The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-11-27

HE house was colonial and
stood high on the windy hill
have ridden past it at night
when the dark savins lifted
their conical forms on the
hillside by the decrepit orchards and
the clouds scudded over the moon. IL
had two chimneys that seemed to stand
against the sky, and l saw it once at
night when one of those chimneys was
on fire, which caused my simple heart
to beat fast in those uneventful days. L
had heard my grandfather say that the
minutemen stopped there on their
march from Worcester to Bunker NIL
and were fed with bread from out OF
the great brick oven.
My grandfather told me another
thing which greatly awakened my curl
osity When the minutemen stopped
there on their march to meet the 'regu-
lars" they were in need of lead for bull
let's. They carried with them molds in
which to make bullets, but they could
not obtain the lead.
The good woman of the house was
named Overfield Farmer Overfeld S
wife. She was called Mis- Overfield.
She had one daughter 1.-the, diminu-
tive, beautiful girl, with large blue eyes
and lips winsome and red, of such sin
gular beauty that ones eyes could
hardly be diverted from following her.
When she had anything to say in COM
pany there was silence. She was the
'prettiest girl in all the country
around" people used to say. And she
was as good in these early days as she
was pretty
Her name was Annie-"sweet Annie
Overfeld" some people named her.
She was q mothers girl. Home was
her paradise.
When she saw that the minutemen
were perplexed about lead, she left her
baking, wiped the meal from her nose
that mad been itching as sign that
company was coming" and, waving her
white apron, approached the captain
and said:
Captain, / could tell you where there
is lead if l had mind to- But what
would father say if l should? And my
grandfather and grandmother, who are
in their graves-they might rise up and
shake the valances O. nights, and that
would be scary. o captain"
Annes father came stalking in in a
blue blouse, a New England guard,
ready for any duty.
Father, know where there is lead.
May I tell?'
Yes girl, and the men shall have it
wherever it be. Where is it, Annie? 1
have no lead, else I would have given it
up at once"
TN the clock weights, father"
stop the clock!' cried the father.
"Ch Annie, tbs a marvel you are!''
The old clock, with an oak frame,
stood in the corner of the living
room" as the common room was called.
whose doors faced the parlor and the
kitchen. 1t had stood there for gener-
alton. 1t was some eight feet high and
three broad in it's upper part and two in
its lower. Ii had a brass ornament on
the TOP, and it licked steadily and SOL
er,nlv always and so loud as to be
hoard in the upper rooms at night. On
IT'S face were figures of the sun and
moon. Annie's hand had for several
years wound the clock
The great clock was stopped, the
heavy weights were removed, and the
rninutemen carried them to the forge
of Baldwin, the blacksmith, where they
wore speedily melted and poured into
the molds.
The company went joyfully away,
and as they marched down the hill the
captain ordered the men to give three
cheers for Annie Overfield. That that
lead did much for the history of our
country there can be no doubt. How
much one cannot tell.
II.
The clock cleaner came to the house
on the hill. II was in the fall The ma