Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-06-23
CHAPTER XIV.
BOYIIOOD MEMORIES.

Living over byEones is about as
consoling as an epitaph in a cemetery,
rs Martin learned when he set about
a business examination of the old
farm. He had returned to Grecnvalc
with vague idea of remaining there,
if Angie had not forgotten, and still
smiled upon him; then. if certain pos
sibilities came about. to build a mod
ern house on the site of the old home
stead now owned by him, and for
amusement to establish trout pre-
serve. 1t was all nebulCus plan,
and somehow his first evenings en-
porience and later meeting with Angie
had partially dispelled that. A few
years had wrought great changes
her old fondncss for him had van
ished, and he feared that he was al
most forgotten. 1t was not pleasant,
nor what he had secretly hoped. and
yet it seemed fact
His early haunts That he now Wis
tied for The first time since his re-
turn also read him a lesson of change
and bitter-sweet memory. There was
the old house so shocking in its
rack-and-ruin condition. the woodshcd
where he used to hide his fish poles
and traps, and beside it the old pear
tree. The woOdshed seemed a mere
coop now, and he smiled at sight of
that grindatonc he used so to abhOr.
Old memories might be saddoning. as
they were, but al least he was not
likely 10 be called upon TO turn grin
stun again until his back seemed
broken.
Then came the garden. with its low
wall hid by Grapo-vnes, where he,
with veXed spirit, had been made to
pull pusley. year after year, and al
ways, it seemed, when he wanted to
90 fishing. Here he had usually dug
for ancle-wOrms-a pleasantcr 0c-
! cupaton; and when midsummer came,
how good those crisp green cucum~
! bers used to taste. Beyond was the
apple orchard. and. as be entered it
again, one tree. to which he had many
! times been sent to cut sprouts 10 he
used later on, on himself, caught his
attention. 1t was old and almost dead
now, but of just such slender whips,
as mother had used around his bare
legs with such cheering effect still
grew from its trunk And what a
/ delight it had Oeen, in the mellow
autumn, to shake those trees and pick
up apples, and when the cart was
filled, 10 ride on it to the cider mill
and "holler' TO the patient oxen And
then the cider makingl The old horse
walking slowly around pulling the
sweep, the many-colored apples dis.
appearing in the hopper, the mer
folks heaping pumice on the press
and when the cider began to run, how
delicious it tasted through a straw.
Angie used TO come here with Other
girls, on their way from school, anC
how pretty She used to look in hel
calico sunbonnet, her hair in one
long braid falling in her way as sh,
stopped over to suck cider out of The
fitc rill that ran around the press
Martin recalled how he used to kecl
bunch OF nice white straws hit
away, waiting for her and when sh,
appeared, his heart used to beat
little faster.
1t was all delightful memory, tina
apple gathering and cider making. an,
he always regretted when it's season
was over.
And now he wanderd up to the brool
running through the old farm-th
one he was planning to utilize 70
, trout raising-and as he followed it
leaping, laughing course, he pause
to look into every cddying pool an
at each little cascade. There wa
one deep hole below the abutment
OF wooden road bridge, shaded by
willow, and here he halted Longest
for here he had caught his first trou
II was only little one, yet neve
since, among the thousands of bi
! ones he had landed from lake @
, stream, was one that thrilled to hi
, very finger tips as that one had
| And what change in the strear
, itself! Then this pool appeared deel
dark, and dangerous; now he coul
, wade across it with impunity, an
, the brook seemed a mere rim. Aboy