Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1843-03-25

There cumfof, in the house upon washing day.
Nonsense! only wish the writer Of those lines
hac been at our cottage by The old bridge On wash
ing DAYS, 1t would have made him sung other
words to tho same lively air, or ain sauiy MIS-
taken.
Washiog-day! why il was the happiesi twelve
hours Of the woek 10 Gus Children" We could
scarcely sleep all the night before from fersebt an
ticipa tons of the ffolic which II brought. II was
astonishing how our in,eilects are sharpened, and
our ingenuity brought IN !orce I" devise ways aud
means for escaping school on that peculiar morn-
ing. How resoluteiy we compelled healthy ap.
pette TO refuse breakfast; what tever,sh cheeks
We borrowed from the -ude oak leaves that lay
concealed beneath our pillows; what headaches
we pleaded and how very desperate all our svmp.
toms were Just before tho tones OF that academy
bell came sweeping down from school hill. II
was a new bell aud the man always rang II IN
commonly long and loud on Monday moruing TO
begin tho week with flourish, be SAID, bat To US
~ seemed instance of cruel personal spite to-
wards three Innocent :Ittle girls that had never
done him the least harm IN the world.
Though determined ,avads, We were always
GU, of bed immediately after daylight on wash
ing.day; and one face at least might always be
seen peeping eagerly through our low chamber
window We bad scarcely pushed back The old
hone ysucke vine just far enough to leave a SIN
Clio pane Of glass uncovered, and that command-
ed a view of the footpath where our washerwo
man always first seen coming through the
pine woods-a blessing n her short scarlet cloak.
she always wore u, summer and winter. !, had
been her grandmoth theirs; but IN form and materiai'
would DO in the heigh, OF fashion in Broadway this
very winter Bless the old cardinai once again.
II had made my heart leap many n hne summer
morning 10 see its first brilliant CLEAN through
The pine boughs. A nice tidy old creature was
our wa she woman, one that an artist would have
ske tched 10 spite of himself had he seen her
wending along that shady path IN the cool morn
ing, with kerchioi of brilliant cotton passed
neatly over her cap. and tied beneath the chin
GRAY Page wnnid have taken fancy To the
cd woman, before her sad smile came IN vie W.
There was something picturesque about her raj
ment and her NOV ements were IN fiGe Keeping
with dewey quietude rcposiug among the dark
green foliage through which she was wholly re-
Veaed, or seen only by g mPses as she came to-
ward the cottage.
BIT there was sometimes another object which
almost every youog man of taste, even though not
"a artist, would have tancsed--tor Ida was pns-
ssssed OF beauty 50 sott and delicate. that II
seemed natural TO the green woods. almost as The
flowers that sprlng to lIte and PERISH there. Ida
sweet, pretty L,da--as we always called her,
girl Of some ten wears old, when could
remember her coming to IN house with her moth,
Grand sha IS almost the first object that can
rene mber--for she was 49, the creature t" iasten
herself on the mind of chiid whose instinct 1t
was TO iovet beau,Ifui, aud De grateful for kind
ness. Ida came with her mother every week.
tor n,nv year. aud II was to her IN ~ our wash
Jog day owed half ITS cheetinIness. The old "o
brought "er girl IL "tnke care ot he chi-
dren," she SAID; and such care ne she took To
Ike Us happy, was never So successfully exert
cd by mnrtti being before IT since
FIRST she w"uin % 10 oar mother with her
swee, cnax,ng smile. and plead for day at home.
1--WE should be no trouble" she SAID. ''none IN
thu world; she would keep rs out IN the pune
woods or down nv the river side, with her moth
er all dty long. We should certtrnly wear our
sun hornets and keep our shoes on. should never
90 down 10 tho water unless she were with u.
nor climb the rocks 10 tear our dresses. nor carrE
turf aprons to dam up the spring, rs We
had done when company was expected In
short she promised all sorts of go I'D behavior Tor
US; and to d. ourselves lisuce. we seldom bro't
her into disgrace bv very glarIng misconduct
In truth. found tho Young girl so much m're
agreeable han mschief-so wnmanly IN her con-
troll over wlld sp,rIts. and vet so l'yonsIy
childhke, that we had little desire to 60 beyond
her presence.
Lid, usuai'v prevailed, and always. "a oar
mother insisted, fnr the last time The next week
we should certainly go To school. NJ matter, we
were very willing To let the morrow provide for
itself: besides e had heard thu: same old prom
Use Oft en- before thrt consent would have seem.
ed unnatural with"u, II.
Halfway between house and the falls,
which our readers Will find described IN the story
Of "Malina Gray" was l,rle green hollow; a
brooklet ran through i, N the spring season, and
even when there was no water, n thousand blue
eyed violets shed azure iinge along The MOST
and rich grass which formed its bed; while IN IN
~ and August the upper cover of the bank was
covered wh golden buttercups; md n few straw
berries might he found where the sunshine came
most frequently, embedded like rnbi-s in the vel
vet grass. One extremity Of this hollow slnped
gently down to the rivers brink. while the upper
end was guarded bv singular old hufionwnnd
tree. The rude trunk rose upward four or ~ e
feet, when f" mads sudden bend, like the elbow
OF mans arm, ran parallel with The earih. per-
haps three feet more. and then shc, toward the
sky, straight as an arrow. and its smooth, white
stem, and fantastic boughs. which doomed high
up in the air. seemed the moe picturesque he.
cause IL was the only tree Of that species in tho
neighborhood- II was beneath this old tree TIN,
washerwoman performed her dntv. from tho
of tho erase in sor;nO tI the fr,s