The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-01-15
unApFkR M

py the middle Of october Inc
 ~ foliage vas gone from Che meples and plrches, leaving the birug nost1 bare, The burdock wlthefed, and the mIlkweod cluns Co its last illtle banners of white. Except for one long, green Inc Of morning slorlos, the growth along the shore was limp and darkonSd Lobster pots toppled above the high-Water mark. nofles were drawn up and turned over, power boats cradiod and housed. Every morning there was a thin bhell og fec In the pond above tho dam.
 m November it grew steadily colder. My father had promised that wo would be home hy Christ mas, but he had never set the exact day. Whenever we pressed my mother for it, she put ug off by say- ing, You'll find out in good time" Though we were impatient, we were not appfehensive, for we knew that there was almost enough money on hand to pay the note.
 The cold kept up until the end of November. atiii there was no snow. Jay was getting worried, for the ruts in the road were hard on the wagon. They ioosened the body bolts and racked the wheels. A thaw early In December only made travelling harder than ever, for ct noon there was mud Co contend with and at morning and night re- frozen ground.
 On the ninth of the month the tongue showed a crack, which Mir. Giddlpgs repaired with an iron band On the twelfth, just as the Christmas loads were beginning, e spring broke. That meant only one thing--a new wagon. It would cost si50.
 My mother dreaded to tell us, but she couldn't put 1t off, for We were asking her daily when we should begin to pack our things. That night she came into the parlor where we were playing Pit. "Girls," she said, we won't be going home after all. Wen have our tree right here in the corner"
 AT the end of January we owed "A the bank 9i60. Profits from the stage had become very small. Peo- pie didn't travel now unless they had to, and those who had horses transported their own perishahles to keep them from freezing on the road. It didn't help our feelings any to discover that my fathers bid for the line had been $500 lower than that of his closest competitor.
 We girls were having our winter vacation, a long one in our village, and for Us already becoming dull. The excitement of the snow had worn away under the routine of filling wood boxes and watching the arrow of the furnace gauge to see that the fire did not become too hot. It was not so warm in the Amer icar House as 1t had been in school You wore a sweater all day, and your feet began to burn and itch as soon as you stopped moving. There were very few transients. Except for the meat, fish, eggs, and potatoes my father got as payment from his patients, we would have been oper. ating at loss.
 Mr. Cutter had been growing lazier and lazier. He never swept the ofice or shoveled the snow from the piazza without being reminded. Day after day he let the clock run down. His maps grew longer. When he was awake, he just sat on'i1is stool draw ing his circles or handling some of the bright new Lincoln pennies. Sometimes he piled them up in tiers. Sometimes he arranged them in inc tricate patterns around the brass topped circular inkwell. When any one came in. he guarded them Jeal- ously. | never got a chance at the register and the paper weight ex- cept when he was in the dining room.
 Mrs. Guptill's irritability was keeping us out of the kitchen. She sputtered constantly about the cold, for, located as 1t was, the stove couldn't possibly heat the entire room. She kept harping. too, on MT. Cutter. His laziness. His extrav-