
came, he buried his frozen chickens in the
oat BIN so that they might keep frozen
But by and by there came succession
OF cold days and afterward a heavy fall of
snow. The time had come. and one sun
day the word was passed along that all
must be ready for start the next morn
ing
Ephraim was out of his bed long before
daybreak caring for Buck and Bright.
Their sleek and well-rubbed sides shone in
PROOF OF his attention and they seemed on
the best of terms with their young master.
Then there was hurried breakfast to be
eaten while his mother constantly repeated
words OF advice and caution. Perhaps he
was at first inclined to be needless of her
words, but when she rose and went TO the
little cupboard by the great fireplace, I'M
fastened the thong which bound its mouth
and silently held out TO him almost the en-
tire hoard of money, few bills on the
bank of the United States, New England
silver, York shillingsn from the autumn
wheat market in Troy, and even a few Ca
madam coins, he noted the sober anxious
look upon her face and resolved that, come
what might, he would do his best to de-
serve her confidence. So kissing her good
by, he stood for a moment by his fathers
chair.
well, Eph, said Mr., Robinson. nurs-
ing his broken leg as he spoke, ''vour
mother has said it all, | guess. Forget for
month that you are a boy and be a man.
Remember it was a Robinson, and kin of
yours, who bore free peoples protest TO a
king and died on duty. Keep your head
and your temper. Insist on all your rights.
and don't let any one flatter YOU into
foolish act"
by this time could be seen up the road
the SLOW approach OF a procession of about
ntteen ORLEANS, all dragging pOnderous
heayy-laden sledges. One of these was of
gigantic size and six oxen tugged at the
yoke to drag it, all directed by the long lash
and lusty lungs of jolly, red-faced Pastor
Stowell 1t was one of the peculiarities of
this good man that he would take no pay
for preaching the gospel, but worked his
own farm and drove his own oxen TO mar
ket every year.
When the teams came up, the creakinp
of the timbers, the crunching of the wood
en- runners on the snow and the CHEEKY
shouts Of the drivers making merry music
III the frosty air Ephraim had yoked his
own oxen to his sled and fell in at the rear
OF the procession, with a good-by wave of
the hand TO his mother standing in the
door, and TO the white face at the window.
There was the sense of adventure in ev-
cry minute of this first days drive, but the
actual facts were prosaic enough. The
drivers, who went together for sociability's
sake and TO render mutual help in emer-
gencies, beguiled the time by singing and
shouting and by boyish pranks in which
Ephraim's new dignity would not let him
join until he saw Parson StOwel engaged
IN gOOd-natuTed wrestle with a deacon of
OF his church, while the oxen rested half
way up long hill.
AT noon they "baited their animals