The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-12-30
.ssiss. sEH VOL X.-Ne. 41.-W HOLE Ne. 500.


1 axed yer uncle if It was more expensive
than he was willin' 1 should give sNo,f
4 says he, 81 don't begrudge the money.
want you to dew the hansome thing; but Il
would suit me great deal better if you wait
4 till the next day and then take it over.D 90,
husband,'' says /, I've got my heart sot on
attendin' the party; dew lemme go.'' ''Well,
CO." says he, "if you re beset tew; but mark
my words, i III bet dollar you II wish you
had MT a went,'
I Well the day .afore the party Jefferson
come hum to stay few days told him !
was gwine to the donation party, and he said
| he d like no better fun than to go with me.
Jef's always ready to go, You know So he
| went and got rearn 0. nice paper for the par
son to write his sermons on. At last the day
came. and / and JEFF, we started off for the
party. We went quite early in the evenin,.
for wanted to be there fore It was crowded.
Their hadent nobody come when We got there
only three or four ladies, that was gittin' O.
the supper ready. There was. Glory Ann
Billins, and Polly Mariar Stillman, and 10
Gipson's wife, and old mother Parker a settin'
the table. You know at them kind o. dewins
they always have a supper sot for the com
pany. The congregation provides the inter
tainment ginerally, but in this place the min
ister's wife has to find good share on tt
Miss Scrantum found the tea and coffee, and
sugar and cream, and butter, and SO forth.
Some o. the nelghbors sent in cakes and pies.
and cheese and biscuit But Miss Scranlum
was afeared there wouldent be enough o. the
cakes and pies-so she sent to the bakers and
gotta mess more. Well, / axed Miss Gipson
where we should put our donations, and she
told us to take 'en in the parlor and lay 'em
on the table. Ther was a table there pur-
pose to put the dry goods on. The provis-
ions was carried into the store-room. So we
wentin there and laid lem on the table. The
bunnit was pinned up in newspaper. JEFF
he sot down, and started off to find Miss
Scrantum. ] found her in the kitchen ma
kim coffee. She looked dretful tired and
beat out. was real sorry hadent went
sooner and helped her. She was wonderful
glad.to see me; and told her to GO and dress
herself, and ID make the coffee. So she
thanked me and went-and took hold and
made the coffee. never made SO much
afore in all my born days. and never expect
to agin. IT was made in Miss Scrsntuu,,s-
biler- She ID secured it up for the occasion.
II was biler that held ten pals full-andi it
was brimmin' full o. coffee. After | ID get it
made, went back into the sittin' room.l
They ID got the table all sot. Their was lots
o. cake, and biscuit, and pies, and cold meat,
and all sorts o. stuff. Then 1 went into the
parlor, and 10 and behold, 10 Gipson,s wife
and Miss Parker had ondid the bunnit, aud
was admlrln On 7 at a wonderful rate Jest
then Mr.. and Miss Scrantum and the children
come in, and dear me! how pleased they
were with the bunnit. Miss Serantum, she
tried it on, and it fitted her to T. But Su-
SAM you ID ought to seen Susani She jumped
and frisked around, and dident hardly know
what to dew with herself she was SO delight
ed 90, Miss Magwire," says she, that
beautiful bunnit was MT for you after all, was
it? What dear good woman you are to
make ma such a fine present. She III look as
nice as any body now-won't you ma?'' They
seemed wonderful pleased to see Jefferson,
tew; and Mr.. Scrantum was very glad to git
the paper-said It was jist what he wanted
Well, purity soon the company begun to come,
and they come pouriu' in thicker and faster
till the house was crammed. The settin'-
room door was locked SO as to keep 'enl out o.
there till supper was ready--and tell We all
the rest O. the house was jest as full as it
could stick. The parlor and the hall and the
bedrooms was all crowded and crammed.-l
You ID thought from the number o. folks
that was there, that ther ID been wonderful
sight o. donations brought-but as true as | 'm
a liyin' critter-that table wa MT half full
But then ther was a good many families that
fetcht one article to answer fo- the hull For
instance, Deacon Skinner and his wife and
four darters and tew sons was all there-and
Miss Skinner fetcht skein o. yarn to knit
Parson Scrantum some socks. Miss Hopkins
and her three darters and her son and his
wife, that was visitin' her, and their three
children all come-and Miss Hopkins brought
half pound o. tea. And the Runyons with
their four young ones-what do you think
they brought why, Miss Runyon fetcht
little fancy basket to stick on the center-table
and put visitin' cards il. And the Miss
Foote's, three on 'em, they brought Miss
Scro nt,1po a mir "a, ~, ffc And oTI tbo p;,--
hams, they fetcht neck ribbon for Susan
And Deacon Peabody and his tribe, ther IS as
much as a dozen on 'em, they brought small
cheese. heerd sfterward that half o. it was
a donation and T. other half was to go for
pew rent. And Cappen Smalley and all his
children was there. He fetcht box O. raisins
out o. his store, ther was twelve pound in It,
and Susan told me afterward that ten pound
was to go toward pew rent and the rest was
present. The Widder Grimes and Charity
was there, of course. They dident go nigh
the donation table for some time, and was
kind o. Gurus to know whether they d brought
any thing, and SO watched 'em, and bime-
bye, I observed Charity go up silly, when she
thought nobody did MT see, and lay little
paper on the table. I had the curiosity to see
what was in it, SO as soon as got chance
took up the paper and peeped into It, and 10
and behold there were two skeins o. thread
Did you ever? Widder Grimes is we'll of,
but she Is tew stingy to be decent, and Char
ity IS jest like her. Then there was ever so /
many belonging to other denominations, that |