Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1906-07-02


hang it up on the nail behind the door.
There it is now"
The reply to this was merely
grunt, which may or may not have ex-
pressed approval At any rate, the
hat was apparently the object of his
search, for he took it from the nail,
looked inside, and with a sigh of relief
took out a crumpled envelope
81 knew put it somewheres," he
said. Its letter for you, Elsie. Jo-
siah, here, be brought it down from the
postoffice when he come from school
this afternoon. / meant to give it to
you afore.",
Captain Fri, who sat next to the
young lady, noticed that the envelope
was addressed in an irregular, sprawl
ing hand to Miss Elizabeth Preston,
Ornam, Mass" Elsie looked it over in
the absent way in which so many Of
us examine the outside of a letter
which comes Unexpectedly.
81 wonder who it is from?" she said.
She did not open it at once, but,
tucking it into her waist, announced
that she must run upstairs in order
that Mrs. Snow might come down to
supper The housekeeper did come
down a few minutes later, and, as she
was interested to know more about
Luther Davis and his sister, the talk
became animated and general.
1t was after s o'clock when Mrs.
Snow, having finished washing the
dishes-she allowed no one to assist
her in this operation since the time
when she caught Captain Jerry absent
mindedly using the dust rag instead Of
the dishcloth-went upstairs to her
patient Shortly afterward Elsie came
down, wearing her hat and jacket
I'm going out for little while"
she said. mo, 1 don't want any one to
go with me. I'll be back SOON"
Her back was turned to the three
captains as she spoke, but, as she
opened the door, the lamplight shone
for an instant on her face, and Captain
Fri noticed, or fancied that he did, that
she was paler than usual. He rose
and again offered to accompany her,
but met with such a firm refusal that
he could not insist further.
"Now, that's kind Of funny, amt 1T"
remarked Perez. II don't believe she's
been out alone afore after dark sence
she's been here"
Where did you git that letter, Jo-
siah p asked Captain Err.
1t may as we'll be explained here
that Captain Perez's grandnepheW was
a thorn in the flesh Of every one, in
GLIDING his indulgent relative He was
| little afraid of Mrs. Snow, and
| obeyed her better than he did any one
| else, but that is not saying great
| deal. He was in mischief in school
two-thirds of the time, and his reports,
made out by the teacher, were anything
but complimentary. He was a good
looking boy, the image of his mother,
who had been her uncle's favorite, and
he was popular with certain class Of
youngsters. Also, and this was worse,
his work at the livery stable had
thrown him in contact with a crowd
| of men like Squealer sWiXon, Web
| Saunders and others of tz<eiT class, and
| they appreciated his New York street
training and made much of him. Cap
| tain Perez, mindful of his promise to
| the boys mother, did not use the nee
essary measures to control him, and
Captain Fri and Captain Jerry did not
| like to interfere.
Just now he was seated in the corner.
and he looked up with a start, hur-
riedly folded up the tattered paper
book he was reading, stuffed it into his
pocket and said, "What?'
for Elsie?"
''Miss Cahoon, up at the Office. 1t was
in our box" said the boy.
"Humph! What are you readin'
that's so interestin'?'
ooh, nothin'. A book, that's all.
''Let me look at it,
Josiah hesitated, looked as though he
would like to refuse, and then sullenly
took the ragged volume from his peck
ct and handed it to the captain, who
deliberately unfolded lit and looked Al
the cover.
"'Fightin Fred Starlight, the Boy
Rover of the Pacific" he read aloud
"Humph! Is it good?"
''Bet your life! It's redhot story"
81 want to know! Who was Mr.
Moonshine - what's his name - Star
light"
HE was a sailor" was the sulky an
swer. Josiah was no fool, and knew
when he was being made fun of.
The captain opened the book anG
read a page or two to himself. Their
he said: Il see he knocked the skipper
down cause he insulted him. Nice
spunky chap. I'd like to have had hin
4 aboard vessel of mine. And he called
the old man 'caitiff hound? Awful
thing to call a Teller, that is. I'll be-
that skipper felt ashamed. Looks lik,
4 good book. I'll borrow it tonight t.
read while you're dom your lessons"
Il amt got any lessons to do
ooh, amt you? l thought that wa
'rithmetic over there"
"Well, / know 'em now. Besides
/ s~.s4 ,;1r1,% 10 nrdn m.