Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1915-04-09
A Village Tale
BY M. QUAD
Copyright, 1915, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.
BY M. QUAD

Silas Thompson and Ben Goodheart
met at the postoflice one evening, and
as they sat around and whitfield and
waited for the mail to come in Silas
lazily queried:
"Eben, you've been to Cat Hill
hundred times. i reckon. and jest how
far do you call it from Hopeville?"
Jest as far as it is" answered Eben
after thinking for about three minutes.
And that's ten milesT'
"Who said it was?'
II say so. / carried the mail on that
road fur three long years, and l reck-
on l know the distance purity well. l
asked you because some one said you
call 1t only nine and half miles"
And that's what I'm sayin this
mint. It's nine miles and half to an
inch"
Say, Eben, didn't you measure it
with a purity short tapeline| asked
Silas as he whitfield away.
Its jest nine and a half" answered
Eben in a logged way.
Its exactly ten"
mot an inch under ten miles,
"Silas, are you crazy or born fool?"
asked Eben as his hair began to curl.
II amt big huff fool to call it nine
miles and half to Cat Hillr' yelled
Silas in reply.
They jawed about it half an hour
longer, and they parted bad friends.
| A. - 4
Eben put up sign reading, Cat Hill
Nine and a Half Miles," and as soon
as Silas heard of it he put up another
reading, Cat Hill-Ten Miles" That
made things worse, and half dozen
families We're mixed up in the quarrel.
Almost every night in the year the two
men met at the postoliice, and, though
they wouldn't notice each other they
had their ways of hurting each others
feelings. Sias would look around to
Ezra Billings and giggle and chuckle
and say:
Did you hear that Cat Hill had
moved inland half a mile, Ezra? She
used to be ten miles from Hopeville
but she moved up to nine and a halt
Eben would be hurt and want tC
get even, and he'd look at Jabez White
and say:
Heard about that escaped lunatic
Jabez! They say he's measurin' the
road from here to Cat Hill with tow
string and that it keeps him crazy be
cause he can't make but nine and {
half miles of it
The two men never came to blows
but they never met without trying t.
hurt each others feelings If one fla
vored anything the other opposed ii
and they were contrary in politics, re
ligion and all public improvements
One day Eben got buried in his wei
by a cavern, and though Silas helpe'
to dig him out the chance was one t
say:
"Mebbe this narrow escape from
death will make him turn to the trutl
in the future and admit it's ten mile
to Cat HILL"
1t wasn't four weeks after that whe
Silas had a saw log roll over him, an
as he lay there all flattened out Ebe
came up and looked on him and said:
HE seems to be a goner but If tn
Lord lets him live it will be that h
may take half mile off the distanc
to Cat Hill and save his soul from pei
dition.'
Folks thought the dispute nigh
wear itself out in year or two bu
it didn't. 1t kept right on for twent
long years and never grew cold. Ebe
would have gone to Indiana to live. hu
he didn't want to leave SilaS behind
crow over him, and Silas would nc
90 to Syracuse to run sawmill fo
the same reason. At length Eben In
| on his dying bed and just the minut
| the doctor told him his case was hope
less he sat up and said:
"Then | want you to send for Sila
Tompkins. I've got something l war
to say to him before | die"
q Silas didn't hang back about comm;
and after he'd arrived and said he wa
{ Borry Eben said to him:
"Silas, how fur is it to Cat Hill?"
Its jest ten miles, Eben, jest ten
"But I'm a dyin' man."
eS, 1 hHOW. Uul IL , JSSl bCh hliiS''
"Tt's only nine and half, Silas, an
you are as big fool as you was twel
ty years agow
"Ten miles"
'rNine and a half!'
Silas went away, and Eben diet
and year later Silas was called
go. When he realized it he said to h
wife:
martha, don't let anybody bluff yo
when I'm gone. It's ten miles to ca
Hill, and you stick to it if you have
live on cold taters.
"I'n do it, Silas," she answered.
In a day or two he was dead an
buried. and as the usual crowd met {
the postofiice in the evening the tai
was all\about the two men and the
lifelong dispute. Some said one WI