The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-12-09

air,
We will explore a mile or two tc-
day." said Julian, and mark the trees
we think best to keep, and thin out
all the Others, the first thing we do"
was busy day they had of il, and
many busy day that followed, while
they let sun aud air into the great
thicket, and, as far as possible,
saved trees in the regularity they would
have had if set out in an orchard.
Three or four times before they had
finished Cyrus had left them and re-
turned for provisions, the second time
bringing bis son Darius with them.
And at last the wilderness was cleared,
and every tree remaining in the first
section had received the bud of the
sweet orange, which had been the pre-
cous freight OF Jnlian's mosswrapped
bundle.
"Now," said Julian, "while these
are accommodating themselves to the
new circumstances, we will go ahead
and clear our next years extension. l
don't know exactly how long this hum
mock is, but in time l mean to get all
the worthless growth cleared out of 30
much of it as belongs to father, if it's
ten miles, and every tree left grated,
and we'll have every sort of orange
that grows; the blood-red Maltese, the
spicy little Mandarin and all the rest
This is better than standing behind
counters or over desks, isn't it, DAMP"
Heap sweeter work than picking
cotton on the field, honey" said old Cy.
What day it was to the boys and
the old servant when the whole orange
forest, as far the eye could see, burst
out in flowers, with such a blossoming
as would have wreathed all the brides
of the earth with snowy sprays, and
whose rich, rare odors one would think
might have sailed over the seas them
selves, and penetrated foreign countries
with their sweetness.
"Now," said Julian, to his brother
and confdant, eve want to be fit for
what's coming. Don't let's waste any
time. DIR. Yancey has books enough,
and he'll tell us what to read, and we'll
go and see him and begin and get an
education" And 80 much of their plan
as this they announced to the family.
"Pm sure don't see what you can be
thinking about" whimpered his sister
Frarnie, when we're all but starving"
But Rachel took hold of the books
with them, and labored along as near
tn EN- as she could follow; and before
the year was out it was surprising how
much those lads and the young girl had
put into their memories. Twice year
Julian and Dan and old Cy and Darius
went off on what their mother called
their wicked and idle shooting, for she
didn't see why their father was willing
to spare them old Cy. But the father
kept the secret. They believed it would
make the mother happy enough by
and by.
Some years later, they set out early
one morning for the orange hummock,
the father having left note for the
mother, saying that he was going with
the boys, and going to take Rachel.
Nobody enjoyed the whole enter
prise more than Rachel, who was
helpful little body, and knew of count
less methods of adding to their COM
forts on the way. Her own comfort
was secured by the little donkey that
Cy had borrowed of Dr. Yancey and on
which she rode.
you'll have to be lot of use, Ra.
chel, as soon as we get there" said Ju-
liam, "and 80 has Mr.. Father"
But when she did get there, she
found as romantic a little hut, made of
orange boughs, with two rooms in it,
too, that the boys had made for her the
last time they were there, as one could
have out of fairy story; and long be-
fore she reached the place she could
have found the way by the odors blow
ing toward her; and when, all at
once, the orangeforest-not any
orange-grove or plantation, but the
orange-forest-burst upon her in full
gorgeous fruit, she could have cried
with rapture, only she knew her father
liked TO have her staid and quiet. But
she knew she had come to help them TO
gather their fortune, and all hands be-
gan at once.
We made a raft you see, father"
said Julian, " the last time we were
here, too, and we can float it; and there
is raft tied up under the bushes there,
and that will let us into the water way
to the st. Johns. If we sell our or
anges well, We'll have a better equip
ment next year. After that, patience,
patience, father When we've RATED
down one lot we'll come back for the
next. When those first old Spanish
colonists, three hundred years ago,
brought over few orange shoots from
Seville, do you believe it ever occurred
to them that such forest as this would
find place here?"
1t was all as Julian had said, and
when they had finished their voyaging
and sold the last orange, the boys went
back with their father, and made their
mother visit, and stopped all her re-
proaches by telling her their story.
Shortly after that, masons and csrpen-
tiers and gardeners were at work upon
the house and the grounds; and then
the boys had taken servants and mules
with them and had gone back to the
Okemolkokee hummock, and Rachel,
with her mothers consent, had gone
along, to keep the mildew off, Dan
said, while they cleared out the hum
q