Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1918-12-27

was long before the time or when i
am writing, ! remember hearing him
say, one day of that year, when l
asked him TO take us TO the Caravan
of Wild Beasts which was coming TO
the village:
'Tm sorry, but It's been hundred
Sundays since | had a dollar In my
wallet for more than ten minutes"
| have his old account book for
the years Of 1887 and 1888. Here are
some OF the entries;
BALANCED accounts with ], Dor0-
thy and gave him my note for S2,i6
to be paSd In salts January l, 1893,
Sold ten bushels Of wheat to 10, Miner
at 90 cents, 10 be paid In goods,
"Sold two sheep 10 Flavlus Curtis
and took his note for 80, payable In
boots on or before March the lrs',"
Only one entry In more Than a
hundred mention money, ana this was
the sum OF eleven cents received In
balance from nelghbor.
So II will be seen that n spirit OF
mutual accommodation served "a
help us over the rough going. Mr..
Grmshaw, however, demanded his
pay Ia cash and that I find was main
ly the habit Of the money.lenders.
We were poor but our poverty was
not like that Of these days In which
i am writing, n was proud and
cleanly and wel-fed. Our fathers
had seen heroic service in the wars
and we knew 1t.
! was twelve years old when / be-
gan TO be the reader for our little
family. Aunt Deel had long com.
planned that she couldn't keep up with
her knitting and read so much. We
had not seen Mr.. Wright for nearly
two years, but he had sent us the
novels of Sir Walter Scott and ! had
led them heart deep into the creed
battles Of Old Mortality.
Then came the evil days of 1897,
when the story Of our lives began TO
quicken Its pace and excite our inter
est in Its coming chapters, II gave
US enough to think Of, God knows
wild speculationS in land and the
American paper-money system had
brought us into rough going The
banks Of the city of New York had
suspended payment Of their notes,
They could no longer meet their en-.
gagements. As usual, the burden fell
heaviest on the poor. II was hard to
get money even for black salts.
Uncle Peabody had been silent and
depressed for a month or more. He
had signed a note for Rodney Barnes,
a cousin, long before and was afraid
that he would have to pay II. didn't
know what q note was and | remem.
her that one night, when | lay think.
ing about II, I decided that II must
be something in the nature of horse
collie. My uncle told me that note
was a trouble which attacked the
brain instead of the stomach.
One autumn day in Canton Uncle
Peabody traded three sheep and TWEEN.
ty bushels of wheat for cook stove
and brought it home in the big wagon,
Rodney Barnes came with him to help
set up the stove He was a big giant
of a man with the longest nose in the
township. have often wondered how
any one would solve the problem Of
kissing Mr.. Barnes in the immediate
region of his nose, the same being in
the nature of defense.
That evening I was chiefly inter
ested in the stove. What a Joy II
was to me with It's damper and grid.
dies and high oven and the shiny edge
on its hearth 1t rivaed, in Its nov.
city and charm, any tin peddler's cart
that ever came to our door, John
Axtell and his wife, who had seen II
pass their house, hurried over for q
look at 1t. Every hand was on the
stove as we tenderly carried 1t into
the house, piece by piece, and set II
up. Then they cut a hole In the up
per floor and the stone chimney and
fitted the pipe. How keenly we
watched the building Of the fire. How
quickly 1t roared and began to heat
the room
When the Axtells had gone away
Aunt Deel said:
ITS grand It is sartin-but I'm
'fraid we can't afford lt-ayes be"
1--WE can't afford to freeze any
longer l made up my mind that we
couldn't go through another winter
as we have" was my uncles answer.
"How much did 1t costT she asked
mot much dlffer'nt from thirty!
four dollars In sheep and grain" he
answered.
Rodney Barnes stayed to supper
and spent part of the evening with
us.
Like other settlers there, Mr.
Barnes was cheerful Optimist. Every.
thing looked good to him until il
turned out badly.
He told how he had heard that II
was growing country near the great
water highway Of the st. Lawrence
Prosperous towns we're building up
in 1t. There. were going to be great