Boys' Column. Long Acre Pond.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1887, 9 August 1884, Page 2 (Supplement)

Boys' Column. Long Acre Pond.

By Jdlia K. Hildreth, in "Harper's Young People." " Sam Peer I Sam Peer 1 Long Acre Pond is as hard and smooth as glass. Go get your ikates, and come on 1 " cried Morris Grey, running across the road to meet a boy who at that moment appeared at tho door of his house. " Have you tried it? " asked Sam. "Yes," answered Morris; "I was up there before six this morning." "Any one else going ? " inquired Sam. "Ed. Locke and Sydney Jarvis," answered Morris. "Wait a moment until I find my skates," said Sam, as he ran back into the house. In about five minutes he returned, swinging bis skates by their straps, and the two hastened down the road in the direction of the pond. • Long Acre Pond, as it was called, was situated a short distance from the village, and had been from time out of mind the favorite resort of the boys of that place. It was a wonderful pond, never drying up in Bnmmer, and always the first to freeze in winter. Here the children sailed their toy, boats, and fished for "killies' 1 m warm weather, and slid and skated in the short cold winter, days. If yon had asked any one of the boys whom this pond belonged to, he would probably hare aniwered, "No one." Sat in reality it was part of a large estate which had recently changed owners, " Hello 1 there are Ed. and iSidney. What are they coining back for? " paid Morris, a? two boyi appeared from" behind *'cluiter."of large trees.

"What is the matter?" shouted 'Sam. "Ice broken?" " Come and see for yourself," answered one of the boys. Sam and Morris quickened their steps, and in a few jnoments the four companions found them* selves on the edge of the pond. " What; do you think of that ? " Cried Edward Locke, pointing to a board nailed to a tree, on which was painted in large black letters : NOTICE. No Skating Permitted on this Pond. "Who could have pat that thing up there?" said Morris Gray, in astonishment. " Why," said Sam, laughing, and beginning to buckle on his skates, " don't you see it is a joke ? " ! "So it must be," cried Sidney, following Sam's example. In a few momenta the four b»ys were flying over the pond, shouting and laughing with the excitement of the sport. But their pleasure did not last long, for in less than ten minutes a man strode hastily dawn the hill, and when ho reached the pond he shouted in a loud, harsh voice : "What are you doing there, boys? Are you blind, or can't any one of yon read ? " The boys stood still a»d lookod at one another. " Who is he ? " whispered Sam Peer. " I think ho is the man who bought the house on the hill a few weeks ago," answered Morris in the same voice. "Well," cried the new-comer, thumping his cane upon the hard ground, " do you hear ? { ' " Suppoie we go and aßk him what he means ? " said Sidney. At this suggestion the boys moved across tho pond, and stood balancing themselves on their skates before tho stranger. " Did you oall us ? " asked Sidney. "None of your impudence," replied the man, " but take yourself off." ,■ "Off where?" askod Ed. Locke, looking puzzled. " Off my pond," cried the man, angrily. " Your pond I " repeated Sidney. "How does it come to be yoar pond ? " " How dare you speak to ma in that way?" said the stranger, growing red in the face, and turning quickly on Sidney. " I did not mean any harm," replied Sidnoy. " I only asked because I wanted to know." " It is mine," replied the man, in a less angry tone, "for the simple reason that I bought it along with the rest of the land that extends from that house on the hill to the other side of the field over which you've been tramping." " But wo havo always skated on this pond ever since I can remember," said Sam Peor, who had been Bilont until now, " and father says he did when ha was a boy." "And so did mine," "And so did mine," cried tho other boys. " That will do," said the man, frowning. " I don't want to hear anything more. You can make np your minds to this: you shall never skate on this pond as long as I own it, or my name is not Thomas Carver." " Not skate on Long Acre Pond ! " cried Morris Grey, in a tone of great surprise. " Why, there ig not another place fit to skate on within ten miles." " That is nothing to mo," replied Mr. Carver. " What harm do we do ? " asked Sam Poor. "You cannot hear us up at the house, and after this we will use the road if you do not want us to go ovor the field." " I have no more to say," replied Mr. Carver. "If I should let yon four boys stay here, before I knew it the whole village would be scampering over my grounds, destroying my fences and trees. Go, now ; I have wasted too much time already," and ho pointed to n lane leading out to the road. The boys looked at one another, and wondered if it could be possible ? Wore they to be turned away from thoir own pond, the place that they and thoir fathers before them had always considered public property ? " I don't believe you have any right to sond us off," said Morris Grey, angrily, '• and I for ono don't mean to stir." "We will see about that," cried Mr. Carver, raising his cane hastily. " You must not strike him," cried Sam, springing between Mr. Carver and Morris. The cane fell heavily npon his extended arm. Sam clinched his fist, and his eyes flashed as he said : " You would not have dared to do that if I were a man. I will make you sorry for this some day." "Pooh! pooh! nonsense!" said Mr. Carver, impatiently. " I will cane you all soundly if you give me any more trouble. In five minutes, if you are not out of my grounds, I will send two or tliree men to drive you off. And, remember, I never want to see you here again." After this he turned away, and walked toward his own home on the hill. The boys looked after Mr. Carver until he disappeared from sight ; then one after another they sat down, and unfastened their skates. "I suppose wo will have to go," said Ed. Locke, sorrowfully. " I am going to ask father if he really has a right to take the pond away from us," said Sidney, indignantly. Morris Grey had tears in his eyes as he looked toward Sam Peer, who still stood gazing fixedly toward the house. " Come, Sam," said Morris; " there is no use. We will be driven away if we stay." Sam turned a white face toward his friend. "I — I can't stand it," ho said, in a choked voice. "Did he hurt you so much?" whispered Morris, throwing his arm across his friend's shoulder. " I wish you had not stepped b9tween us." "It is not the hurt," answered Sam, in alow voice, "but the meanness of a great man like that, armed with a cane, too, to strike a person so much smaller than himself, who had done him no harm. I will nevor forgive him." "Come, Sam," said Morris, coaxingly; "he will ba back in a little 'while." And Mbrris put his arm through Sam's, and drew him off the pond. " I am not going to give up in this way," said Sidney Jams, as they left the lane. "I will have my skate, if I have to wait until that selfish old thing is asleep." "It is moonlight to-night," said Morris, glancing behind him. " Say, boys," cried Edward Locke, " suppose we wait until eight o'clock, and then go and have a grand — " "Hush!" whispered Sidney, wamingly, "I heard some ono move behind those bushes." When tho boys had left the lane and Mr. Carver's grounds far behind them, they stopped and held an indignation-meeting, at which Mr. Carver was voted " selfish, mean, and unfeeling," and it was decided to be perfectly proper to outwit him if possible. And then a plan was formed to return to Long Acre Pond that very evening, accompanied by as many boys as they could find to join them. After this the friends separated for the day. "You have not spoken," said Morris to his friend Sam, when they were left alone. " You will go, will you not ? " "I do not know," replied Sam. "I will first find out if the place belongs to him ; if it doeß, I would rather never skate again in all my life than set one foot on it." " How strangely you speak, Sam ! " said Morris, looking into his friend's face. "And you look dreadfully white, too. What is the matter ? " " I do not know," answered Sam, turning his face away. " I never was so angry in all my life. How I wish I was a man ! " " I would notfeel like that," said Morris ; " you will forget it soon." " Never," replied Sam, decidedly, as he walked away. " Are you going with us ? " asked Morris, as he met Sam Peer that evening in the road. "No," replied Sam. "Father says the place really does belong to him. He bought it about two weeks ago." " I don't care," said Morris ; "I am going to have one more good skate anyhow. Come, flam, if you will not go any farther, walk as far as the lane with me."" So the two boys walked slowly along the, moonlit road. They had nearly reached the lane when they saw before them a large party of boys with skates over their shoulders. They were all talking in loud and angry voices. "What is the matter?" said Morris, running to meet them* " Did he catch you ? " c " Worse than that," shouted one boy. "Ho has had the ice chopped away all around the pond, and unless you have wings you won't get any skating to-night." "And he has spoiled the whole pond, too," cried another, " for he has heaped up the broken ice all over it." At that moment thS boys, who were crowded together in the centre of the road, heard. a light waggon approaching rapidly. They separated, and sprang to each tide, as the driver' of the' waggon cried,'in a loud, commanding Voice, " Out of the way, boys ! out of the way ! " The man accompanied' these words with a' flourish of his whip.. The horse ho was driving apparently tookfright at hia, master's Toi,ce and' sadden movement, lor he itartedi reared, upon' his hind-legs, and then iprangforward,"and .turned; swiftly into the lane leading to the pond. , - \ h> " "That's the wan whV»Po»led our,,pond*V said;

Sidney Jarvis, as tho horse and waggon disappeared from sight. After this the disappointed boys went on their way, and Morris, bidding Sam good-night, accompanied them. Sam stood by tho will that skirted tho road/ thinking. Tho arm that Mr. Carver had struck that morning ached badly, and in his heart there was a very angry feeling toward tho man who had given the blow. "I would like to punish him in somo way," said Sam, clenching his fiat. As he uttered these woidb a sound startled him. It seemed to come from tho direction of the pond. Sam lifted his head and listened. It came again, and this time he was certain it was a cry for help. " Somo «ne who did not know tho ice was broken has fallen into the pond," thought Sam, as he sprang over the wall and ran swiftly across the field. When he reached the pond the first thing that c*ught his eye was a horse standing closo by the brink dripping wet and shivering. Au overturned waggon lay on the ground closo behind him. It was the horse and waggon that had passed Sam in the road a few moments ago, bat tho duver was nowhere in sight-. As Sam looked toward the pond, there appeared slowly rising among the fragments of broken ice a ghastly white face. The moonlight streamed brightly down upon it, and Sam gave a cry, for he saw it was the face of Mr. Carver. " Help ! " cried Mr. Carver, in a gurgling voice, as he mado one feeble effort to catch tho ice that surrounded him, but he sank almost instantly, and tho dark water closed over his head. "Why, 1 don'fc bolieve he can swim, and the pond is ten feet deep," thought Sam, in horror. He at once forgot th° events of tho morning, and slipped off his jacket and shoes. As he ran toward the pond he heard hurried steps approaching. ) But there was no time to waste, so without glancing back ho leaped into tho freezing water. As ho did so, Morris appeared. Ho had also heard tho cry for holp, though somo distance from the pond, and hurried back just in rimo to recognise Sam as he sprang after tho drowning man. Morris stood with his eyes fixed on the spot where his friend had gone down, trombling with fright, and unable to movo. But he gavo a cry of joy when the water parted close by him, and Sam's voice said : "Is that you, Morris ? I havo got him by the hair. I can tread wator, and keep his fac9 out a moment or two. But he is heavy ; so give mo a lift, quick ! " "lam coming," cried Morris, as ho threw off his jacket. "No, no; don't do that!" exolaimed Sam. " Unbuoklo the reins of the horsa and fasten them together, and throw one ond to me." Morns turned to tho shivering, frightonod animal, and obeyed. Sam caught the end of the rom thrown to him, passed it under Mr. Carver's broad shoulders, and fastened it seenrely beneath his arms. " Now what shall I do ?" cried Morris from the flhoTo. " Who is it ? Can't ho holp himself ? " "It's Mr. Carver," answered Sam, "and he's in a faint." 11 Then we shall never pull him out, ho i 3 so big —and you will ba drownod." "Morris," said Sam, "speaking 6lowly, and panting between each word, " have you got your end of the rein safe ? '' " Yes," replied Morris. " Then fasten it tight to tho horse's collar and start him off, while I keep Mr. Carver's month out of water." " Now I understand," answered Morri3. "You wantthe horse to help draghirn out." Without wasting another moment he passed the strap through the horse's collar, and knotted it fast. Then taking the hor6e by the bit, ho urged him gently forward. " That will do," oried Sam, after a fe.v step?. Morris looked back; the plan had succeeded. Mr. Carver now lay on the ground entirely out of water. He unfastened the reins from the hor&o's collar, and hastened to help shivering, dripping Sam from 'tho wator. " Shall I go up to the house and tell his folks ? " asked Morris. "Wo can never carry him home." Sam noddod ; he was too much exhaustod to speak. But before Morris reached tho house he met two men belonging to the village, to whom he told the story of Mr. Carver's accident and roscue. Tho men hastened back with Morris, and the boys waited only long onough to see him lifted into the waggon ; thou they hurried homo. But bsfoie he went, Sam heaid one of the men say, as he bent over Mr. Carver, "He breathes ; he is coming to." That was the last Sam saw of Mr. Caiver for more than a week. But' one sparkling Saturday morning he received a mysterious note requesting him to come to Long Acre Pond that evening, and bring with him every boy in the village old enough to skate. This note was signed by Thomas Carver. So that night Sam Peer, leading a procession of about thirty boys, arrived at tha pond, which, to their surprise, they found brilliantly lighted with colored lanterns. Mr. Carver met them, and, smiling, led thorn across the pond, which was now as smooth as crystal, to a newly erected wooden building. Then placing a paper in Sam's hand he said, " Eead that so that all may hear." Sam took the paper, and while the boys gathered around in eager silence, read it aloud. This is what the paper contained, omitting the formal titles : " In consideration of tho fact that I owo my life to tho two boys, Samuel Peer and Morris Grey, who bravoly rescued me from drowning in Long Acre Pond, I give the said pond, with one acre of land around it, and the building attached, to the boys of the village for ever. I furthermore set aside the sum of r>ne thousand dollars, the interest of which shall be dovoted to keeping the pond and building in repair ; and Samuel Peer and Morris Grey are to be considered my trustees for those gifts during their lives." After the wild shouts and cheers that followed the reading had subsided, Mr. Carver took Sam and Morris aside, and thanked them warmly and kindly for their gallant action. After this night Mr. Carver became a great favorite with all the boya. He ofton came to the pond, both in summer and Avinter, always making it a point to ask permission of Sam and Morris, whose management of Long Acre Pond is highly popular among the boys of the village. '