Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury [Connecticut]) 1903-1917, 1904-04-15
The Ghost
i'm Scarlet ~
~ CHARLES >. FRENCH


~D ETTER take the old Springfield
musket and plenty OF anmuni-
tipn,'' said Judd Tompkins to his brother
Todd, whose turn 1t was to boil maple
sap that night. "A bear was seen to-
day at Wellington, not two miles from
here, and coming this way
All right, Judd. I'll take the Spring
field just to crafty you, but ] expect
a visit from bear as little as do call
from that grenadier's ghost. BY the way,
all welI-bred ghosts that | have ever
/ heard of were clad In white. / don't
! take any stock Ia q ghost that wears a
scarlet uniform, AS to the bear, the
day has been foggy. and probably some
wellington child has been frightened
by q calf.
THE grenadier's. ghost" was 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
| der had been handed down from genera
| ton to generation In the Tompkins fam
lily. losing nothing on the way, ever since
Burgoyne's captive hosts had marched
past there ON their way from Saratoga
! to Boston.
Judd Tompkins believed that he had
I seen the apparition of the stalwart gren-
adler one beautiful june night, march
| ing with stately tread through the
shadowy aisies 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
| tunity.
Down through the deep woods, where
4 giant spruce and hernlock trees inter
Rove their branches with ancient beeches
and maple, walked Todd, accompanied
by the two dogg--Major, 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 large one, one
mile long from north to south, and three
fourths of mile wide. It had been
I 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 belt of timber 40 rods wide,
which, except windfalIs and dead trees,
! the brothers were not at liberty to cut
until 1t reached a large size. Near the
south end of the farm, which dipped
1 down into a deep ravine, was laid out
an 80-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 Tompzins family had
already spent their energies upon it, and
it was known far and near as the Temp
| kins 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
denee, that another was quite as anx-
| ious as he for his freedom. But until
the S0-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 verbal
one, but the brothers respected it as If
| it were written In the deed.
| Tonight Todd tended the fires. filled
the boiling-pans with sap, and between
times rested upon a rough bench near
the sugar-house door.
/ At midnight the dogs were uneasy:
Major was growing, Carlo barking
Todd jumped up.
| e was beautiful night; full moon
rode overhead, white clouds floating
lazily past it. The sap from thousand
| NAPLES was dropping slowly into the tin
| buckets In all parts OF the wood, making
melody to the ear attuned to hear it,
| and-a wildcat was snarling down to-
ward the ravine.
Come, let US get hfm!" said Todd to
the dogs, after he had tended the fires.
AS they passed under the thick dark
branches Of a spruce tree the cat
pVuAcSu upOn Car1O- mere WAS FOuSn-
and-tumble fight. the two rolling out into
patch Of moonlight. where Carlo re-
leased his hold and came limping and
whining to his master, who promptly
dispatched the wildcat the instant the
dog was out of the way.
| But where was Major? Relocating his
musket, Todd peered cautiously about.
soon he heard q growl which was not
that Of q dog. On the very edge Of the
ravine was the Wellington bear, with
Ma5oT facing him at a resnactful .dissV