Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1900-09-24
FOREMAN OF THE FIRE COMPANY

more than ordinary interest that I
call the meetin to order Stand out,
Horatio, and let's hear all about it,"
Horatio stood out. He looked pale,
but determined. He'd bin thinkin fur
a week Of what he was goin to say,
and he started off as smooth as grease.
"The drums are beatin wild alarm.
There is wavin Of flags, marchin
of men and wailin of women and
children. Warts upon the land The
life Of nation is at stake. 1t is an
hour when men are called upon to give
up their lives fur the sake Of prin-
ciple."
"By John, but that's flowery Ian
guage" exclaimed the deacon as
Horatio paused. "If Horatio kin keep
it up fur an hour; I'm fur 'lectin him
to the next legislature"
"The farmer leaves his plow," con-
tinued Horatio, "the merchant his store
and the mechanic his bench. They
march away to find the enemy and
fight him and die Yes; they yield up
their lives that we may live on in
peace, and if we forgit the sacrifice
we ought to wither away like bur-
dock in November"
Gentleman" said the deacon as the
applause had subsidized, up to the
present mint Horatio Sparrow has
knocked the socks off'n Henry Clay as
an orator, and l am proud to know
that he is citizen of Jericho. Any
thing more, Horatio?"
II jest want to call your attention to
the fact that Jericho has never had a
Decoration day parade" replied the or
ator. eve hev never paraded and never
decorated, and l say it's burninn
shame and ought to be remeded at
once"
'By John, but that's strong pintv'
shouted the deacon. "Hang me il Ho.
ratio amt ,knockin things endways!
No. sir; we've never had a parade nor
decorated any graves, and We ought
to be ashamed Of ourselves. Is it your
suggestion that we celebrate the day
this year, Horatio?"
THAT'S my pint deacon"
"And it's as strong as log chain.
Yes, sir; We'll celebrate the day. and
in order to make it hovliu success
Eli agree to take charge Of the parade"
But ! object to that" said Horatio
"Hevin originated this idea. think it's
fur me to ride on horseback Mt the
head of the purcession."
There was painful pause. and then
Abner Jones, who was in fireman's uni.
form. jumped off the counter and said.
"There shouldn't be no jealousy
about this thing. Horatio would look
purity fine on his spotted horse. and
the deacon would be no SLOUGH in his
cooked hat, but If there's to be anv
feelin over 1t I'll take the job off their
hands. AS Pm foreman of the fire com
pany it comes in my line anyhow"
Il don't propose to give up my rights
fur nobody" said Horatio.
"And Pm thinkin Pm the man To
boss things" added the deacon.
Il don't want to charge anybody
with hevin too much cheek" said
Squar Henshaw, but it do look
leetle strange to me to see the wav cor.
tain folks want to crowd to the front
on public occasions. II there is a
purcession, it's got to be headed bv = :
man who knows how to boss tbnps
and can't be ratified. bossed fla
parade the last time we had a Fourth
of July, and you may remember thot
the newspapers said managed 1t bet
ter than any we ever had"
"Pll allow that the squar did fairly
WELL" said Enos Williams as he shut
up his jackknife and got off the sugar
bar'l, "but there are several other folks
in this town Of Jericho. For instance
I'm here myself. When anything has