The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-02-14
SELECTED STORY.
Six TO One.

bIdlO lDllltO ny his ldUllly. lEere was
succession of six girls before the son and
heir, so essential to its dignity and fortune,
was born. These preliminaries to parental
pride and satisfaction realized, as soon as
they could communicate with one another
that they were Incidents and not events.
Each one seemed to acquire an apologize
expression under the very molding of the
nurses fingers. This sense of insignifcance
was so apparent that the clergyman at the
several chrstenings always hesitated, as II
doubling the application of so sacred a rite,
and once asked for the child's number in.
stead of its name.
When Benjamin, as Matthew LOOMS
rather pointedly named his son, was con.
fided to their joint care, 1.-THE girls" from
being vassals, became slaves. Perhaps
though, on account of their willingness,
they should be termed priestesses to the
Lares and Penates which the lad represent
ed. They never suffered the sacred fires of
his Importance to dwindle until he grew
old enough to Cake charge of himself, and
then of course the flames were augmented
The Loomis sisters were indeed good
girls, though not one of them ever had the
face to quote Handsome is that hand
some does" Abigail, the oldest, set the
pace The Others followed like Indian war.
riors in her very traces They were thus a
corrective to her as she was an emulation
to them 1t was moral game of follow
your master" Each sister put on her ED
er's excellencies as she did her castoff
clothing. And there was an abundance of
this latter in the household, for the girls
grew like weeds-that is, likestringy weeds.
Their good mother was always Boosting of
the day when they would begin to "fll
out" Alas, when the final stature was
Il.
And so, when they were all young ladies
that is, when Judith, the youngest, had
reached the age where the others awaited
her-the family page was as replete with
exclamation points as a sketch by dialect
writer. However, the girls were as single
In purpose as they were in destiny. That
purpose was Ben amin, and, like them
selves, that purpose was very plain AL
though this was in accordance with the
laws of consanguinity, they resolved that
imagination should wipe away that touch
of nature which made them kin. They
each remembered their first collective view
of the child as an unrelated nightmare
The boy was undoubtedly cross eyed, and
his hair was literary in quality-that is, well
red. One gasp of CONSERVATION, and then
had followed the resolution aforesaid-by
faith to make him whole. Once only was
there a lapse for them, although Benjamin
of course was cuddled in six. Poor Han
NAH one of the Intermediates over whose
identity every one, including herself, STUN
bled, achieved disgrace and remorse
through an unheeding girlish enthusiasm.
''Oh the sweet little tootsy wootsy," she
had cried, Pm sure l caught his eye"
"Eyesl Sarah, Elizabeth, Judith, Rachel,
Hannah, | mean," exclaimed Abigail Sc
verely, and the reproof became a mental
pinmark to the five.
SO tender did they grow in this regard
that one day Elizabeth spoke of the shade
of the pressed brick house building across
the way as golden" and they all con-
graduated her on the felicity of the term.
Alas, that golden tinge was destined
soon to become jaundice to the girls! One
afternoon, when they were starting out for
q stroll, they were severally shocked into
elongated vibrations by hearing the taunt-
ing cry of "giraffes," and by seeing a rude
little girl on the opposite porch with point
Ing finger and protruding tongue. A pref
ty little girl, too, with eyes dancing more
blithely than her tiny feet, and hair that
the breeze wove into glory around her
head.
III that child were mine," said Rachel
conspicuous in the flock for blunt speech,
while they deplored the condition, applaud
ed its conclusion-indeed, on the following
day they would have moved jointly to its
conclusion had they not been too moved to
do so. For there were two haunting voices
Two hngers and tongues of scorn, two forms
that danced, and one, alas, so awkwardly,
Shat affection could not be so blind as to
fail to recognize
Its Benjamin. sighed the five.
"Benjaminp repeated Abigail, with a
moan "lchabod, rather, for our glory has
departedP'
And truly Ruth Atkins, for this was the
little girls name, acquired without seek
Ing an influence over Benjamin which tho
girls could never find. Doubtless it sprang
from contrast, for he learned that with her
his will was valueless, except as an alterna-
tive Ruth barely endured him. but this
endurance was his delight. His sisters
found that neither cajolery nor menace
could affect his infatuation, so they stored
IL away with his eye and his hair 1t be.
came their thorn in the flesh, and the for.
Iner was as real as the latter was lacking.
There, too, it remained, though Ruth her
self came to their aid for it's outplucking.
One day Ben amin lay on the floor of the
parlor kicking and screaming while the
Dix stood around, each one exemplifying
alike Patience and the Monument. Then
before the window flashed an indignant lit
tie form.
You horrid boy" cried Ruth, Ito treat
your sisters sol never want to speak to
you again, so therel If they are CRATES,
you are hyena, and cross eyed one
too"
But in vain. The "hyena" became but
another count in the indictment against
Ruth, and the stoutest proof under 1t was
chat Benjamin's Partially was not modi.
He'd by it, save as plants are forced by fer
vent heat. The lad had ample chance to
tnfiict his companionship. He believed with
the old song that there was no place like
home, especially since that home was across
the street from Ruth's. Besides he had no
distraction. He was not liked by the boys
of his age. How could he bep They were
accustomed to give and take; he was
taught only to receive. He was persistent
and Ruth good natured. And so they con.
hnued playfelows, just as indifference and
alteration often mate. And the six appraised
az spatulate palms in adherence.
There was another cause, not reason, fol