The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1907-12-12


theater sharp hypnotized us into back
ing an extravaganza, and in about the
same month the sweet girlish grads
are buying pink sashes and discover
ing Italy beyond the Alps we were on
the waitiug,list of the 'Down.and-Out
club
Then, to polish the climax, the man.
ager bolted with the winters receipts,
ditto the leading skirt, and we were
left high and dry with only roses to
eat
He's gone like an idle dream
sighed Tib, meaning the manager. I
hope all the box-otfice change is foney
and that the squaw sues him success
fully tor breach Of promise There's
but one thing left, besides our honor,
and that's to take a vacation When
youvc got halG-Nelson on prosperity
i DOESN'T pay to quit. But now that
WE rrist loaf, let's do ii orderly
~ uyally l fell on his neck and
swnyr I'd never desert him, providing
h would square the railroads. And
as un cUnned passes to Vermont,
whc, he used to be born, he decided
it would be cheaper and more in
Structive to go home. | call Vermont
my home, you know, as ! never had
home and because Tlb always swore
] was a Green Mountain boy by adop-
ton Dear! dear, how loyal he was
10 that state! Always hankertng to
,lv
quit being a busy bee to inaugurate an
old home week No mountains were
so green, you know, as the home
mountains; no lakes were so clear as
the home lakes; and no people were
so kindly as the home people.
We'll, I'd been fed on that kind OF
done so long that | expected trusty
agrariaus to crush each other under
hoof in an effort to reach us when we
stepncd from the train and embar-
rass us with gifts. It's not surprising
that | should fail to appreciate that
Tib had seen less of this state than
anv other in the union. Nor did
realize that up on the edge of Essex
county was small settlement, utter
lv isolated from all railroads and
highways. But it does please me to-
night, as | pause and allow the phan-
toms of those times and scenes to
troop by, to remember that every vii
lage is now reveling in and pOndering
over a wealth of newly acquired intor-
nation. all due to the careless coming
Of my master.
Perhaps in all our journeys my
benefactor never met with more
grotesque and fanciful environment
than awaited us there. Possibly the
opera bouffe effects had remained dor
mant largely because the community,
known as Home Valley. was off the
line of any travel and was neighbor
only to few struggling French ham,
let's, where the poorer and more illit-
crate Canadians grub living from
the rocky clearings. But one fact
was soon to be evidenced: those in
land CTusoes iad never possessed the
incentive to pry into the world beyond
the rim of the rugged Dozen Hills.
ITO revert to the southern boundary
of the state for three seconds. When
we detraned ! could see Tib was dis
appointed because the citizens didn't
meet us at the station and weep on
his last clean shirt and have the
school children there to wave flags
and sing Welcome Home
TO be chemically correct, | couldn't
sec as he knew anyone in the state
Finally he confessed that his parents
had moved from Bellows Falls when
he was three years old, yet he re-
mained positive that if we went north
and tarried in the older centcrs of
civilization we'd find hosts of people
who would quit their means Of earn
ing livelihood to bask in the sun
shine of his society. So we passed
from one joint to another, discovering
many Smiths, but not his Smiths, un-
Til nothing would do but we must
drill over the hills, towards Canada,
where the black flies and grasshoppers
have a life easement on the horizon.