Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1855-08-08
The Old House s6d the New House.


The Old House md the New House.
Dear me, Js1ss! / do believe this
heads, before hegear is out
$50 spoke an anxious-looking little wo-
man, the mother of nine children, and
mistress of a house an hundred years old, !
to her sturdy farmer-husband, james APP
peltone James junior, otherwise callsdS
Jenny the youngest buyI&NeUfthe nine
scanBeENhad just oyerset %grandmam-
fma's work1a11E, in his haste to catch the
black brush ofpussy's tail and the shock
had dislodged a triangle of clustering.
from. the roof of the room, cracked and
scanned by time. This had fallen directly
upon the breakfast-table, to the manifest
danger of mammals cups and saucers, not
to speak of the head of the baby, who sat
tied in his high chair, finishing his crust,
after all others had deserted him.
Mr.. Appleton looked up quite coolly, and
replied,
1 Twill save q deal Of trouble in pulling
8 it down then!
tAnd break all our dishes, meanwhile,
e besides our necks J returned his wife, as
she Swept the fallen fragments from the
cloth. 81 wish it was safely down, for
onep
T. tOh, papa, do tear it down this spring,
rs won't you p cried Laura. and Ebens theols
|; dest girl and boy. springAg to his side at
Us the word. 1--WE can live so nicely IN the
~ shop, you know, while the other house IS
building
i'd and then have a nice new home I! ex-
to claimed Sarah, the second daughter.
or tYes-and this is such an old thing !!
IN added Laura, looking quite disdainfully
ne around her. The other children had clus'
re, tered about the group by this time every
ION eye followed sister Laura's, and sever
tongues echoed in seven different tones
md { Such an old thing!
red tChild'en! 1t was grandmamma VIII
spoke this from her corner, in a voice a lit
tie tremulous. 'Child'en, it's many a on
hasn't so tight a ruff as this to cover 'em
This was a slight reproof, as kindly ts
hey ken as it had been given. It silenced tn
children, however, for the moment, exceI
Eben, who whispered to Laura,
the 'Grandma is most as old as the hous
49, isn't she? [ wonder if she don't feel ba
,olv to be reminded of being so old?
Il don't know whispered Laura, in +
snce turn, e little thoughtfully. Il dare say
ates Here, Jenny and Sue, come help pick
It ne grandma's spools.'
eacn Just here the father laid down his new
.n nSr paper with an energetic rafting, and fol
IT. ing his hands above his head, spoke in
= " IL 1891 III
e in tone that aroused all ears.
it is tWife and mother! I've pretty mu
Thich made up my mind to build this next S
lam son-what say?'
.qnal Il say, by all means!' answered
,o ,~Il wife but her words were hardly dist
guishable in the renewed shouts of
brave Young ones, Good Hurrah = &c.
e and Hush !-youv exclaimed the fail
Well, mother, what's your mind ab
it?3
G~randmamma lifted her eyes from
gray stocking she was knitting, and
tear rolled down the burrows of her che
She cleared her throat, and tried to sp
ssponf eheerfully.
lare @. 9. ~-ssE-sIu r1,uyur rJs pest soT she
milling with a sort of sigh of resignation.
he no. Why, Grandma! to be sure! cried
a DUTY alb, in a tone of surprise. TO have a
u house
waters And you shall have a dear new
proud bedroom in it, added Laura, more gen
20 train 6 a room on the ground floor, so that
@ their won't have to keep going up and down S
1t they to your chamber. | saw it in papa's
IS and it was marked Mothers Room.''
. POm- You're very kind, Jem,' said old
ed and Appleton, to her son and she went kni
educa- on very fast, without, however, seel
the much cheered by the assurance Laura
opment given.
sneen As [ have said, the house was a hun
= how years old. It was built soon after the
YER cul. settlement was made in the town of R.
,selves? among the stony hills of Granite State.
an they Trainer, the great-grand father Of Laura
ave not pleton, nodoubt~t houghthe had accompl
rnment a mighty work when he put up tn
1 ;chtau clap-board, and took his family from
Is most log house Of one room, into the unplast
hments, unfinished, barn-like new house; 70
blend old house was new then. He was pool
could not fit up his shingle palace wi
ion will and 80 his family shivered in it winter
nee ana winter, until they became accustome
"S' cold draughts from cracks and %crannies
,se oual- 10 Goals swapping from the Wlde-gapln
uted ia place, which sent up heat in the cen
is the chimney, and drew down cold
ht after. either side.
sight of Lemuel Appleton, son of the first br
Is had revived and improved the mansi'
n ndsp anu fore bringing to its wide hearthstol
christi. young wife-the 'grandmamma' o.
love and days. Since that day it had unde
isti unity many repairs and alterations, being en-,
ton. as children clustered around the
t writer, couple. Now those children had gro
ity-ite to men and women, and were scatter
~unsatis- ord u;do ovor tbo oorntv, al h. :,
gsQQUDf q noHrg.svap.s
shall we Now, his nine noisy children be
pooaaa and narrow
ways, as their mother thought. G
y any stranger would have wondered
beneath that roof so many faxen
'e Age. found room to be slowed away nightly
The days of the old house were nj
IS. ed. On the very morning of which
spoken, the father commenced the W
destruction, BY removing an old oh