The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-12-09
SELECTED STORY.
An Orange Hammock,

old Nanny Dnah, all of whom kept
the legends OF those times pretty con-
stantly before his eyes and ears. The
splendor, the company, the feasts, the
slaves, all seemed to him the veriest
idle story beside the fact of unvarying
corn bread and bacon now.
The house was tumbling to pieces
he wondered ii there was worse ruin
in all Florida; the almost boundless ex-
tent of the land was uncutivated; the
slaves were all goue.
81 don't see why we should be poor"
said Julian, having made up his mind
for good square talk at last, with all
the land there is here"
u That's half the reason" said his
father.
:" But thought it was off the land
people made their money"
"Wheu they already have money and
the hands with which to cultivate
land. 1t takes hands and it takes
means to grow cotton and sugar. l can
hardly be expected to go to work my
self"
"Then," persisted Julian, why
couldn't we hire people and pay them
from the crop when it comes?"
"You don't know what you are talk
ing about, my son."
81 know we have hundreds of acres
of land, aud if they were mine, think
that | could do something with them"
"You may do what you please with
them," said his father. 81 give you
carte Blanche" and he went back to
the reading of his Congressional Record.
Or at least he would have gone back,
if Julian would have let him. But
Julian had not begun to talk without
being very much in earnest, and now
he meant to go through.
" WE'LL" he said, laughing, "carte
blanche is good thing to have, but one
needs some help to do anything with
even that. l think if you will let me
have the hummocks in Okemolkokee
Everglade, and will lend old Cy to
cambridge and me.''
"Old Cyrus What would your
mother do without him, and what
would Rachel and Rebecca do? The
only one of all the hands that has
stayed faithful to usl You can do
nothing without capital"
But Northern people come here
and seem sure of doing well. And we
have the land they came to buy. That's
capital. If you lend oil / Cy to Dan and
me we won't ask you for more, for
we've been saving our odd pennies for
this, and we've got enough to buy all
the gratis we want, and Col. Burbeck
will give US some besides.
"Grafts? said his father, pushing up
his silyer-bowed spectacles in perplex-
ity. "Grafts?"
Eyes"
What are you going to do with
"Look at them," said Julian, with a
grin. $50 l see you'll lend me Cy.
What if Rachel went along with usp"
Your mother might not approve"
Motherll approve fast enough, l
reckon, when we're getting five thou.
sand year"
"Five thousand a yearl" cried his
father, letting the Congressional Re
cord fall. Have you gone daft, Ju-
LAMP,
"Well, father" said Julian, with a
great laugh, throwing back the dark
curl that was always dropping into his
eyes, "I'A send for you to make US q
visit on the big hummock in Okemolko-
kee Everglade by and by, and then
Wen see."
81 don't know about it; 1 don't
know" said his father, picking up the
scattered leaves of his cherished doc
ument. But Julian knew that his
father would lend old Cy to cambridge
and himself, and he made his prepare
tions for the enterprise, saying little or
nothing. Rachel had already agreed
to come to them whenever they should
send for her.
1t was week from that day, with a
pack of simple provisions, with rifles,
picks, hatchets and pruning-knives, and
some Irvine hammocks in addition,
Julian and his party started on their
excursion, as they called it, Julian car
rying on his back-greatly to old Cy's
disturbance, but then, old Cy couldn't
carry everything himself II bundle
wrapped in moss, which he gaily de-
clared they must save first in case of
fire, for it was all their fortune.
"BresI yer heart, honey" said old
Cy, where's dis yer fire gwine to be,
onlest Mars Dan knocks my pipe onto
cypress treeP An'it's so damp in dees
yer swamps, 'spect it'll put de pipe out
anyhow"
They made their beds that night in
the hammocks that they slung high in
the boughs, and that Julian had brought
along against the wishes Of old Cy, who
thought bed of broken boughs fit for
king, snakes or not.
What a scene it was on which their
eyes opened in the early morningl &C.
dars superb as the cedars of Lebanon.
dropping great circles of shade, the
huge live oaks, trembling with webs
and festoons of gray moss, that made
sheets of diamonds as it swung in the
sun, here and there palm tree, lifting
its green crown in the clear air, and
vistas into the rich verdure of the
swamp beyond, gay with every color
and sweet with every scent Of honey,
suckle, vanilla, heliotrope and great
unknown flowers.
In and out the thickets flashed wings
like jewels; scarlet famingoes stood in