The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1855-12-01

Y
kitchen hearth was burned into holes ant
holIows; the plastering was fallen off in
some places; number of the windows were
broken, and you could not tell what coloi
the paint had originally been. One or two
old and unpruned trees stood in the yard
their tangled tops full Of spiders webs
neighbored by dozens of young trees tha
from time TO time had been planted, all dead
and ready to be plucked up by the roots
many of them having had their bark gnaweC
away by the hungry colts, and some o
them having died Of thirst, for Moses always
forgot TO pour little water about the roots
no matter how dry and hOt,tbe wenthera af
ter their planting; perhapsthat he had beer
SO little used to! the dew Of life himself
But we will not anticipate. as yi.sa;sa.,. =
There was frolic at Mrs. Fundy's-,
quilting party-and all the farmers wives
and daughteEss for two miles around were
there; the wites''i in black gowns and the
4 daughters in white ones; the elder ladies
talking ofsoap. and sugar-making
and the younger ones Of new bonnets and
their lovers. Mrs. Fundy mude the roc m
warmer than the sunshine with her smiles.
The quilting was going on nicely; and though
she had ifty quilts, she thought this would
be the prettiest of them all--the young girls
might make hearts or arrows in the corners
just as many as they choose. Everything
had gone just right-even the two ginger
cakes, baked in the great bread pan, had not
burned one speck, top nor bottom; there was
only the least immasinable drawback to
her happiness, on two accounts; she feared
| her friends would tire themselves to death
quilting so fast and SO nice; and she began
to fear the most charmrig Of her neighbors
was not coming, for it was now ten minutes
past two, and Mrs. Wolfe cond not be seen
in the distance. | do hope she will come,
said one to another all around The quilt, for
all were looking to Mrs. Wolfe, as they al
ways did, for patrons Of the ,fashins -since
she, be it known, was the most stylish wo-
man in all the neighborhood.
Anne Hadly was appealed to, she being
thought likely to know the probabilities, in
asmuch "she went out sewing;' but Anne
quiet young woman Of some thirty odd
years--how many odd it had been good
while since Anne had suid~-did not know
anything about il; she never sewed for Mrs.
Wolfe--she could not sew well enough,
she supposed; and us Anne said this. her
needle refused to penetrate up through the
cotton of the quilt, and with nevous jerk
she broke tin two; upon which Mrs. Weed,
looked very hard at her quilting, but silly
touched the elbow of Mrs. Speed, said she
guessed somebody remembered how some
body got the advantage of her with a,certain
Mr.. M. W, mary years ago as 1t was.
Mrs. Weed lowered her head to the quilt;
and putting her voice into one Of those qucs-
lonable tones, neither whisper nor anything
else, said il she believed If there was ever
true love in the world, somebody felt it for
somebody even yet; and she went on to say
that she remembered when Mr.. M. W., was
lively as could be, aud in all ways us prom
ising young man as could be found il the
meeting house Of Sunday. Perhaps Anne
felttbe talk was of her, and determined to
| let them know she did not care for Wolfe,
and never did; for she said with some nsperi-
ty that likely Moses had bent together, and
Mrs. wolfe was waiting to straighten him
up before she came. There was alaugh,
which subsidized with the tapping Of Mrs.
| Wolfe's fan oh the side Of the door-frame,
and the shining Of black eyes on the COM
pany as she gathered up the silk fouuces Of
her dress and revealed variety Of tape
trimed and frilled petticoats. The feath,
ers of all the ladies' dropped at once, though
in the absence Of competition they had felt
that they look ed pretty smart; not dress in
the house had cost so much as the lace on
Mrs. Wolfe's cap, to say nothing OF her
Leghorn bonnet, veil OF three yards in length
ivory handled parasol, and boughten fan
ALI the other ladies having fans made OF
goose, ,qulls gathered in their own mead
ows. -s..s-z... .n,a .-5 ALL
1 Anne Hadly looked tboughtfully down at
her own washed and ironed gingham gown;
and Mrs. Weed whispered to Mrs. Speed,
that the tears almost came into her eyes as
she did SO. She glanced at the heavy lace
Of the cap, and almost, .disdainfully pushed
back her own abundant tresses; and with q
sighs which she did not mean any one should
hear, quilted on very fast, though she had
done already, Mrs. Funday said, as much at
any other two women at the quilt. IN.
4 All were so glad that Mrs. Wolfe was
4 comes, for her fine dress gave eclat, as il
were, to the quilting party; and all were &c
anxious to know why she had not come soon,
er, that Anne was quite forgotten presently
--and quilted, and quilted, and quilted, in
the saddest silence. i.t3 ,aa7 1sa6
4 All the papers that held garden seeds, OF
I other things, in Mrs. Fundy's house, were
united, and the torn and wrinkled pieces
pressed smooth with q hot iron and carefully
stitched together, in order to servefor the
patterns Of Mrs. Wolfe's dress, cap and cape
She was not allowed to work at the quilt I