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<4e:GOLDEN DAYSrs
JANUARY 1, 1887.
by a black ribbon that passed over the
top, and was tied under her chin. She
always wore a dark stuff sown, summer
~ and winter, and a black silk apron.
Two ornaments she never appeared
without—a string of gold beads around
her neek, and a fine steel chain, hanging
. from her waist, to which was attached a
good-sized pair of scissors. . -
When she heard us at the door, she
turned those keen eyes upon us.
“Yes,"’ she called, “come in, if you
want to, children; but mind you don’t
touch anything, unless I tell you.”
Upon this semt-ecracious invitation, we
paid her the compliments of the season,
and walked up to the table, hoping for
an opportunity to inspect the curiosities.
“Don’t you like New Year's, aunty?”
asked Lou, always famous for coming di-
rectly to the point. °
* “7 don’t care much about it,’? she re-
plied. “Up in.Vermont, where I was
raised, we thought Inost of Thanksgiv-
ing. But it wasn’t times for merry-mak-
ing in my young days. The land was full
of trouble. Folks felt more like sitting
in ‘sackcloth and ashes,’ as the Bible
tells, than junketing and frolicking.” -
“Oh, do tell us about war times, Aunt
Esther?” we all eried, in a chorus.
«It would take considerable time,’’ she
said, with a sigh, “to gc over all those anx-
ious years: but, if you’li bring your stools,
and sit down quiet like, "t mind
talking a spell about old times up in the,
“Green Mountains.” :
We lost not a moment in doing as Aunt
Esther requested, and, after seating our-
selves, she began:
t eight when Indepen-
gned—that’s the first 1 re-
member hearing tell about the war—aiid
there seems nothing else was talked of
much till Iwas almost grown up, only
the battles as they were fought, and every
little while brother Si would) start up and
say he guessed he’d join the army.
“But father told him he wasn’t old
enougu—he was but seventeen—and to
wait a bit, for maybe the war would come
nearer home, by-and-by, and then all the
-men would be wanted right there in Ben-
nington.
“Solomon, my eldest brother, had been
keeping company with Sally Holmes for
a@ long spell, and in spite of war talk,
hard times, and so on, they set December
25th, ’76, to be married. ’
“Sally’s folks lived about two miles
and a half over south. We went to the
wedding ina great ox-sleigh. It was a
driving storm, the wid howling like a
pack of wolves through the valley, and
snow and sleet blowing in our faces all
the way, and dark as pitch—seemed as
though we just crawled.
“All were coll enough when we got
there; but folks were tough those days,
-and jt didn’t hurt even the little ones.
Your grandfather David was smuggled
under my cloak all the way. I always
set great store by him; he came next to
me. There wasn’t but one younger; that
was Sally, the baby. .
“It was not a large wedding, and it was
nota merry one. Folks were all talking
about the terrible look things had just
then, Stark had gone down into Penn-
sylvania to join General Washington, and
. Siwas fretting and fuming because he
hadn’t gone with him.
“They said the Dritish and Hessians
was marehing up and down the Jerseys
just as they saw fit, and Washington was
“afraid to attack ’em, our army was Jin
such bad condition. “
“If we'd only known it, Washington
was crossing the Delaware that, very
night, and got a victory over the old
pssians at Trenton. We didn’t hear
* about it till long afterward, and when we
did) hear, Si was more worked up than
ever, That boy was just yearning fora
hand fn the fighting!”
“But about the wedding, aunty? Did
the bride wear white?” I interrupted.
“Yes; she wore a tambour muslin over
a blue levantine petticoat. Sally was a
real pretty-looking girl, and Sol’ was-as
. likely a young man as there was that side
of the mountain, But, my sakes! it was
a risky kind of matter to cet married
then, No telling but they’d be parted
forever nigh as scon as they were joined
one. Sol wasn’t one to shirk if his eoun-
try wanted him, nor Sally one to hinder
his going.
“That night I heard say so much about
the Hessians that I was ’most seared to
death, and had no pleasure in the party,
not even at supper, for it took away all
my appetite, hearing about their cruel
deeds. Why, they were worse than In-
‘ians |"
. I must say here that. Aunt Esther
could never forgive or forget the Hes-
sians, who, you know, were German troops,
hired by the British government to join
the invading army. ‘The country people
all_hact this bitter feeling a them,
and it lingered for many ye after the
war was ended.
“Twas pretty small,” continued Aunt
Esther, ‘to know much about liberty,
and what folks were all fighting for ;.but
lwas always afraid Burgoyne and the
Hessians would come to Bennington.
“When sister Lucy—she was the oldest
girl at home—was patting the little ones
to bed, she’d_ make ’em lie still, and quit
Jaughing and talking, by just saying the
Hessians ’d hear ’em if they made such a
noise. Older children hadn’t ought to
seare little ones like that’’—this with a
severe glance at me, who was the eldest
child in our family. ,
“Si used to bring us all the news from
the tavern. He taught us children some
verses about Burgoyne—his ‘ proclama-
tion,’ they called it. I can remember a
little of it: . : _
“Por I'm lieutenant-general, too,
Of George’s troops, ‘Doth redand blue,
%
o
aVS:
e sive ¢ nent: —
And of Queen Charlotte’s regiment
Of light dragoons the colonel, —
And governor eke of Castle Will.’
“And it ended off:
“<I swear by George and by Saint Paul,
Iwill exterminate you all. 5
Subscribed with my manual sign,
To test these presets, John Burgoyne.’
“But I had something pleasanter, after
all, tothink of, that dreary winter, tha
redeoats and fighting. Thad the promise.
to begin a sampler as svon as the silks
could be got from Boston. -
“ r made one when she was a
girl, and it was framed and hung over
the mantlepiece,.and as I’d been learning
stitehes at school, mother said when I
could do ’em well enough I might begin
one; and father was so well pleased to
think I was going to be an industrious
girl that he sent by old Madam Grant, the
doctor’s mother, te get me some skeins
when she went to Boston that fall. ~Théy
used to bring skeins of silk from China,
and they were dreadful dear and hard to
8 “What did you work it on, aunty?” I
interrupted.‘ Canyas?”
* Canvas! she said, with a scornful
sniff; ‘*no, indeed. Mother said she’d
give mea piece of new linen to work it
on. All winter, mother and the girls used.
to spin the flax, and come spring, send it
to Hiram Jolnson’s, over towards the
mountain; his folks hadaloom. After
it was woven, it was spread on the grass
to bleach, and had to be kept pretty wet.
That was my business. |
“LT kept a real good wateh on that Jin-
en; but 1t- seemed as if it never would
come white, because I wanted to begin
the sampler. But by the time it was
bleached enough to suit mother, and the
silks came from Boston, it was well into
the summer, and we began to have much
to think of that wasn’t pleasant,
“One hot evening, Solomon (he lived
with his wife’s folks) came tearing up the
road to tell us about the awful murder of
Miss MeCrea. It wasn’t the Hessians
this time, but the Indians belonging to
old Burgoyne’s army, and not so far off
from us, neither.
The poor woman was on her way to
Albany when they scalped her, and that’s
only forty miles from Bennington,
“TI tetl you, that made a stir through
the country. Men that hadn’t waked up
before just made up their minds they’d
got to goand help drive Burgoyne, Hes-
sians, redeoats and Indians all out of the
country. ‘ -
“Si was off like a shot, and the very
next day joined Stark—the last we saw of
him till after the battle, a month or more.
Gut we were all pretty well stirred up,
and I remember thinking it was easier to
go off as he did, and be right in the war,
than sitting at home, wondering what
minute the British would be down upon
. It seemed Jike somebody hitting you
in the dark; you can’t tell which way to
dodge the stick.
“Of course,-father and both boys had
belonged to the militia all along, and
used to be training and practicing shoot-
ing up to the Centre, and took their turn
guarding supplies. . .
“Bennington was a kind of headquar-
fers, those days, for provisions brought
from different parts of the Hampshire
Grants and sent out again to our soldiers,
and they were always afraid the British
would come after them.
“One day, the week before the battle,
all the militia were called out ina great
hurry. They heard the enemy was at
Cambridge, twelve miles over north.
‘They marched some of ’em up there; but
it wasn't the army, only scouts.
“Solomon went along with them. They
had to come back in a hurry, for Baum--
hie was vhe Hessian colonel—chased them,
and would have caught ’em, but Gen-
eral Stark came up with more men just in
time.
“But gloomy as was the outlook, I did-
n’t quite forget ny sampler, because the
linen was bleached now, so I teased mo-
ther to cut off a square, one pouring
rainy day; then J reeled off the silk on the
swifts, intending to begin it next morn-
a .
“T shall never forget that dismal, rainy
night. It was dubious enough—men-
folks all gone to oppose the enemy, who
were now only five miles from Benning-
01
gs
nm,
“Mother scarce spoke, but looked
white as a sheet. Pretty hard lines for
her—husband and two sons away, and
very likely she would never see them all
again, ~ -
, “Next day the sun was shining, and
we felt more cheerful and hopeful like.
“After all. my work was done, I just
thought I’d stitch a spel! on my sampler,
even if the Iessians never let me finish it.
“T hadn’t done the first line a quarter
across, when, boom! away off we heard
something. We all held our breath. No,
it wasn’t thunder, for the sun was shin-
ng.
“In-a minute, another, and another,
away off—and then we knew. .
“Poor mother! She just went to her
bed-room and shut the door, and there she
yed all the rest of the day, reading her
ble and: praying God to spare our sol-
diers, and give us the victory.
“TI folded up my sampler and laid it
away, It seemed wicked to do anything.
It was like Sunday, only that awful noise
away over north, which finally grew into
one continuous roar.
“We children all sat around, looking at
each other, and so afraid it would come
nearer, and we should see. the Ilessians
marching up the read.
“*T don’t know how long it kept up, but
it seemed all day,
“After a spell, David began to ask for
his dinner, but I just told bim he ought
to be ashamed to think of eating in-the
middle of a battle, and asked what he
thought father and the boys were having
for their dinner. - .
“But we did go now and then to the
pantry to get a bite.
“At last the thunder of the cannon
seemed to stop a little, and didn’t come
nearer, as we could make out, so I went
to mother’s room, and asked her to let
me bring her some food; but she only
shook her head.
“And then I sat down again, and be-
gan toery. I felt as if I had no father or
mother, or anything left. Even my sam-
pler was forgotten then, and life looked
black indeed.
“Toward sundown the firing began
again, but further off, and we heard tell
afterward that it was another skirmish,
but Warner’s men, who had been waiting
in reserve at the Centre, gained the vie-
ry. ~ :
“Little David got quite valiant over
the fighting. He wasn’t but seven years
old, and_he went marching up and down
the yard, with a broomstick over his
shoulder, and played shoot Hessians, and
aying:
“*Green Mountain Boys will: drive the
red-coats over the mountains, because
General Stark is a great fighter, and fa-
ther and Sol and Si are with him.’
“ About sundown, I thought [’d just go
outside awhile, and see if any one would
come along with news. There was a big
flat stone just opposite. the gate, by the
roadside. Isat down on it and watched.
I could see a considerable piece of the
road, up and down.
“Pretty soon I heard the sound of a
horse’s feet coming along, and a man
shouting something, I couldn’t make ont
what.
“But ina minute I saw a white horse
galloping at full speed, with a man on his
back,
“At first I was seared, thinking the
Ilessians were coming at last. But as he
came nearer, I see it was Daniel Whitta-
x
et
me
er.
“T jumped right up and stood by the
roadside. It was getting duskish then,
but he saw me.
“*Vietory! Vicrory? he shouted ;
then stopped his horse and said, ‘I want
J LOA
to know! if that isn’t Henry Warden’s
little girl! And waiting for news, I’ll be
und. Well, tell your folks we’ve
whipped the redcoats, sure enough.’
“At this, David, who was on the door-
step, gave a loud burrah.
“*That’s tight, my little man. Hur-
rah for General Stark and the Green |
Mountain Boys ! :
“By that time, mother and the rest
were out in the yard, too. 2
“We've taken a power of guns and am-’
munition, as well as prisoners, and l’ye
been helping bring the wounded up to
the Centre. Look?
“And we saw several ugly, dark stains ‘
on the white horse. We knew what that
meant. Even David stopped hurrahing
and Jooked solemn,
«ey,
es,’ says Daniel, ‘we carried some ©
to the tavern; and after that was full, we
took the rest to the meeting-house, and
that’s pretty crowded, and some-of our
own people with ’em, too. The doctors
are busy enough.
for what with fighting and so much riding
back and forth this afternoon, I’m about
=
red out.
“By this time mother took courage to
speak,
Oh, Mr. Whittaker! she said, in a’~
low, pleading voice, * what has become of
my husband and boys? Have you heard ?”
No, 1 ean’t say for a certainty. I
saw Si once or twice in the forenvon, hard
at it, pretty well blackened with powder,
but haven’t heard tell of the others ;
guess they’re all safe.’
“So he galloped off again, and we
could hear the horse’s hoofs further and
further away on the stony road. ‘
“When he got down by Joshua Adams’,
he didn’t stop, but just shouted, ‘Victory !
victory ? to let them know, .
“We heard tell, afterward, that he
shouted so much all the way home that he
could searce speak except ina whisper, -
the next day, and that was a dreadful -
disappointment, for Daniel was a great
talker, and loved to be the first always to
tell the news, :
“Now, it was quite dark; but I sat
there all alone, and I never heard any-
thing so mournful as the crickets ehirp-
ing, and the frogs croaking—scemed like
they were wailing and mourning for all
those dead and wounded men, lying on
the ground, where they’d been shot down
by the cruel redcoats.
my eyes, and tried to think how the
meeting-house on the hill must look, with
those poor, suffering men | yingall around
in the pews, nodoubé; and I fell to pity-
ing them all, even the Hessians, I thought
they have folks waiting for news of them
at home, perhaps, just like us.
“Tt was an awfully long and: lonesome
spell Isat there, and the stars were all
shining just as bright and twinkling just
as merrily as if there wasn’t any such
thing as men shooting and killing each
other down below, when I heard a man’s
ster on the road. ~
When he came nearer, I jum
again and ran to meet him? peed up
afraid of its being a Hessian this time,
“Oh, how glad I was when he spoke,
and it was Solomon’s voi
little seream. leet T gave a
“Tush, Esther!’ he said. ‘Where’s
mother? Don’t let her hear.’
“And then he staggered and almost fell,
~*Oh, Soll’ I whispered; for I was
Kind Dia ee ay oot ze wounded,
!. Didn’ an’) Whittak you
along with the others?” aker find you
“No, no! I'm all right; i
poor eh oan right ; but I think
““*Not dead? Oh, brother, don’t say
it!’ I just made out to gasp. ‘What shail
0?”
we doroh, what shall we d
“*T haven’t seen him sin ?
replied, brokenly. ‘Dye been hentine
him and Si, but Abner Nichols just told
me that he saw a man who'd been help-
ing to carry the wounded to the village.
and he said they’d found Henry Warden's
pose Solomon. tola her some way;
then the a i rou may
en Te was a woful time, you may
“T can’t say how long it lasted
the door Slowly opened, and who it
be standing there on the threshold but
flea fatner? all powder-grimed, and
king like he’d had x 4
of it Dut alive and well. Pretty tough job
“Then there was anoth i
but cierent Ile was ‘ight ead tenes
us all, but ina minut
us all, bu te looked very sober,
“Our poor cousin, Tenry Warden, is
I’m on my way home, .
ty glad to see.
cepa mere rit ean nsdn,