St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1894-02-15
Selprtrn Sfnrn.
LIFTING THE MORTGAGE

and rigid economy my Uncle Dan,
who was farmer in Story county,
Ia, found himself about to be sold
out on mortgage. It's the way
with some men, you know. They
may work as hard as they will, but
things grow worse instead of better.
/ was there on visit one October
day when the holder of the mortgage
called to say:
Il am sorry for you, Dan Curtis,
but I've given you the best show l
could | know how hard you've
worked, and I know how hard it'll
come for you 10 be turned off, but !
can't afford to lose my money. You
owe me, principal and interest, $500.
could have foreclosed six months
ago, but | was IN hope something
would turn up. I'm going to give
you another month. If you can't
raise the money, I'll have to take
the farm"
Two or three days later it was de-
cided to make an appeal to cousin
living about twenty miles away,
and my Uncle Dan and Aunt Martha
set out in the old quill wheel buggy,
drawn by the family Dobbin. to
make the journey. As they were
ready to start Uncle Dan cast his
eyes around and said:
at won't be no use, Martha-I
feel it in my bones that it won't"
Daniel, hev you got done trustin'
the Lord :" asked my aunt, who
was very religi 1us woman"
No"
Then drive on, and remember
that he works in mysterious ways"
My cousin Will and l were left in
charge Neither OF US were yet Is
years old, and my uncle did not keep
any hired help. We put in the day
at cutting corn, and were doing up
the chores" after supper when Mr..
Roberts, the county sheriff, came
along and called US TO the highway
fence He asked if we had seen any
strangers passing along the road or
skulking through the fields, and
went on to relate the particulars of
a crime which had occurred in Har-
din county, to the north of US, two
days before. A farmer had not only
been robbed of about $1,000 in bonds
and cash, which he was foolish
enough to keep in the house, but in
resisting the robbers had been al
most killed. There were two men
engaged in the crime, and they were
supposed to be tramps. The alarm
had been sounded so quickly, and
the pursuit had been so vigorous
that the fellows were supposed to
have been driven to hide themselves
in the fields. The sheriff cautioned US
to keep our eyes open and told us
where to give the alarm in case we
made a discovery, and rode away
leaving US in a very unpleasant state
of mind. The idea of sleeping in
house which might be visited by the
desperadoes during the night was
not to be thought of. The barn
was full of fresh hay, and before
dark we carried out some quilts and
made our bed on the NOW. There
wasn't a door in the house which
could be locked from the outside,
and not a window had catch on it.
and if the fellows came they could
walk right in.
My uncle being a poor man, there
wasn't much in the shape of plumber
around his house, but as Aunt Mar
tina was a good housewife she had
the cellar pretty we'll stocked with
Jellies and preserves. We reasoned
that if the men got into the house it
would be to satisfy their hunger, and
they would not leave the cellar un-
visited. Hanging up in the corn-crib
was an old bear trap which Uncle
Dan had become possessed of years
1aE~ IL, i
set it at the bottom of the stairs.
1t was stiff old trap, red with rust
and we had to use a stout lever to
spring the jaws down. Uncle Dan
and the sheriff and others referred
to the trap as ''boy nonsense" and
l don't suppose we had much faith in
it ourselves. 1t was just fairly dark
as we left the house for the barn,
and after we got to bed on the hay
we talked for an hour Or two before
looking out of Crevice to see If the
house was all right. We looked out
on the kitchen part, and while say
ing to each other that the murderers
were probably fifty miles away, a
hight suddenly appeared IN the k1tch-
en-. The curtains were up, and the
barn was not so far away but that
we could make out the figures of two
men passing to and fro. We must
go two miles to get word to the
sheriff, and we got down from the
NOW and out of doors, intending to
start right off. We were making
across the baruyard when Will sug-
gested that we ought first to get a
closer look at whoever was in the
house. 1t might be the fugitives or
it might be neighbors who had some
word for US. After bit we began
to approach the house, and when
we had crawled up among the cab
bages at the rear of the kitchen we
had pretty good view of what was
going on inside. We had made a
sumner of bread and butter and cold