St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1865-02-16
FROM the L.ady's Friend.
BETTER THAN CHESTNCTS.

FROM the I.ady's Friend.
BETTER THAN CHESTNUTS.
l suppose you cannot begin to imag-
ine what is better than cl,cstnuts, cspec-
tally if l say at once I mean neither
peaches nor strawberries. know you
cannot guess SO, without making you
wade through half dozen pages of
nonsense, I will tell you right out that
it is Philip. 49,,
And now l am confident you will
wonder more than ever what there is
in a bearded, black haired man like
Philip to remind one OF chestnuts.-
Well, that is just what l am going ia
tell you.
Fhst Of all you must be told sistc,
Kate, during that point Of time when
the glories OF summer are rast and the
glor,es OF winter are not yet come, was
on certain day, while everything was
brown and desolate, seized with al 10.
sane desire to 80 rutting. Now, If you
know anything about our family u, you
must know sister Kate has it all he,
own way, aud if she pronounced it he,
imperial pleasure to 80 to the moon,
none Of us would thi.k Of objectin;, al.
though, fortunately, sho has never as
yet got that notion into her curly head
"Yes, girls, we must certainly go
chestnutting once this year, and to-day
is as good time for it as any," s.id
she, opening the door and lettins iu q
gust Of November wind, which scatter.
ed my pile of papers as though they
had been withcred leaves, and filled the
room with puff Of smoke from the
Franklin stove
Ofcourse it was as good time a.
any; l never saw the day, aud never
expect to, which was made for chest.
nutting. That afternoon, to be sure,
had set ap"rt especially for sorting aud
answering my LETTERS which should bc
spoken Of revt ren,1y, some, at least, be.
icg old enough to be venerable-a"d
had accordingly Uttered over the tabl:
and settled myself down comfortably t.
the task. When one has tuned one,
self up to the key Of writing, you know
this bit Of drudgery comes to be com
oaratively certain sort Of enjoyment
aud it va, actually with as Oh Of re
gret that l huddled everything back in
to my desk and portfolio again.
While I was doing this you did no.
suppose Kate was idle, did YOU? 1
you did, that shows how little you know
Of our family. She had been up garre
six times, and down cellar tour, at th'
leas: calculation she had screamed
from the kitchen window to Indian,
Hamilton, her fast friend, who lived il
the brown stone cottage across the gar
den, "Going uutting! All ready! Com
right ovcr:"' And she had shouted tn
same formula from mothers bedroom
window to Margaretta Battlebrawn a
the parsonage next door, towards .th'
north pole, and sent word to Min!
Green by her brother Tom, who hap
pened to be passing opportunely. viii
= cigar in his mouth, as he usually IL
To do al this, she had flung through
the sitting room towards = score 9
times with the stir and uproar Of
small whirlwind, 2upsetsiug mother'
vork-basket, knocking down the tongs
and overturning . chair in her career
by the mere electricity Of her presence
A. it appeared, for she did not seem t.
touch them with 80 much as a dyinl
ribbon. -
saw by the look Of resigned pa
thence on, mothers face, that, foolisl
aud rattle-brained q she regarded any
thing excepting sitting by tho ire'ant
d.rniDg stockings, it would be posi-
tive relief to her when the doors wer,
finally closed upon us, and I fancied
detected 9. similar expression in til,
startled, Disguised aspect Of the cat, VII,
had been reused from his corner. : rur
over and stepped upon, :r"til l. blamed
him no more than l did mother. " Inl.
desd, I pitied them bo.b from iii. bot:
tom of ny heart, aud | surely deserved
their sympathy in return-though