Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-08-18
COLUMBIA'S PLUCK.


PRODUCED, always stare at me as If wcrc
some sort of foreigner, when I'm not,
thank goodncssl But it's the namc pvo
got, and I'm going to try to live up to Il.
So Columbia was nothing II not pa
triotic, and her name, however odd, didn't
seem inappropriate. She had little need
to deck herself with the national colors
which sho so persistonty Haunted, for ma
turc had printed the rcd, white and blue
in dawn tints on her glowing face, and
bright stars shone there, too, right out Of
the blue, to mako all absolutely perfect.
She was herself our country's fairest,
trucst emblcm.
But patriotism WINS at discount in
Rustival, or Rustyvillc, as it was insult
ingly nicknamed by its hustling neigh
bors in Nowburg, just across the lake,
for Rustival was sour, belated littlo
country town which had aspired to become
the local metropolis and hadn't realized
its ambition. / remember that whom |
went there to start tannery in 1866, the
year of tho preliminary survey for the H.,
V. and w. railroad, It was impossible to
get q rod of ground for love or money, so
| extravaganza were the expectations Of the
villagers. But they had seen the railroad
and tho county scat and oil the other good
things which thoy had accounted their
own one by ono slip from their grasp and
| tumble into the lap Of their upstart rival
/ Thus Rustival, dwindling and dingy, con
! tnually losing the moro alert Of its youth
and retaining only those whose shallow,
| rustic conccit found scant encouragement
/ elsewhere, had become tho abode of pee.
/ wish and cnrping discomfort, ripo for dis
l,,I..
the dogs; that WAS evident. A glance at
their neglected street, wcedy yards and
the white paint scaling from struggling
line of houses was proof enough to this
widowed community.
/ Naturally when the war with Spnin
/ broke out there was no enthusiasm. To
| be sure, joel Slocum, the local politician,
made off to Washington to try for an APP
pointmcnt, but he soon came back and re-
ported u general state of rottenncss
"Thcm Spaniards, " he declared, care
gon to lick us out of our boots, an I'm
hopin it may do us good. Eycrything's all
at skies an scVcns, an there can't no.
body git any show exccptin "a ruck of rich
mems sons"
"Why don't you enlist in tho ranks and
serve your country that way" demanded
Columbia, with characteristic aggressive
ness. ira call that better business for u
big, strong man like you than loaiing
about and grunbling here.
She had just entered the postofiicc,
where Joel WAS haranguing, and stood like
an animated edition of the star span
glcd Banner" on tho edge of the crowd.
''ketch INC scrvin under them rincom-
poopsn' roarcd Joel Better run home,
little gal an stick on few more of them
red, white an blue posics you've sot out in
your pas front yard That's tho way you
gals fight fer your country, Clumby
Alpin.
IN just show yor some day" she cried
dcl!antly as she turned away with letter
postmarkcd Ncwburg.
Even the news of the brilliant victory at
Manila fell fat in Rustiyal.
"Jcst happened So" commented joel.
Likely the Spanish wa mt lookin fer no
scch fool doin's way off t'other side Of no.
where, an what's the good on it! Should
say we he'd Switches enough on our han S
already, specially with that gal ravin
round in her war paint, maxim walkin
barber polo of herself. Wouldn't mind
gvin her few feathers, though, to help
out. She's corruptin all the gals in the
village
For Columbia had indeed succeeded in
firing the maidcns Of Rustiyal with some
ed 10 them. Tho element of romance had
been sadly lacking in their lives. They
organized "a Soldiers Aid society, held pa.
,riotic meetings and sent flowers and
danties to the boys in blue in tho volun,