Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1897-07-19
A TEST OF HEROISM.

evening, my companion on the train
sought to amuse me by relating an Incl
dent in his home life, which l will try
to repeat, as nearly as I can, in his own
words:
81 am brave man, bat not fearless
one, for hold that no person can be a
real hero and at the same time be a
stranger 20 fear. I have heard this SEN
timent expressed often, but [ never fully
realized its truth until the other even
ing Perhaps you would like to hear
about it.
''To begin with, we-Lucinda and l
are living in our new cottage. I call
it ours because I pay frightful big
sum of interest money quarterly and the
taxes, water rates, insurance, ETC., for
the pleasurable privilege of so doing.
''When the aforesaid habitation was
nearly completed, Lucinda was very
anxious to move in, and as could save
q months rent [ allowed her to follow
our housekeeping effects to house
which was wholly implanted on the
outside and whose rooms smelled very
strongly Of paint and varnish.
II found, when I got home from the
Office that evening, that my wife had
got everything beautifully arranged.
She had spent the greater part Of the
afternoon i'll accomplishing this. Still I
was to have my part in the matter, for
YOU must understand that, although
Lucinda's operations had been very eX-
tensiye, they had been wholly Of men
tai character, and found her waiting
patiently for me to give them tangible
effect.
81 tackled carpets, set up bedsteads
and lifted trunks until midnight, and
then as the clock struck that hour Lu-
cinda told me to suspend further opera
lions and fasten up the house. You see
that although [ am not clergyman I
have to take orders occasionally. Well.
I locked up the doors and at the sug-
gestion Of Lucinda descended to the eel
lar to explore that region to see that no
tramp or burglar had sneaked in.
81 found every thing all right, except
that pane of glass had carelessly been
left broken out above the coal bin. This
would never do. Tt was large enough
for man to crawl through easily.
Well, hunted around for something
with which to stop it up, and at last
pressed Lucinda's washboard into serv
ice.
"Of course understood that any bur-
glar very much intent upon getting In
could with ease push away the board,
and so / improvised burglar alarm by
balancing a basket of kindling wood
upon the ledge of the cellar wall and
stretching a string in such a way that
it would be impossible for any one to
open the door leading from the cellar
to the kitchen without dislodging the
basket and sending the wood flying
down the cellar stairs.
81 hope you will not consider me
egotistical if | remark that L rather
prided myself upon my ingenuity.
"After I had completed all of these
arrangements we retired, and think [
was asleep III less than two minutes
after my head struck the pillow. How
long I slept 1 can't exactly tell, but [
remember dreaming that I was in the
west and was overtaken by cyclone.
Then I awoke to find Lucinda shaking
me vigorously.
''This thing had happened quite often
before, and so, far from being frighten-
ed, l simply said, Did [ snore" and
prepared to go to sleep again, when my
wife exclaimed in tones composed half
and half of fright and contempt:
''Snore? You numbskull, your bur-
glar alarm has gone of!'
g. sat up il bed. Are you sure?' I
gasped.
Yes, I'm sure. Now you get right
up and find out what's going on down
there.
Lucinda said all this in a very ear
nest manner.
"Now, although I am brave man, I
do not believe in rushing into unneces-
sary danger and told Lucinda as much
The response that she made [ will not
take time to repeat, but merely say that
I gathered from what she said that it
would be better to humOr her.
81 got up, and, although my limbs
were shaking with a very reasonable
fear, I managed to light a lamp, and
then I boldly, bravely, heroically I
might say, descended. I had no weapon,
and SO l concluded to select two or three
large pieces of coal from the bod which
stood behind the kitchen stove.
81 had hardly got myself thus armed,
when heard several sticks of wood fall
from the ledge Of the wall to the stairs
below. L could feel my flesh creep with
fear, but this I deliberately conquered
and moved determinedly to the cellar
door, unlocked and threw it open.
"There stood the intruder AS our
eyes met | lost no time, but hurled the
pieces of coal at him with force born
only of frenzy and excitement, then I
waited only long enough to make sure
that the missiles had done execution be-
fore slamming the door to, locking it
and returning to my bed and sleep.
Perhaps you think that [ must, be-
sides being brave, be possessed of iron
nerves to sleep with dead tramp or