Daily national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1854, 1854-03-31
LITERARY MISCELLANY.
For the Nationai Era.
REc0LLEcTIoEso OF NY GRANDrATHERsH HOME.
CHAP. yII-concludsd.

CHAP. V1I--COncluded.
When the last dinner dish had been placed
upon its shelf, and the stone hearth twice
swept INV stem grandmother and Hannah who
were never idle would sit down TO their mend
ing: or the former would go to her LOOM and
the latter to her distaf All the household
linen, all the daily apparel, was the work OF
my grandf fathers own household. There was
constant hum of industry IN the old farm
house and my child sh curiosity was daily dis
tracted between the clatter OF Hannah's loom
in the chamber, and the whizzng OF the little
fay wheel below-that little flax wheel, the
most classic Of bygones to me. The German
nursery tale of the Spinners fired with true
heroines my chimerical little brain and here
were the distaH, the treadle, and the plant
thread By dint Of squirting and perspective
nv step grandmother came to look like re-
spectacle Riantess but never in my most &c
static imaginings, could metamorphose my
commonplace self into aught but little Molly.
Any summer afternoon might DO heard the
clapping Of my step grandmother's little wheel,
and TO many a pleasant gossip didit give its vel
come. How many broad-frilled caps, how many
square neckerchiefs, have not passed under my
review how many painted snuff boxes under
gone my inspection, how many low told tales
crept over to me, in those whilom spinning days
Aye, and how many cups OF tea, how many
dainty cream biscuits, have not owed their con-
sumption to ancient spinners' gossiping ten
denotes
10 those days, people did not represent them
selves Ia bit Of pasteboard, but gave tangible
and edible demonstration Of presence; and
every social dame expected to recover breath
over cup Of strong tea. What troupe of
whilom y,siters now pass in review before me
There was Dame Simkins, with her keen eye,
turned-up nose, and nervous way, who always
tried to look sanctimonious in o black bomba-
zine She brought q yearly gift Of pair Of
cotton hote TO my grandmother, with an eepe-
cial intention upon the crimson and white bro
cade | was sure. watched her with jeal-
ous eye, and vowed extreme vengeance upon
her red haired daughter, whose peculiar excel
lences and personal wants were the theme of
after-tea tets a.tetes She was q distant con-
nection Ct my grandmother, and got the bro
cade The light Of her sharp, gray eye went
out years ago, and doubtless the lustre Of the
red heads brocade.
Then, there was Dame Hyde, of nearer kin,
busting, rosy faced, good-natured housewife,
whose not unfrequent vsitations greatly dimin-
ished the stores Of household linen. She had
six stout damsels to fit OUT poor soul
Sinister visitants we had enough of, who
drank my step grandmother's tea, praised her
spinning battered her foi bes, and robbed her
stores But besides these harpies, dubbed rel
atiyes, there would not unfrequently drop inn
q genuine gossip, of the race extinct, with cot
ton umbrella, knitting needles protruding from
capacious reticule yawning oaash--in short,
ell the inseparable paraphernaia Of her class
The sight of such an appaIition made my fin
gers Jingle What q feast of scandal and flow
Of soul was sure of
There was little, dried-up old maid, half a
mile away, the very glimpse Of whose blue
umbrella, bobbing up and down, on the high.
way, would make my heart beat faster She
was full-blooded little gossip; everything
about her, her dried-up sinewy form, swapping
gray eyes, and nervous STEP her huge Ieticule
and broad pocket, were indicative OF her call
ing. Your true busy bodice are apt to be
lean--the very nabsre Of their vocation is op-
posed to the accumulation Of substance; even
q mcdicum Of flesh might greatly disoommode
the indomitable newsmonger, in her battles
against time and space. To be sure, here and
there lazy soul laughs and grows fat over
her neighbor's losses and crosses; bot such
gossip is comparatively harmless--her shafts
fly from nerveless arm. IT'S your itinerant
nswsmonger who gets the vantage ground,
and makes good her aim
from the ghouls ADD vampires who prowl
about seeking who they may devour, and for
whom, lest my pendant for Hepsy may expose
me to unamisble imputatiop, avow most I'M
mitigated hatred, to those gentle tquinters
those ready sympathzers in other peoples az
fairs, those pieces Of extreme volublity, whose
narrow little souls can never get beyond the
individual To this latter class belonged tat
Ting Hepsy, the kindest Of mischief m akers
upon whom and upon whose propensitier,
maigre my better Judgment, my heart still
looks back with an smisble weakness
Hepsy was certainly busy body, but for all
that clever soul She didn't mean to make
mischief, though COM cience knows there was
always enough Of it in her wake. She liked
the eciat attendant upon q news carrier, liked
the cordial Welcomes her communicativeness
gained her, (for our grandmothers were, after
all, true daughters OF Eve J best Of ell, she
liked cup OF strong tea. Bless me, how much
of inspiration ,heso used to be in those tiny
blue cups Of tea How they would set whole
table OF cronies gcssiping over their bygones
% poor Hepsy there was no end Of their pow
or. Before the magic tsa she would be diplo-
matically reserved, deal in monosyllables, half
uttered sentences, sly winks and mods; but two
or three cupe, well creamed and sweetened,
would unloose at once her tongue and reticule
strings. Dat came the snuf-box, with the
painted COW on its cover and, with it, out
came every scrap Of domestic gossip, gathered
10 her weeks perambuIstions 10 the country,
thrse miles round
Hepey was really, if not nomnally, the town
clerk of the village, and Hepsy was pretty sure
to be right Twas she who fret published
Jonathan to Molly, the MilIeis daughter, and
weren't they married in less than a twelve
month For an old maid, Hepsy was lenient
TO the young people, but somehow she had a
terrible geudRe against deinquents from her
own class, and woe to tho ancient maiden who
deserted the ranks Twas an amiable weak
ness
Something Of prophecies was Hepsy, too
Didn't sho rightly divine that the Squire's an
tiqusted daughter would fail in her matrimo-
NAL intentions 90 the still more autiquated