The Republican journal., 1916-09-07
Affairs at Home
And Something About Sunapee.

|
LIES little day, which important business Is
constantly getting ahead If me. 1t is certain
ly fact that this living in world where
everything is run by electricity and gasoline,
Is not what it is cracked up to be. and that
even on fam nowadays one gets nerved up
to feel that one is run by motor power, and
that tire Is liable to blow out any moment or
a collision occur which will throw one over the
fence into the ditch. and. it may be. out of an
earthly existence altogether.
From last October when l returned from
Crawfords, victim of neuritis, which is ever
my lurking enemy, and settled down at home
to enjoy it, the farm took my family and my
self into its relentless grip and constantly
whispered the one word, "hustle." Telemac-
hus had started an egg and poultry business.
with market in Boston which demanded the
best, and nothing but the best. and we all bent
to it with will. In time arrived the smelling
season, inwhichT elemachus delights. Then there
was big piece of pine lumber to be cut and
shipped away to Fairfield. and Burton and Lind
ley Douglas had charge of this, proving them
selves expert lumbermen, besides manifesting
an interest i'll the work which was most graft
flying in these days when the slogan seems to be
| every man for himself and his Satanic Majesty
take the hindmost," Cf he can catch him Then
along In February that mother of Telemachus
delighted the heart of him by investing in two
lncubators. From those two incubators came
forth in due season, (Which means in season
and out of season) eleven hundred downy little
chickens. 1t surely will not be necessary 10
enlarge very much upon this. Constant care
for the living, constant sorrow for the dead
and dying. constant yeep, yeep. yeeping, con-
slant watchtulness in every direction by night
and day-and a goodly lot of early broilers was
the result, with handsome flock of pullets
left for winter layers. Telemachus loves ali
feather ed things, from the tiny hummng bird
that comes every morning to gather the sweet
ness from the flowers of the big Glove currant
bush at the door. the little warbler that builds
each year In the big honeysuckle bush at the
corner of the house, the martins that each
spring find their way back to his martin
houses. the cave swallows that build unoer
the caves of the barn. up to the old goose that
goes honking around trying to teach way
ward flock of young chickens how to swim
and the work of caring for eleven hundred
little motherless chickens which would have
proved Irksome to many men has been for him
an enjoyable task. In the midst of the ncu-
bator excitement came the fish weir epso e.
An episode which ended in disaster and failure,
because the two young men who had it in
charge. becoming discouraged after the labor |
of weeks had been wrecked and carried down.
stream in terrific storm, gave it up. The |
tish are there jumping about on summer even
ings dimpling the surface of the Passagassa-
waukeag with tantalizing rpples and circles
and they seem to be always rejoicing because
have fear of the sardine factory, which
must be for fish like a wholesale combine
ton of the frying pan and the fire, with the
boiling oil thrown in.
Next came the season of gardening, when
the earth was mostly too wet to be worked
and kept guessing as to what it was best to
plant or not to plant; and after that the hay
ing, in which Telemachus as boss had the salts
faction Of slowing away in the barn about Is |
tons of hay. this having been an exception
ally good hay season in Maine as contrasted
with last year, which was an unusually bad
one.
Running through the memory of all these
these things, like a golden thread through:
cloth of duller shade. is the memory of those
rides with the mother of Telemschus when
she was collecting those big brown eggs and
we were incidentally becoming acquainted and
mo eriapds until pla 10,
whom we might otherwise never have met
One day we had the good fortune to behold
the light of supreme joy upon the face of
man who had been blind from birth and who
had just been granted pension for blindness.
The tone in which he planned upon buying
cow and otherwise investing the hundred dol
lars which was coming to him can better be
imagined than described Then there were
other days when we three dropped it all,
packed ourselves into the old carriage and
went fishing and gipsying all day long. Those
are the days that will be remembered when all |
things else fade away into oblivion. The rip
pie of the johnson brook some other brook. !
the spicy fragrance of the pine and fir trees.
the song Of the birds, the blue of the sky, and
~ idSI, just DIS lie SIldOoWS pcSdH " ltuSCDSn,
Telemachus appearing with a satisfied smile !
on his face and his basket filled with trout. |
The drive home, when Denvah cast all discre-
ton to the winds, and getting down to her
very swiftesu pace took US along regardless of
everything but the hay NOV and grain barrel
for which she was headed. And we, hardly
less eager, had visions of the feast that await
ed, when the fish in that basket should be
served up at the supper table, crisp and
brown and smoking hot, tasting as only trout
do taste after day like that. These things,
dear Journal. are merely what We telegraph
operators call skeleton copy, the beginning
and the end, with the rest 10 be filled n if re-
guired.
l started in with the intention of telling you
about Sunapee, N. H., where for the past few
weeks l have been operator in the Western
Union Office 1T was on the fifth of August
that a telegram from Supt. Ames broke in
upon the serenity that followed haying, asking
will you go to sunapee. l answered "aye, aye
sir" or words to that effect. On the seventh,
having reached Portland without any mishap
beyond being slowly brniled in the hottest
half days travel it was ever my lot to expert
ence, asked information for the train to Sum-
apee. For the first time in my life saw a