Activate Javascript or update your browser for the full Digital Library experience.
Previous Page
–
Next Page
OCR
" <= nee
PREPARING FOR COMPANY. | 85
bj heavily with dark-crimson spots, that the golden bells seemed droop-
ing bencath a weight of rubies and small garnet stones, and crowding
7 them down into the pitcher amid the rosy spray of wild honeysuckle-
42 blossom, and branches of flowering dogwood... . : .
“* Here, Ned, give me the broom, quick ! and don’t shufile over the’
4 sand so. . There,:now,’’ she continued, gathering up the fragments
! of leaves and flowers from the hearth, and glancing hastily around
‘ the room, ‘* I wonder if-any thing else is wanting???
i Every thing scemed in order, even to her critical eye. The tea-
table stood in one corner, its round top turned down and its polished _
, surface reflecting the herring-bones drawn in the sand, with the dis-
i tinctness of a mirror. The chairs were in their,exact..places, and a
| the new. crimson morecn cushions and-valance decorated the settee, we
in all, the :brilliaticy of their first gloss... Yes, nothing more was. to —
“be done, still the good woman passed her apron over the speckless°
table and flirted it- across a chair or two, before she went out, quite
determined that no stray speck of dust should disgrace her child on
coming home. — a
- Mrs. Jones closed the door, and hurried up to the square bedroom, to
- be certain that all was right there also. A patchwork quilt, piecedin — -
. what old Jadies call ‘* a risihg sun,”’ radiated in tints of red, green,
. and yellow, from the center of the bed down to the snow-white val-
> ances. A portion of the spotless homespun. shect. was carefully .
turned over the uppey edge of the quilt, and the whole was sur-
mounted by a pair of pillows, white as a pile of newly-drifted snow-
: flakes. A pot of roses, on the window-sill, shed a delicate reflection
i over the muslin curtains looped up on either side of the sash; .and
the fresh wind, as it swept through, scattered their fragrant breath
i. deliciously through .the little room. bape tah os
« Mrs. Jones gave a satisfied look and then hurried to the chamber
prepared for her daughter, and began to array her comely person in
the chintz dress, which had created such a sensation in the village.
' ‘She had just encased her arms in the sleeves, when the door partly
~~. opened, and the old woman, who had-been: hired for a few days.as
“*help,’?. put her head through the opening. ‘¢I say, Miss Jones,
4 I can’t find nothin’ to make the stuffin’?.outon.?
Hoo --** My goodness ! isn’t that turkey in the oven yet? Ido belleve,
if I could be cut into a hundred _picces, it, would’nt be enough tor
this house. What do you:come to me for ?—don’t you know enough
: to make a little stuffing without my help?” Pay ce
“Only give me enough to do:it.with, and if I don’t, why, there
don’t nobody, that’s all; but I’ve been a looking all over for some
cies Bo I Ae ne eN e mee EN
‘A oem natant eon nts
anette tener
Si.usengers, and can’t find none, nowhere.’?:. is :
i “. “ Sausages ?,. Why, Mrs. Bates, you don’t think that I would al-
} low that fine turkey to be stuffed with sausages? ??., eo putts
; _.. “T don’t know, nothin’? about it,‘but I tell you just. what it is, \
“Miss Jones, if you are a-growing so mighty partic’lar about your
| Victuals, just cause your darter’s a-coming home with a rich beau,
' you'd better cook ’em yourself; nobody craves the job,”’ retorted the
{
.