90 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Feb, 3, 1894. 



DANVIS FOLKS.-XXI. 



June Training. 



Besides beautifying the earth with the greenness of 

 woods and fields, t he bloom of innumerable flowers and 

 the sparkle of limpid yet unshrunken streams, and glad- 

 dening it with the songs of thronging birds as happy as 

 the golden days were long, the first month of summer 

 brought also upon its first Tuesday the June Training. 



In the year whereof this partial record is made the day 

 was unseasonably ushered in, according to established 

 usage, by the ceremony of "wakin' up off'cers." A party 

 of the younger men made the rounds of the homes of those 

 dignitaries, arousing them with volleys of musketry, when, 

 if they were L men of proper martial spirit and alive to its 

 encouragement, they would come forth with refreshment 

 befitting warriors. 



The cock's prolonged clarion notes were saluting the 

 unfolding banner of dawn, when 

 Captain Peck was awakened by 

 a volley whose rattling thunder 

 was intensified by wads of green 

 grass rammed down on the 

 double charges of powder. 



The Captain speedily made his 

 appearance at the door, rubbing 

 his sleepy eyes with the back of 

 a hand that held a tumbler while 

 the other bore a brown jug that 

 coldly bumped his naked leg. 



"Mornin', gentlemen," he said 

 in tones that strove valiantly 

 through drowsiness to become 

 hearty; "hope I see ye well this 

 mornin'. Walk right up an' re- 

 fresh yourselves." 



He essayed to advance toward 

 them, but hastily withdrew his 

 bare foot from the dewy door- 

 step. 



"Sarjint Daow, won't you jest 

 kinder take a holt o' this an' pass 

 it raoun'?" 



The tall sergeant, setting his 

 gun against the doorpost, swung 

 the jug over his arm, and with 

 accurate judgment of his men 

 measured out to each a fiery 

 charge suited to his caliber. 



Then with a lusty cheer for 

 "the Cap'n in his uniform," they 

 departed to surprise as stealthily 

 the lieutenants in their strong- 

 holds. 



Meanwhile their commander 

 bore the depleted jug to its cup- 

 board and the burden of military 

 honor back to bed. He did not 

 feel himself at all a hero when 

 he curled up his legs in obedience 

 to Mrs. Peck's petulant com- 

 mand : 



"Solerman Peck, take your 

 col' feet off'ni me. They're 

 julluk tew frawgs. I don't 

 b'lieve it no part o' military 

 desiplyne fer a captain of a 

 company to be a-galivantin' 

 raound in — his — shirt tail — in 

 middle of er — night tu — tu — 

 squerronnk," and with a trumpet 

 blast delightful to his ear she 

 resumed her interrupted march 

 into the land of Nod. 



The beautiful day was not far 

 advanced when the one street 

 of the Forge village began to ex- 

 hibit the half indolent bustle of 

 a country holiday. Boys were 

 arriving, heated and panting 

 from a haste that had not till 

 now permitted them to stop even 

 for the nursing of stubbed toes. 

 One of Antoine's brown-skin- 

 ned, black-polled brood carried 

 a smooth bit of board on the 

 hollow of his arm whereon 

 were displayed twists of molas- 

 ses candy, and. already was cry- 

 ing his home-made confection 

 in his father's own English: 



"Lassin candle. Two for cen' 

 a piece." 



Militiamen came in, on foot 

 and in wagons, and men strag- 

 gled from one to another of the 

 increasing groups on Hamner's 

 stoop, the steps of Claphain's 

 old store and of the new and 

 popular Bascom's as interest 

 or curiosity impelled them. 



Here and there a man hurried 

 about his belated chores. White- 

 haired exempts sat at their doors, agape with languid, 

 senile curiosity. Women in unwontedly early tidi- 

 ness of dress went back and forth from house to house, 

 bearing openly or under aprons, some neglected or forgot- 

 ten provisions for ,the day whereon relatives or friends 

 might desire entertainment. 



A very fat and no less benevolent-looking old man in a 

 blue homespun frock, seated on a tall-backed, splint-bot- 

 tomed chair, in a lumber wagon, that also held a barrel 

 of spruce beer behind him, drove his fat and sedate old 

 horse near to the front of Hamner's hostelry, and clamb- 

 ering carefully down over the stout thill, unhitched his 

 horse and led it away. 



"Wal," said one housewife, as she dropped the rush cur- 

 tain under which she had watched him, "I guess the' 

 haint no daoubt but what its trainin' day, fer ol' Beedle 's 

 come, an' he's sot up clus tu Hamner's. Won't that rile 

 Hamner? But it don't make no dif'ence, his cust'mers 

 aint hankerin' arter spreuce beer," 



Old Beedle coining back, removed the end board from 

 his wagon and made a counter of it whereon he placed 

 his tumblers, shoved the tap of the cask beyond the end 

 of the box, took out the chair, seated himself comfort- 

 ably, and proclaimed his readiness to serve customers 

 with beer at one cent a glass, counting the change that 

 he carried in a canvas shot-bag, while he awaited their 

 coming. 



Then Joseph Hill and his father drove in, with the long 

 gun aslant, the son being permitted to carry it to-day in 

 such honorable service, for so the veteran regarded it, 

 though "June trainin' " was becoming a mere farce 

 among a people whose martial spirit seemed almost dead. 



SamLovel marched past in his long-strided fox hunting 

 gait, followed by Pelatiah with downcast eyes, bearing 

 his irksome gun. Time was when he looked forward 

 with a thrill of pride to the day Lowizy should see him 

 adroitly practicing his lesson in the art of war, but that 



I 



YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK GRAND FALLS OF THE YELLOWSTONE. 



was an ended dream. Now, Beaver Meadow and Stony 

 Brooks were calling him with concerted babble, and he 

 would rather go a-fishing than join in this foolery, or 

 rather, still, go out to battle, to die and forget and per- 

 chance draw one tear from those blue eyes that were 

 always haunting him. 



Capt. Peck, scarcely recognizable by those to whom he 

 had first appeared that morning, was proudly conspicuous 

 on Hamner's stoop in a square-topped, broad-visored cap 

 with a red, white and blue pompon, enormous yellow 

 epaulettes on the shoulders of his tightly buttoned blue 

 claw-hammer coat. White trousers incased legs that 

 were frequently entangled with the scabbard of his huge 

 sword. His first lieutenant wore a bell-crowned beaver 

 hat and a blazing red coat, a relic of some defunct uni- 

 formed company, while his junior in rank was designated 

 only by a huge red sash encircling his loins and the cav- 

 alry saber depending from it. The fifer and drummer sat 



. on the steps toying with their instruments, with a group 

 Not far off a little board booth that had grown the day i of boys gaping in tireless expectancy before them, 

 before, began to blossom out with the yellow cakes of [ Sergeant Dow lingered near, awaiting orders, without a 

 ginger bread, a jar of striped candy and green tumblers trace of drowsiness from his self-imposed early duties, 

 of lemonade, which attracted [many flies and a few bovs 1 The Captain endeavored to draw his watch from its 

 to its rough counter. * padded fortifications, but failed, and went to consult 



Hamner's clock. "Sarjint Daow," he called, as he 

 bustled forth, "you can fall in the men naow." 



At the word, the drummer began to rattle the call 

 familiarly set to the words, "Uncle Dan, Uncle Dan, 

 Uncle Dan, Dan, Dan," and the men came straggling into 

 fine, a few ready and alert, but the greater part listless 

 and careless, and. some bearing only clubs and broomsticks 

 in place of proper weapons. 



Standing stiff as a ramrod at the head of his rank, Sam 

 looked with supreme disgust on these military mummers 

 who should have withered under the fiery indignation of 

 Gran'ther Hill's glances. 



"You'd orter be court-marshelled an' shot, blast ye!" he 

 growled, "an' so ye would ha' ben, ef ye lived when folks 

 hed spunk tu du anythin'," and he shook his impotent 

 staff. "Pooty critters you be tu make sojers on!" 



It gave him some comfort to see his own gun, upheld 

 by his son, kwering like a naked color staff in the center 

 of the line. 



"Jozeff haint turrible hefty on 

 sojerin', but he kerries a gun 

 'at's used tu the business, any- 



way," he remarked to those 



about him. 



Uncle Lisha, standing by his 

 side, uttered in snorts and ejacu- 

 lations his grief and indignation 

 at the spectacle of the unsoldierly 

 bearing of - men whose fathers 

 had so gallantly borne the 

 evergreen emblem of Vermont 

 through the storm of Platts- 

 ! burgh fight. 



At last the company was got 

 into line and partially straight- 

 ened by the united efforts of 

 all the officers, in pulling a man 

 here and pushing another there, 

 then they faced to the right. 

 / The fifer rocked back and forth 



from foot to foot to assure him- 

 self of the time the order was 

 given to march, fife and drum 

 struck up "Yankee Doodle," and 

 with an irregular tramp of four- 

 score pairs of feet, the Flood- 

 wood Company of Danvis went 

 marching down the street, all 

 the boys running beside it, the 

 women waving their handker- 

 chiefs and the Captain's pompon 

 bobbing proudly before it. 



Then it was countermarched 

 and returning to Hamner's, 

 halted there and went through 

 some antique manual of arms, 

 during the performance of 

 which some who felt the need 

 of refreshment after such ardu- 

 ous service, dashed out of the 

 ranks and into the barroom and 

 presently reappeared wiping 

 their lips to leisurely resume 

 their places, without reprimand. 



The men were soon dismissed 

 for their nooning, and a cordial 

 invitation was given by the 

 genial Bascom, to all who 

 would, to partake of a free 

 lunch of crackers and cheese 

 at his store, thereby greatly in- 

 creasing his own popularity and 

 depreciating that of his less 

 patriotic rival who sat almost 

 alone in the shadow of his own 

 store, placidly awaiting his fore- 

 seen time, as he said softly to 

 himself, 



"That feller's got pretty nigh 

 the len'th o' his rope. He won't 

 be givin' away crackers an' 

 cheese next trainin'." 



The Captain dined at Ham- 

 ner's with his officers and most 

 aspiring privates. Cap'n Hill 

 and Uncle Lisha were honored 

 guests of village friends to 

 whom they told stories of the 

 warlike days of which they had 

 been a part. The lar y er number 

 of the militia men having pro- 

 vidently brought their rations 

 in pockets, tin pails and baskets, 

 gathered in picnicking groups at 

 centers most convenient for the 

 irrigation of their dry fare, some 

 squatting on the platforms of 

 pumps and well curbs, where 

 the gulping crescendo of the 

 one and the splash and bump 

 of the other's bucket, often in- 

 # terrupted or overbore the flow 



of joke and repartee. 

 Some roosted on the thills and other available perches 

 afforded by old Beedle's wagon, where draughts of the 

 spicy beer were within easy reach, and some, burning with 

 a valiant thirst that neither water nor beer could subdue, 

 occupied the thin benches in the noontide shade of Ham- 

 ner's stoop, firing volleys of wit at each other and at the 

 boys who stole past them to gaze on the Captain's sword 

 that now hung peacefully behind the bar, while its owner 

 wielded meaner weapons against the sacred rage of hunger. 



A horde of boys swarmed about the benevolent old 

 Beedle who dispensed smiles and kindly words with his 

 foaming glasses of innocuous beer and always gave the 

 right change for eveiy "fo" pen' sha p'ny," though its 

 Spanish blazory of pillars and scroll was quite effaced. 

 And boys crowded about the booth in eager purchase of 

 the choky but delicious gingerbread as yellow as old gold 

 and of greater worth to their hungry stomachs. 



Meanwhile there was hospitable clatter of plates, 

 knives and forks in every wayside house, the sound where- 

 of made hungrier every passer by. 



"A turrible free-hearted creeture" said one of Bascom's 

 guests to a fellow soldier, jerking his head sidewise to- 

 ward the smiling proprietor, while he turned a fresh 

 cracker in search of the best point of attack, "an"pears 



