| Show A COUNTRY VILLAGE With the approach of summer ones one's thoughts naturally turn toward some refuge from the scorching pavements and stifling Stirling atmosphere of the city and few places offer more refreshing inducements than a country village with its surround surround- ings Here in the absence of heat- heat dra drawing draing ing electric wires steel rails and pavements and of continuous lines of high buildings s the air has free circulation circulation circulation tion making it possible to celebrate the Glorious Fourth with an ardor not born of like furnace-like streets It was my privilege to verify this statement one summer while spending vacation with a friend at Sandhill a country town of five or six hundred inhabitants two days' days journey by rail from my own home Having left home the day following Commencement I was all impatience until about noon on the second day when the train pulled up at a wayside station and I was dumped off bag and baggage With a momentary thrill of desolation as the train sped on I glanced at the sun-bleached sun passenger depot house boarding-house saloon water-tank water and handful of frame cottages that composed the place then turned toward a group of men lounging about the waiting-room waiting door A looking kind-looking old man with an ideal Uncle Sam face told me in answer to an anxious inquiry that I could ride with the mail carrier over to Sandhill three miles due east of the station Here J Jem em you kin take this t Sandhill eh he asked turning to toward toward to- to ward ward the the group The loose-jointed loose young man addressed slouched forward from the doorway his red sun-burned sun face and neck making his blonde hair and brows appear white in contrast while his bright blue eyes completed the patriotic coloring of his features Kin I Well I guess guess two bits he said pocketing his hands I promptly handed him the amount and watched him set my trunk in the back of his buckboard that stood among numerous numerous numero s other vehicles along the hitching rail Then having tossed in the leather mail mailbag mailbag mailbag bag the flat end of which was hung over the back of the seat seat he inv invited ted me meto meto meto to jump in A slap of the reins started the dreaming dreaming dreaming dream dream- ing horse and we were off After being nearly unseated by the violent lurch over the railroad track I was convinced that the name buckboard was peculiarly suited to that species of vehicle A little farther on its bucking I propensities ties were again manifested when hen we went bumping over a canal canal-brid canal bridge e of round poles This exhilarating experience experience experience ex ex- cost several hairpins and most of our breath but the sight of a long smooth road stretching as far as the eye could reach was so comforting that the past hard usage was forgiven On we traveled over a level country the soil gleaming red brick-red between the gray and yellow brushwood covering it Not a tree tree or green shrub b was to be seen anywhere and the sole appearance of summer mid-summer was far to the left where shimmering green fields were enclosed by a fence parallel to the road On the right was a wearisome expanse of yellow- yellow ish gray brushwood with an occasional glimpse of a distant farm I The centre of interest however was directly ahead A low topped flat-topped hill or mound stood up like a long line of embankment running north and south gradually sloping northward This was Sandhill and the little town upon it bore the same name The red clay gradually faded into a yellowish ashen color and as we neared the hill the road became almost as hard hardas as pavement and the horses horse's iron shoes clattered over it A steep ascent of forty or fifty feet and we were upon a level plain at the very threshold of the little town At first sight this appeared to be mostly a collection of log straw-covered straw stables and sheds The houses were apparently cut from the same pattern each having a to lean addition and andone andone andone one front door between two windows There were four to a block each with its stable and surrounding vegetable garden or lucern patch Along the walk in front of a few were a half-dozen half young poplar or cotton cottonwood wood trees whose slender stalks were supported by enclosing frames over which their tufts of green leaves nodded feebly These picturesque little homes were Vere enclosed by fences of poles boards barbed wire and in a few cases planed pickets some of which were painted white gray or brown At the centre of town less than two blocks apart were two three-story three brick buildings that towered like light-houses light over their lowly neighbors One was the patriarch of the town and might have been the pattern for all the others others- others to lean and all but the other stood alone in an open square and suggested a school The mail-carrier's mail outfit seemed to be expected at that hour for Ii i J maids aids and matrons leaned over the gates watching and barefoot children pattered behind holding to the rear axle Even the tired-looking tired horses lifted their drooping ears as they re regarded regarded regarded re- re us through the pole bars of their corrals and paused in the act of switching switching switching switch switch- ing flies off the black hairless patches that preserved a sort of outline of their clumsy harness We stopped at the single h post hitching before a low log building whose tall upright boards announced General Merchandise Groceries Hardware Implements Implements Implements Im Im- Grain and Post-office Post the thelast thelast thelast last named being in small letters just over the door In front of one of the two sixteen-pane sixteen windows sat a blonde girl at a desk before a towering array of pigeon-holes pigeon and under this same window window window win win- dow was a narrow slot labelled LetterBox LetterBox Letter Letter- Box Even this store-house store followed the prevailing style in having a leanto lean to to a a shed on the left filled with farming farming farming farm farm- ing implements Thickly with dust my trunk the pouch mail-pouch and I were speedily speed speed- ily grounded group My friends friend's house was pointed out and I hastened thither followed by two barefooted boys whom a few cents had induced to haul my trunk upon their sturdy made home-made wagon with its small iron truck Through a white-washed white picket gate we passed up to the steps between rows of brilliant poppies marigolds larkspurs and hollyhocks Passing over the surprise my my arrival our subsequent conversation it will suffice to say that my friends and andI I forgot the town and all pertaining to it for most of the afternoon Occasionally Occasionally Occasionally Occasion Occasion- ally however our attention was attracted by passers-by passers a woman in sunbonnet and apron with a large market basket on her arm probably doing her Saturday 5 7 J ii r 1 l i shopping legged brown-legged children with variously-sized variously lard buckets also hastening hastening hasten hasten- ing When the sun stood well over the blue western mountains the farm laborers labor labor- ers could be seen returning from their work Men in tall stained mud-stained rubber boots with shovels over their shoulders came galloping past farm wagons trailing trailing trailing trail trail- ing a mower or rake hay-rake rattled by later the town herd driven by small boys passed the cows calling their young in rich baritones the calves answering in quavering boyish voices not yet past the changing period the cows' cows jingling bells a fitting ment After sunset all was quiet again save the small folk who gathered in the streets for an hours hour's play before dark and their shrill voices rang out joyously upon the clear air The next day was the Sabbath and the very smoke from the tardy kitchen fires curled upward with unwonted de de- liberation The silence and motionlessness motionless- motionless ness were enough to make one Involuntarily involuntarily involuntarily speak low or be silent t altogether The bells of the departing herd cow-herd broke the spell and nature slowly opened her lier drowsy eyes Children in bright summer attire played along their way to Sunday School while demure young women Bible Bille in hand walked slowly together or with ministerial young men in Prince Albert coats All were moving toward a long narrow log building opposite the store that was graced with six paned multi-paned windows on each side and a single door in the east end facing the store In the afternoon however not only the Sunday School children but also every man woman and baby in town turned out en masse for the regular j church services Little girls in gay F colors with faces speckled as bird eggs boys with plump shiny cheeks and very stiff collars rosy maidens with rustling starch and very tight gloves youths with well-laundered well features white linen gay ties and buttonhole bouquets and tall slender boot heels proud fathers with an of white lace which the fond mamma stroked occasionally with affectionate pride aged people leading their little grandchildren grand chil dren not one was missing of them all Church over men and youths lined up upon upon upon on both sides of the doorway while the women and girls marched out Bashful swains sidled up to their sweethearts and walked within a yard of them Others evidently more experienced boldly took ook the girls' girls parasols and holding the same straight over their own heads seemed too contented to notice how their shy companions were obliged to parry Sols Sol's rays with fans or handkerchiefs Toward evening when the religious services services services ser ser- vices were over for the day bareheaded young couples strolled about hand in hand or dashed by behind or upon spirited horses whose appearance indicated indicated indicated indi indi- that they had rested six days and gladly worked up upon upon n the seventh After dark when the full moon had wheeled its way over the eastern peaks shedding white radiance everywhere and making the line of timber along the distant distant distant dis dis- tant river seem black and mysterious mysterious- this was the time for serenades serenades merry merry crowds paraded the streets singing hymns glees or ballads in fresh untrained untrained untrained un un- trained voices while the elder people sat upon doorsteps or leaned over the front gate to listen Now and then the sounds of organ guitar or banjo came from some open door through which the happy players and singers could be seen from the street As the night advanced the joyous sounds gradually and almost imperceptibly blended into silence and at about eleven 0 o'clock clock scarcely a light could be seen the seen the town was asleep The cool pure pUle air had free access through windows windows windows win win- dows and doors left open without apparent ent fear of burglars or other unwelcome visitors All was in peaceful restful repose N Not at a sound d disturbed the absolute si silence silence silence si- si lence of the night until the clear crowing crowing crowing crow crow- ing of a cock announced the dawn At this signal all the cocks in town seemed to tG join in a grand chorus that did not cease until the sun appeared Then all was activity again Farm wagons rattled by women in bonnets and buckskin gloves went out to garden children splashed rapturously up and down the irrigating ditches or orlaid orlaid orlaid laid out minature farms along the banks and arid directed like thread like ad-like streams of water along the tiny courses just as they had seen their fathers do on a vastly larger scale chickens sang and cackled loudly from the stable yards the Village Blacksmith or his counterpart hammered hammered hammered ham ham- away while a group of men and horses lounged before his shop mowing machines ra rattled in neighboring lucern fields the fields the the air was full of the sounds of busy life Thus passed day after day with little variation save the weekly choir rehearsal or some other social or religious meeting at night and a little later on meetings of the committees in charge of the coming Fourth of July celebration Upon this latter there was a mysterious silence observed until one Sunday the was announced at church and adjudged to be the finest yet A As the eventful day approached there was a general raid upon the mercantile mercantile mercantile mer mer- cantile establishment for bunting flags and fire fire crackers crackers also sugar spices and fruit The business was so flourishing that one would always have to wait ones one's turn in the line of customers customers customers cus cus- until scores of orders for 1 an an eggs egg's worth of cloves two eggs eggs' worth of ribbon a pound-of-butter's pound worth of dried prunes or a sack-of-oats' sack worth of white lawn and Valenciennes edge had edge had had been disposed of The store window assumed a holiday appearance also its tiers of canned fruit giving place to strings of colored beads pop corn and fire crackers beneath which candy animals grazed upon fields of green tea and brown coffee the coffee the the whole being set et off by tiny flags and ropes of fancy colored tissue paper The blonde blonde- post mistress got off her stool and aDd with a pen and lead pencil transfixing her hair bustled about assisting assisting assisting assist assist- ing the tired little shopkeeper On the afternoon before the celebration celebration celebration tion men and boys rolled into town with great loads of green boughs with which they replaced the dead ones covering the big bowery back of the log meeting house The heaps of benches were placed in regul regular r rows and the plank stand was set with chairs the committee on decoration decoration decoration deco deco- ration held sessions behind closed doors and and all was made ready before sunset Most of the following night was made sleepless by over-eager over patriots who in insisted insisted insisted in- in upon this preliminary celebrating The noise reached a crisis at sunrise when a salute of twenty-five twenty guns to or more accurately of three or four loaded anvils boomed forth faIth followed by the hoisting of the stars and stripes upon the Li Liberty berty Pole The town band consisting of violins guitars accordions and drums were hauled in a farm wagon from house to house followed by a troop of children where they played waltzes quadrilles and marches upon which the master and mis- mis j f tress promptly came forth forthwith with a pitcher of barley beer lemonade or something stronger and a basket of cake Meanwhile the town people were gathering gathering gath gath- ering a about bout the Public Square and the country people came clattering in their farm wagons all eager to see the sights especially the parade The marshals of the day in red calico shoulder sashes galloped here and there arranging the various various various va va- rious divisions amid the clamor of shouts crackers and tin horns The occasional boom of an anvil served to keep up the enthusiasm of the men and the screams of nervous women both at a high pitch until at the appointed time another salute was fired The band struck up Hail Columbia and the procession started Shouts and cheers greeted the pretty Goddess of Libert Liberty who stood upright upon a covered canvas-covered rack hay-rack float holding to a wrapped bunting-wrapped flag pole and surrounded surrounded surrounded sur sur- rounded by the thirteen Original States little girls in white with crisp new curls Japanese parasols and blue sashes with red lettering Societies of young women young men old women and old men were out m marching n double file each advertised by a banner The V phone Voca Band however was the center of interest for the Sunday school children who followed it At a glance one would have supposed the instruments to be silver |
