The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1859-05-04
for TIE Donle Girfle,
Little Edward.
By HARRIET BEEcHER STOWE.

! 4&A1bAS 4AA W b4 ". 81.
By HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
| Were any of you born in New England, in
the good old catechising, church going, school,
going orderly times! If so, you may have
seen my Uncle Able; the most perpendicular,
rectangular, upright, downright. good man,
that ever labored six days and rested on the
seventh.
You remember his hard. weather beaten
counienance. where every line seemed drawn
with "a pen of iron and the point of dia.
mond; bis considerate. gray eyes, that
moved over objects as if il were not best to
be in hurry abont seeing; the circumspect
opening and shutting of his mouth; his down.
sitting and uprising, all performed with con-
viction aforethought--in short, the whole or
dering Of his life and conversation, which was,
according to the tenor of the military order,
to the right about face-forward marchr-
Now if yoa suppose, from all this triangular
ism of exterior, that this good man had moth.
ing kindly within, you were much mistaken -
You often find the greenest grass under a
snow drift; and. though my uncle's mind was
not exactly of the flower garden kind, still
there was an abundance of wholesome and
kindly vegetation there. III a.
1t is true he seldom laughed and never iok.
ed, himself, but 70 man had a more serious
and weighty conviction of what good joke
was in another; and when some exceeding wit
ticism was dispensed in bis presence, you
might see Uncle Able's face slowly relax into
an expression of solemn satisfaction, and he
would look at the author with sort of cui.
ct wonder as if it was past his comprehension
how such thing could come into mans
head
Uncle Able. too, had some relish for the fine
arts; in proof of which might adduce the
pleasure with which he gazed at the plates in
family Bible. the likeness whereof is neither in
heaven nor on EARTH nor under the earth.-
And he was also such an eminent musician
that he could go through the singing book at
one sitting without the least fatigue, beating
time like windmill all the way.
r He had. too. a liberal hand, though his lib.
eralty was all by The rule of three He did
to his neighbors exactly as he would be done
by; he loved some things in this world very
sincerely; and he loved his God much. but he
honored and feared him more; he was exact
with. others, he was more exact with himself,
and he expected bis God to more exact still.
Everything in Uncle Ahle's house was in the
same time, and place, and manner. and form,
from years end to years end, There was old
Master Bose, dog after my Uncle's own
heart who always walked as if he were study
+ ing the multiplication table. There was the
old clock, forever ticking in the kitchen cor
ner, with q picture on its face Of the sun for.
ever setting behind a perpendicular row of
poplar trees. There was the never failing sup
ply of red peppers and onions hanging over
the chimney. There. too, were the yearly
holyhocks and morning -glories, blooming
about the windows. There was the best
froom,'' with its sanded floor, the cupboard cor
ner, with its glass door, the evergreen aspara-
gus bushes in the chimney, and there was the
stand, with the Bible and almanac on it. in
another corner. There, too, was Aunt Bet
sey, who never looked any older, because she
always looked as old as she could; who always
dried her catnp and wormwood the last of
September, and began to clean house the FIRST
fof May. In short this was the land of con.
tinuance. Old Time never took it into his
head to practice either addition, or subtrac-
tion, or multiplication, on its sum total
4 This Aunt Betsey aforenamed was the neat
test and most efficient piece of human machin-
cry that ever operated in forty places at
once. She was always everywhere, predomi.
mating over and seeing to everything; and
Though my Uncle had been twice married,
Aunt Betsey's rule and authority had never
been broken. She reigned over his wives
!. when living, and reigned after them when
dead and so seemed likely to reign to the
end Of the chapter. But my Uncle's latest
wife left Aunt Betsey much less tractable
subject than had ever before fallen to her lot.
Little Edward was the child of my Uncle's
old age, and brighter, nerrier little blossom
hS'Oi SiO" On th0 OikO VA an dNuld uCuG. 116
had been committed to the nursing of bis
grandmamma till he had arrived at the age ei
, indiscretiou, and then my old Uncie's heart
SO yearned for him that he was sent for to
come home.
His introduction into the family excited q
terrible sensation. Never was there such q
contemner Of dignities, such violator of high
FIplaces and sanctities, as this very Master Ed
ward. Itwas all in vain to try to teach him
:. decorum., He was the, most outrageousl,
merry elf that ever shook a head of cnrIs; and
: it was all the same to him. whether it was
'Sabba day or any other day, he laughed aud
frolicked with everybody and everything tina,
came in his way. not even excepting his sol
: emn old sather; and when you saw him, will
his fair arms al oand the old mans neck, anG
his bright blue eyes and blooming cheek pres
sing Uut beside the bleak face of Uncle Able
you might fancy you saw spring caressiug
winter. Uncle Ab!e's metaphysics were sore
lly puzzled by this sparkling, dancing com
- .s-sA e.. sasS b a.