Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1868-07-21
The Quilting at Miss Jones's.
BY JOSIAH ALIENS WIFE.

bed quilt; and last week we quilted
it. Ialways make pint Of going to
cuttings, for you can't be backbited
to your face, that's moral sertenty.
| know wimmen jest like book, for
l hev been one good while. / al
ways stand up for my own sect, still
| know sertin effects follow sertin
causes, to wit, and namely, if two
bricks are Sot up side by side, if one
tumbles over on to the other one, the
other one can't stand, it amt natur' &.
If topper holds a glass Of liker to
his month. he cont help swallerin', it
amt natur. Ii young man goes a
slay-riding with a pretty girl, and the
bufelo robe slips of, he can't help
holdin it round her, it amt natur. L
might go On illustratin', but enutf !;
quiltin Jest sets wimmen to slanderin'
as easy and beautiful as enything you
ever sec. So [ went. There wasn't
anybody there when I got there. For
reason, ! always 90 early.
Ihada't been there long before Miss
Deacon Graves came, and then the
Widder Tubbs, an then Squire Ed
wardses wife, and Maggie Snow, and
then the Dobbs girls 1--WE call 'em
girls, though it would be jest as pro-
per to call mutton lamb, for forty
summers hey gilded their heads if one
has gilt 'm.) They was the last that
come, for Mrs. Browns baby had the
mumps, and otherwise couldn't leave ;
and the Ripleys had unexpected COM
pany. But with Miss Jones, where
the quiltin' was held, and her girls,
Mary Ann and Alzina, we made as
many as could set round the quilt
comfortable.
The quilt was made of different
kinds of calico all the wimmen round
had pieced a block or two, and we
took up a collection to get the batten
and linin', and the cloth to set it to-
gether with, which was turkey red,
and come to quilt it it looked well !;
we quilted it herrin'-bo and a run
min vine round the border. After the
postmaster was demorelized, the
schooI-mis5seas tore to pieces, the par
ty to Ripicys scandelized, Miss
Browns baby voted an unquestion-
able idiot, and the rest Of the unre-
presented neighborhood dealt with,
Lucinder Dobbs spoke up, and sez
she:
q hope the minister will like the
! bed,Quilta t ( Lucinder is the one that
mind, and has the Roman nose.)
1T amt noways likely he will, !"
sez her sister OpheHa (she is the one
that has her hair frizzled on top, and
wears spectacIes.) 1T amt noways
likely he will-he is a cold man, a
stone statue.
Now you see, ! set my eyes by the
minister, he Is always doin' good to
some body, besides preachin' more
like an angel than a human bein'.-
| can't never forget-nor I don't
want to-how he took hold Of my
hand. and how his voice trembled and
the tears stood in his eyes, when my
little Joe died; pretty little lamb, he
was in his infant class, and he loved
him; you see such things cut deep,
and there is some lines you can't rub
out, if you try ever so hard. And |
wasn't goin' to set still aud hear him
run down; you see it riLed up the old
Smith blood, and when that riled,
Josiah says he always takes his hat
and leaves till it settles. And |
spoke up. and sez f:
"Lucky Tor him he was made of
stone before he was merried, for com
mon flesh and blood, sez |, would
have gin out a hundred times, chaste
round by the girls as he was (yOu
see it was the towns talk how Ophe-
liza Dobbs acted before he was mer-
ried, and she almost went into a de-
cline, and took heaps of motherwort
and fetty.)
Il don't know what you mean, Miss
Allen" sez she, turning red as a brick
: q never heard Of his being chaste;
know l never could bear the sight
Of him."
J "The distant sight" sez Mary Ann
Jones.
+ Ophelia looked so mad at that, that
don't know but she would have
pricked her with her quiltin needle
: if old Mrs. Graves hadn't spoke up
: She is a fat old lady with double
t. chin, mild and lovely" as Mount
: Vernen'8 sister. She always agree;
e with everybody; Thomas Jefferson
e Josiah's boy by his first wife, calls
= her ''Woolen Aprons" for one da!
e he sez he heard her say to neigh
Dor, Il don't like woolIen aprons, d.
+ you ?" "Why yes, Miss Graves, l do.
: "Wall, so do !" But good old soul
e if we was all such peaccmakers a
she is, we should be pretty sure Of
Heaven, though Thomas j. said tha
, if Satan should ask her to go the 9th
t. er way, she would go rather than hur
IS his feelings; I jest told him to she
n up his weekedness, and he shet up.
AS | said, she looked mildly u
over her spectacles and nodded he
t. purple cap ribbons two or three times
y, and said, "Yes," "Jest so" to bot
N of us; and then she was so afrai
that we wouldn't think she was jineiI
with both Of US, sez she, "Yes, Mis-
at Allen" "Jest so, Ophelia." And the
ID to change the subject, sez she, @Ha
% the minister's wife got home yet ?"
h Il think not" said Maggie Snow
m Il was to the village day befor