Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1902-02-13


rather a dramatic LITTLE osr1 -,
always ilked to. make herself beliey,
mat she understood what grown neo
pie were talking about So one dav
reading the country papar unsid.
down, she cried excitedIv ooh
mother, Sumters catched Lincoln
Tell Grandma and Aunt Matilda
quick"
Three years later, however. in 1864
she felt herself to be a big girl The
family no longer referred to her q,
Baby or Tot" but called her by
her full name, Mellicent. She did no
hold the paper upside down now
She had learned to read nohodv o,ife
knew now, for she had never ATTENDED
district school regularly.
Mellicent lived in little New
Hampshire village-a score Of wooden
houses and tiny white-spired church
on the shore of clear lake Behind
the lake rose d semicircIe of bIue
mountain peaks, above which fioated
beautiful, eYer-changing cIoud-shapes
Inc llttle girl lived almost wholly out
Of doors. She knew every sweet
secret Of field and wood and lake A
big Newfoundland dog and a retinue
Of yarious-sized cats followed her
everywhere she went. and she ALWAYS
went 'hopDity-skiD" She never
walked.
An immense forest Of old pines and
Aemlocks stretched back for miles
from white sandy beach on TIE
south shore of the lake. MeIIicerr
IoYeq this forest The ground was
covered with thick green moss
through which crept trailing vines.
There were dainty white twin-fowoTs
on these vines in spring, and bright
scarlet berries the rest Of the year
Trillium stars peeped out from under
lush ferns. In shady hooks jacks-in-
the-pulpit preached pOmpOus little
sermons to ghostly congregations Of
white-hooded Indian pipes. The long
flute notes of the hermit thrush
filed the forest aisles with music of
haunting sweetness.
Inefficient swan, naked, in the clear
waters Of the lake, closely watched
by faithful Bruno. She climed to the
tops of the tallest trees, followed by
the cats. The cats had double fun.
They frightened the squirrels and
tantalized Bruno at the same time.
The little girl had large possessions
in berry pastures, any of them hers
by right Of original discovery. She
tished much, could hook a pickerel or
angle for a trout as skilfulIy as the
Oldest fisherman in the region. There
was a long gray ledge on the noun
tain side which MeIliccnt called her
castle. OF course it had subterranean
passages and throne-rOom. MellI-
cent was queen of the castle. The
ledge seemed almost as truly her
E0me as the old square colonial
house in winch she ate and slept.
while MelIlcent. free and happy as
IN Indian child, played in the forest
or danced on the mountains. grim war
was II progress. IN d dim. childish
way, she was becoming conscious of
The hcart-thrOb of the time The
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bread and butter. or in her cambrIc
tea. The family had given up coffee.
and she had lost the fun of grinding
the title Dutch coffee mill with a
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