“That was n’t his name, although he always went by it,” added the old lady.  “He was a very odd character, and one of his peculiarities was, that he never walked directly towards any place or object he wished to reach, but went in a ‘criss-cross,’ zigzag way, like a ship beating and tacking before a head-wind.  He was a hard drinker, and was almost continually under the influence of liquor, and perhaps that was the cause of his singular habit.  He was a terribly ugly fellow, when he was mad, and the boys used to tease him in every possible way; but wo to them if he got hold of them.  He lived all alone, for he never had any wife or children; and he would not allow anybody to enter his house, on any account, but always kept the door locked.  If his neighbors had business to transact with him, he would step into the yard and attend to them; but even in the severest weather, he would not let them cross his threshold.  He never would speak to or look at a woman, and would always avoid meeting them, if possible.  Poor fellow, he had a dreadful end.  He was missing for several days, and at last some of the town’s-people broke into his house, and found him dead, with his head badly burned.  They supposed he was intoxicated, and fell, striking his head upon the andiron, which stunned him; and while he lay helpless, he was so badly burned that he soon died.  And that was the last of poor old Zigzag.”

“There was another story Uncle James used to tell, about the naming of Barre, in Vermont; do you recollect it, mother?” inquired Mrs. Preston.

“Yes, indeed, and I ’ve heard old Dr. Paddock tell it many a time.  He was there, and saw it all.  The people did n’t like the name of their town, which was Wildersburgh, and determined to have a new one, and so they met together in town-meeting, to talk the matter over.  One of the leading men came from Barre, Massachusetts, and he wanted the town to take that name.  Another prominent citizen came from Holden, Massachusetts, and he insisted that the town should be called Holden.  The people liked both of these names well enough, and it was finally determined that the question should be decided by a game of boxing, between these two men.  So the meeting adjourned to a new barn, with a rough hemlock plank floor, and the contest commenced.  After boxing awhile, one of them threw the other upon the floor, and sprang upon him at full length; but the one who was underneath dealt his blows so skilfully, that his opponent soon gave in; and rolling the Holden man out of the way, he jumped up and shouted, ‘There, the name is Barre!’ and Barre it hasten, to this day.  The next day, the man who won this victory had to call on the doctor to extract from his back the hemlock splinters he had received while struggling on the barn floor.”

Thus the evening was beguiled with stories, mingled with a few songs by Alice and Ella, and a few favorite airs upon the piano-forte.  Before the hour of retiring arrived, even Oscar was quite reconciled to the loss of the evening’s entertainment away from home which he had promised himself.