Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1900-11-17

came with my mail II few mornings
ago, and when | opened II, wondering
why it had been sent to me and by
whom, my eye presently fell on blue
| pencilcd paragraph:
Marshal Catlip and posse got back
late last evening. They had Lively
chaSr--and there Is one bad man the
| less. II won't cost this town anything
10 try him. Dive Trn"hard needed
change. He was too fond of horse
flesh other peoples.
| Probably AriZouans understood that
paragraph perfectly III first sight ana
| ii minated even 10 Il slow New Eng
lander that "Dvr TrAnchnrd' had
been strrnly punished,
"Divc Truncard"' Something IN
! the name set the chords of memory
vaguely vibrating I'LL day, ana when
l walked next morning, the full, IA
| miliar name had come TO me ont ol the
past-Divcs Tmnrhard, 1t must be he
the queer boy" of the school where
| first began as II teacher In NrnncDrc
county, Maine, 20 years ago.
was then only IS years old, ANA
the school agent who hired me and
the good miniStpr-mpmhrr of the school
| board who gave me my "crrtiticate'
said that | might pull through If |
could manage Dives Tranchnrd.
In the schoolroom. Dives did not ap.,
| pear rormluabl" at 1rSt view, nut l
was not long in discovering the fer
tility of his miscellaneous ingenuity.
The wits OF the average SchoolnaStrr
could not possibly keep pace with the
| swift thickness in which he INDUCED
| himself.
He was Il somewhat srdatr and dis
| tinguShcd looking youngster, with Il
'lcar-cut. refined face. and the incOn-
| sistcncy between his countrnancc and
| his conduct was such that never was
| able to feel, during the whole time he
was my pupil that | quite understood
| him
Dives was an orphan. who, while
still very young. had been adopted by
the storrkrrprr of the place. Mr. Null
! hall
/ His father had been very intern
perate and blasphcmous man, whose
dearest delight had been to rail at the
Scriptures. In profHnr bravadD he
had named his three sons Judas. To
phrt and Dives. The two former had
died of Group while very young. and
Dives or "Divr.' as he was generally
called, was the sole survivor of the
family.
Naturally. Il teacher only IS years
old could not hope to assume the role
of moral adviser TO Il youth of II with
entire success.
When ! attempted it with Dives. he
grinncd in my face. and the effort end
ed in IL ughand-tumblr fight over the
schoolhollsc floor. In this conflict rs.
tabliShed Il kind of doubtful sllZer-
ainty over him. and aftrrward main.
tanned it with II bold front, hut the
issue was always in some little doubt.
What the outcome would have been
is far from certain. | have II feeling
that Dives would have been too much
for me. in time. had our relations us
pupil and ppdngOguc continued long
But they lasted only three weeks On
the first day of January he ran away,
in consequence of Il curious prank.
District Number Eleven was the only
place where l ever saw what was be-
lcvcu 70 ne Il Gnosr. inc people there
were not SupcrStitious. but | found |
that many of them had seen an APP
partition that they could not account |
for. 1t had been seen three times the |
vrmbrr, Il few days before / arrived.
More than 20 persons admitted that |
they had seen it during SNOW storms. |
but all made light of it: the people
were not ignorant, and the apparition
puzzled them much more than it |
frightened them.
The mysterious thing, whatever it |
was. had always been seen at night, |
and seemed to be a kind Ofphantom on |
horseback, an equestrian ghost. so as |
to speak.
1t had been discerned passing at
great speed. but the hOofs made no
noise. and ii looked thin. or white.
and was hardly distinguishable in out
line amidst the falling snowhakrs.
That was about all | could learn re.
ealding til" phantom: and as the repre-
sentative of education. | set myself to
diScountennnce belief in the spectre.
My theories We're received with To-
spcct the only difficulty in the WAY of
their entire acceptance was that num-
bers of those who listened to me had
really seen the ghost
1t was place where the people re-
tanned many of the old customs of an.
cestral Puritan England. among others
that ''Of wHtch-niyht." or watching the
old year ont and the new year in. on
the night of December 3lSt. It was
announced ut the meeting house the
previous Sunday that there would b. a
watchnight the following Saturday
evening. To last half past twelve. New
Years morning. There would be sing.
ing and prayers. but it was not to he
an exclusively religious ceremony.
Conversation and even story telling
would be allowed.
At the watch-night meeting there
were 80 or 81 people. old and young
including the Methodist minister, Mr..
Reeves, who had been settled there bu,
a few months very young man.
with whom had already become init
mate
He was companionable robust and
jolly, Il youth who still enjoyed snow
balling, for instance. After school.
when | passed the house where he
lived, he usually dashed out fresh
from his theological studies, and we
would go ut II brisk trot for Il mile to-
gcthrr along the road to the post-ottice
and back.
The early hours of the matchmaking
passed agrerahly. We had all gath
cred about the meeting house stove.
for thp NIGHT WAS t,lnuIy and hl. nj