Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1904-06-09
The Ghost
i'm Scarlet y
By CHARLES s. FRENCH

I'd ETTER take the ola Sprlnsneiu
r musket and plenty OF ammunl-
ton" said Judd Tompkins to his brother
Todd. whose turn it was to boil maple
sap that night. "a bear was seen to-
day at Wellington, not two miles from
here, and coming this way"
"ATl right, Judd. I'll take the Spring
field just to crafty you, but expect
a visit from a bear as little as do call
from that grenadiers ghost. BY the way,
all well-bred ghosts that l have ever
heard of were clad in white. l don't
take any stock in ghost that wears
scarlet uniform. AS to the bear, the
day has been foggy, and probably some
Wellington child has been frightened
by calf"
THE grenadier's ghost" was a favor
tie subject of banter between the broth
ers The legend that the wooded
valley below the Tompkins home was
haunted by the ghost Of British SOL
dier had been handed down from genera
ton to generation in the Tompkins fam
fly. losing nothing on thewa ever since
Burgoynes captive hosts had marched
mast there on their way from Saratoga
to Boston.
Judd Tompkins believed that ne had
seen the apparition of the stalwart gren-
adler one beautiful June night, march
ing with stately tread through the
shadowy aisles of the old maple woods.
Todd. perhaps because there was less i'm
agination in his nature, made sport OF
the scarlet ghost" at every oppor-
tundty.
Down through the deep woods, where
giant spruce and henlock trees inter-
rove their branches with ancient oeeches
and maple, walked Todd, accompanied
bv the two dogs-Major, a Newfound-
land. and Carlo, a shepherds dog.
The brothers had inherited from their
father this farm, one Of the best on the
Green mountains, under certain restric-
tions. The farm was a large one, one
mile long from north to south, and three
fourths Of a mile wide. 1t had been
owned by the Tompkins family, its
boundaries unchanged, for more than a
century. The north end, on moderately
high land. containing most of the cul-
tivated ground, was bordered on all
sides by a belt of timber 40 rods wide,
which. except windfalls and dead trees,
the brothers were not at liberty to cut
until it reached large size. Near the
south end of the farm, which dipped
down into a deep ravine, was laid out
an 8O-acre tract, originally covered with
large trees. stones and powders, which
must be cleared, the trees felled, roots
dug out, stones and powders removed,
and the tract plowed deeply
This was Herculean task. Several
generations of the Tompkins family had
already spent their energies upon 1t, and
II was known far and near as he"Tomp-
lxins Folly" Although the land when
subdued yielded enormous crops, the
cost was far too great. No reason was
known for the extravaganza, except that
some Tompkins generations ago had
marked the boundaries Of the clearing,
and the obligation to continue the WORK
had descended from father to son under
an impression that the family honor re-
quired 1t.
Judd was more contented than Todd
He loved farming, and had married and
brought his wife to the old homestead
Todd longed to remove to the city, and
certain dainty epistles which found
their way weekly to the farm would have
testified, could they have been put in evil
dence, that another was quite as anx-
ious as he for his freedom. But until
the SO-acre tract was cleared neither Of
the brothers was at liberty to sell out
even to the other, or to leave the farm
The promise to their father was verba
one. but the brothers respected 1t as Il
It were written in the deed.
Tonight Todd tended the fires. filled
the boiling-pans with sap, and between
times rested upon rough bench neal
the sugar-house door.
At midnight the dogs were uneasy
Major was growing, Carlo barking
Todd jumped up.
It was beautiful night; full moor
rode overhead, white clouds floating
lazily past it. The sap from THOUSAND
naples was dropping slowly into the til
buckets in all parts of the wood, MAXIM