The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1896-06-26

GS''."S tHe youCn as mis- lost son
BART you were, and still are, that son
was, and still am, that father. Do
die, my much injured son, unacknowl
eyed and forgiven?"
The young man was too deepl,
affected by his surprise and emotion
TO utter a word in reply; but tears
which all the wrongs and hardships h,
had endured had failed to wiring from
MN. now stole out on his sunb urn
cheeks, testifying, not only his gratiti
cation at the discovery, but that tn,
slumbering fountain of naturally gen.
erous nature was now etfectuall,
stirred within his bosom. And thu
speaker, seeming satisfied with the
answer which this evidence implied
soon proceeded:
Little more now remains to be
impaired. You remember, Harry, tina
at the visit at my cabin, to which
have already alluded, / showed you
two small casks labeled Printers
TYPE, concealed under stone in thu
CELLAR"
81 do; and the impression the,
caused OF the absurdity Of bringing
that kind OF property into our new
settlement, "replled the other.
They were 30 marked for greater Sc
curity, resumed the former ;"for they
contained silver coin, and, at that time,
nearly all the property | possessed.
or these, one has been recently appro-
priated to the purchase of confiscated
estates, whenever lack of money in
othe RS was likely to prevent sale a t
fair value. The other remains in the
same spot. And this, and the rest OF
my property, except what | have just
conveyed and except, also, requests of
small farms to Dunning and Piper, for
their friendship to you. and faithful
ness to the cause, you will find, by my
will here on the table, to be equally
divided between you my son and
nephew. And ow,' he added, in fal-
tering tone, and in accents OF touching
tenderness, now, my children, having
said all | wished to communicate, l
will commend you to our common
Parent above. Kneel and receive my
blessing"
Hand in hand, and side by side, with
the fair sharers of their gushing
sympathes, the young men now rev
erently knelt around the dying patriot,
and bowed their faces beneath his out
spread hands to receive the proffered
blessing, which was then pronounced
with much fervor, but with the last
words he was destined ever TO utter
for after waiting while after he had
ceased to speak, the fearful group
removed his hands from their
heads, and rose to be greeted by face
pale in death.
CONCLUSION.
On summer afterno on, nearly a
year after the occurrence of the events
last described, there was an unusual
gathering in the village ofBennington.
AS early as | o'clock, multitudes of
people were seen pouring in by every
road leading into the place from the
country, and filling up the
streets with promiscuous crowd OF
all ages, Sc Xes and conditions. And as
the hour of 2 O'Clock approached the
increased to degree which
plainly showed that some crisis was
at hand: and soon the dense throng
in the vicinity of the Green
Mountain Tavern, then the principal
place OF public resort broke away into
groups and companies and began to
Heck towards newly erected gallows
standing at 20 great distance on the
1eighboring common. Here arraEgi ng
themselves as they came up in circle
around the i'll omened structure they
assumed the attitude of spectators
waiting the advent Of some promised
spectacle.
Presently clamor rose from the
outer part of the crowd, as with the |
,xclamations, There comes the new |
)verseer of the Tories!' "There
.omes Dunning and his gang OF beau.
les - They pointed to column OF
ome dozens of variously clad detected
cooking men, headed by we'll armed
,fticer in the continental uniform just
coming around corner into view, ana
ldvanclng towards the SPOT.
"Dere open there to the right and
eft !" cried the commander of this
Unique company, as he marched them
10 to the crowd. MAKE way for
dother Britain's ditter darlins! The
oming sight is as much for their der
enefit as your Otter fun There
alt - he continued, bringing the sub
lissive creatures into their allotted
ldCt. 1NOWy tDC htbt ohC vi ycd t'N'
ttempts to sneak away from the
light. takes der pistol bullet. So
ace the music without tiinching. 1t
,ill Otter do you good"
S. arceIy had this transpired before
he crowd, whose attention, for the mo-
lent, was too much engrossed to no
ice the approach of the principal pro
ession, now close at hand was again
brown into commotion by the sound
{ a muffled drum, followed by the loud
ry of "Clear the way for the pris
ner and his escort ~ in voice whose
veil known tones never fell unheeded
n the ears of Green Mountain as
emblage. With magic quickpess, a
lear space opened through the ranks
[ the receding throng, in the direction
( this fresh summons, when the first
b ject that met the eye was the tow
ring form of Ethan Allen, mounted
n a large black horse; he having re-
entity returned from his captivity, and
cen appointed, in the quaint Ian
uage of his commission, to conduct,
n behalf of the state, the trial and
of that inimical pei SON, Da
id Redding." Next to Allen came
lie prisoner, riding in an OK cart, and
ting between two armed men, who
ere acting as his special guards.
hen followed a company of soldiers,
pder the command OF another of our
d acqua intances, Bill Piper, who had
zen promoted to a captaincy in vol
D teer service then recently projected
lille the president, secretary and
embers of the council of safety, sue ;
,eded by band of private citizens,
rought up the rear of the procession.
n reaching it's destination, the team I
as brought to stand Immediately
meath the gallows, which was a
.ked cross tree, set into the ground