The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1911-08-31
My Christmas Vacation.

|
Under this caption the Maine Farmer
recently published, with an approving
comment at the close, the following arti-
Gle written by grandson of Mr.. Eli C.
Merriam of this city:
Last year l spent my Christmas vaca-
ton with grandpa and grandma, who
live about fifteen miles from my home
Grandpa came after me in his new sleigh
to take me to his home. We got there
about noon.
After dinner, grandpa said: Don't
you want to help me kill two of those
ROSTERS we raised for tomorrow's din
ner?' So we put on our wraps and
caught one of them all right, but the
other one gave us some trouble. We
shooed him behind the grain-bin and
thought we had him; but he got away
from us and flew out of doors. We then
shooed him through the barnyard gate,
where we easily caught him, as he could
not get out of the yard. But after grand
pa had caught him and was just about to
60 to the barn by another way, he slipped
out of grandpa's hands and gave US an
other chase in the barnyard. However,
we soon caught him and grandpa slew
them and took them to the house, where
grandma cooked them. They weighed
eight pounds each.
We had dandy Christmas dinner, Be-
sides the ROSTERS, we had large platter
full Of beefsteak, also of deer meat, be-
sides potatoes, carrots and picked beets.
For dessert we had plum pudding, cur
rant preserves, mince pie, and large
bowl of fruit and cereals. Of course, we
had no strong drinks, like beer or ale.
There was not enough flour in the plum
pudding and so the dough was too soft,
but ate lot of it. ate for about an
hour, till felt faint and was seized with
pain, and just had to pause.
had to get the mail that noon and
was almost to the box when | stubbed
my toe and the key fell out of my hands.
picked up the key and got the mail and
in it We're two packages for me. One
was quire of paper from my cousin.
The other was pair of new overshoes
from home. | tried with all my might
to put them on, but they were too small.
1t rained all night and the wind blew like
fury. The wind even blew the cupola off
IRON lne pedh VI Vic DdI II. IL dloo oiloW-
ed and hailed.
Although the day was rather rough,
grandpa decided to haul wood that after
noon. Some questions were raised about
whether should go or not, as it was so
cold. But after while grandma assent
ed, as grandpa told her that he would
take care of me. So put on some good
rubbers and leggings and jumped onto
DcloI fI1 FOO or rf,
To reach the woods we had to go down
the road till we reached the highway,
and then we had to go down into deep
vale, and here we stopped at grandpa 5
wood. Before we loaded, we had to get
grandpa's peeled telegraph poles ready
to scull across the pond to the pier in the
spring. The next job was to hew them,
but we could not do that then as we did
not have time. Grandpa received great
praise for cutting such nice straight
poles, without seam in them. Grandpa
said that he was going to sell them, and
as he needed more capital, be would cut
some more next fall.
We hauled one cord Of wood and bark.
We could not haul any more, as it began
to get dark. So grandpa put some spruce
boughs on the sled for me to lie down on
and take a nap. While we were going
home | tried to go to sleep, but we had
only gone little way when we heard a
cracking in the bushes and the horses
Jumped so that they shook the boughs
out of the wagon into the wood road.
Then about twenty feet away an animal
stuck its head out of the bushes. | knew
it was bear the minute | saw him, for
had read so much about them. How
ever. he was as afraid of US as we were
of him, so he ran away as fast as he
could go.
There were no boughs for me to lie on
now, so had to make the best of it in
trying to keep my feet warm. 1t seemed
as though the horses would never climb
the highway. Grandpa gave me an apple
to eat, and after l had eaten it, / saved
the core to give to the horses. On my
way home saw some men baling hay.
Grandpa said that they had baled hay
for a neighbor just a week ago.
That night when grandpa took up his
milk pail and went to the barn to milk, |
went with him. Grandpa had some very
fair looking stock. He had six fine Jer
sey cows and four young heifers. One
of the calves. which was bothered with
feas, had got cast some time before and
had been sick ever since. 1t seems as
though it would make ones heart break
or the tears come to ones eyes to look
at that lone calf or to hear her bawl
piteously. Grandpa said that il she did
not get we'll he would kill her and buy
another one. Next summer he wrote to
me about her dying. The rest of the
herd was strong and healthy. There was
one pure-bred calf which was regular
pet of grandpa's. She had silky hair
and long tail.
About eight o'clock | wrote to my
cousin. I thought would write on the
quire of paper he sent me. But began
to get sleepy, so had to wait to sign
and seal it in the morning and put two
cent stamp on it.
l stayed at grandpa's about two weeks.
Grandpa said that he would be glad to
take me home, but papa came after me
with our horse and sleigh. After grand
ma tied my scarf in knot around my
neck, l said goodbye, and promised to
come back again next Christmas. know
that when my next birthday comes Will
go to grandpa's, and the principal thing
| will need is camera
KENNETH GERALD MERRIAM.
age years and 8 months.)
Belfast, R. F. D., Box 4.
This is wonderful letter for a boy of
nine years to write, and certainly does
credit to the Belfast schools.