Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1916-08-02

scraper and yelling Back up, thereT
at the horse, I got the steel scoop into
the ground at the line of my proposed
grape arbor, tipped down the blade,
and cried, "Giddupr' I hung to the
reins as best 1 could, twisting them
about my wrist, and the horse started
obediently forward. The scoop did
its work very nicely. In fact, it was
quite full after we had gone six feet,
and had only to let the horse drag
it the remaining "a feet Of the proposed
width Of the lawn, and empty It. AS
the scraper covered a furrow but two
feet wide, that meant 125 burrows to
scrape my entire lawn as planned, and
at least twenty trips to the furrow. I
did some rapid multiplication, dropped
the reins and moved toward my stakes
I saw that Joe and Mike were looking
at me.
81 think" said I, with some dignity,
as began to pull the stakes up, chat
this lawn will look better square. As
it's a hundred feet broad, a hundred
feet will be far enough to extend it
from the house"
"sure,'' said Mike, 'the big road
scraper II be over here tomorrow,
scrapin' the road, and it do be easier
an quicker to borry that
In some ways, consider this re-
mark Of Mixes, under the circum-
stances, one Of the most gentlemanly
I ever heard! And I jumped at his
suggestion.
mike" said I, ''I'n admit this Job Is
bigger than I thought How can I
borrow the road scraperT'
"Sure, amt me frind Dan Morris
sey one o. the selictmen~ said Nike,
"and amt he the road boss, and amt
he willin' to earn an extra penny fof-
for the town.
"H'h," said I; 'tfor the town! Well,
I've got to have this lawn! You get
your friend Dan in the morning. Just
the same, don't love the town so
much that I want 25O-foot lawn"
Noon came and found me with ach.
ing arms and strained shoulder sock.
cts. I had brought some lunch, to save
the walk back to Mrs. Temples, and ]
took it into my big south room to cal
it. Hard was In there eating his. The
plumbers were eating theirs in the
new kitchen, already completed.
Hard, I found, had begun the book
case, which was just the height Of thu
mantels. He had been preparing thu
top molding with his universal plane
when noon came, and the sweet shay
ings lay curled on the floor. I scuffet
my feet in them, and even hung ont
from my ear, as children do, while
Hard Cider regarded me scornfully.
"I'm going to have great times II
this roomr' I exclaimed. Books be
tween the freplaces, books along tn
walls, just a few pictures, including
my Hiroshiges, over the manteis, my
desk by the west window, and out
there the green garden! A man ough
to write something pretty good in thi
room, eh?'
Hard looked at me with narrowe
eyes. 81 don't know nothin' abou
writin'," he said, "but it pears to m
a Teller could write most anywhar pei
vided he had somethin' ter say"
Whereupon Hard concluded by bit
ing into a large piece Of prune pie.
The Yankee temperament is .eccf
sionally depressing! 1 went outdoor
again, eating my doughnuts as
walked, and strolled into the vegetabl
garden to survey the staked row
which denoted beets and peas. The
went down the slope into my Httl
stand Of pines, into the cool hush {
them, and unconsciously my brain n
Taxed in the bath of their peace, an
for ten minutes 1 lay on the needle
neither asleep nor awake, just bliss
fully vacant Then l returned to m
scooping, marveIously restored.
l scooped and spread and raked unit
lsix o'clock, when, palm-sore and wear,