Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-08-27
MRS. PRITcHARD's TEA-PARTY
BY AUGUSTA LARNED.

r mot q gralu,' returned the Deacon
q settling a little more comfortably 90 The
report of the county, agricultural sOeie
ty, while q large blue hy buzzed Over
: the bald spot crOWning his head, as if on
predatory thoughts intent.
"A widowPr with children is like .
2 ship without a rudder," continued Mrs
P.
'sThat's true as preaching" respond
ed the Deacon and he rustled the news
! paper to turn il into 3 new fold.
''Our poor minister does need a wife
2 the worst way. His children are rum
ming up like weeds, and IT'S no more
than common charity to give him q
squint at some suitable person. There
Is Cousin Hope She was cut out for a
ministers wife. She has a knack OF
pleasing everybody. She's just as neal
aa wax, and has good government.
Ehen you know Hope is so pious, such
good christian W 1man. I heard her
Say the other day she had made a vow
not TO marry, b. cause she believed she
could serve the Lord better single and
then mistFBsted it wouldn't be long
before she was stepping Off"
Hope is as clever q woman as the
next One," said the Deacon, laying
aside his paper pushing up his specs on
his knObby forehead. ave made
practice for nigh ten years of dOnatina
the parsOn his winters Woodland the
best h ckory 1t is too. If Hope gets over
there at the parsonage, it will seem
like giving to our own folks"
! Don't talk, DeacOn," said Mrs. Pritch-
ard, little snappishly, ''ss if the thing
| was all cut and dried. It's in the Lords
hands but, as said before, it can't DO
any harm to bring folks together. L.
there is any one thing do despise, it Is
matchmaking. l am going to give
tea-pRFty next Wednesday,. The straw
| berries will be ripe by that time; and /
| cEn try that new receipt fur crea am-cakPs
/ Sister .Tnra n Fna Va
invite the BelIamys and the Floods,
| " hiIe we are RbOnt 10, as they asked uR
last. We can send Ira no to Brantvi1Ie
after Hope the night before, with par
ticulAr word TO have her bring down her
black silk. think Hupe looks remar-
kably we'll in black, and it fits like
glove"
''She looks good to me, however she's
rigged, - said the Deacon. 'In fact, the
| women pretty nlueh all do. seldom
or never have seen 3 human one."
| ''Fhat's your wax splt, Deacon"
1 and Mrs. PEitcbard drew bersrIf up
| sIifdy land I must say, for a man OF
/ your age, it looks shallsr."
- This -conjugBl confab took place on q
Saturday evening just four DAYS before
Mrs. PritchRrd's s ali-im portant tea-par-
ty. Deacon PriIchard's place wus con
sidar-d the snugkesgy piace Und the
/ best kept up of any for mules around.
I The house and fence shOne with white
pant the blinds were a particularly
| bright geeB the carriage e-house and
! wC,ad-shed, painted a dsmure slaie,
/ looked as If every stick and straw had
| beeu-laid in its place by hand.
/ There were some tall 1icusts and ma
| pies in front, and q plRnk-WHlk ran
/ from fhe gate to the door between bur
! ders of May piDka and sweet alyssam.
| The sneiUsuEe was bright with varieRR-
/ ted phlox, tiger lilies, and white and
r''sy hnlyhOcks, standing like grena-
diers in platoOus.
TIE parlor was quite state apart
menf, rather feared than loved BY It's
wneFs. IL was adorned with what the
| Deacon called a ''brIsIles" carpet OF
| large pht4 erB, Rlippsry- hair-cIpfh b furni-
ture, gilt mirror, and framed phoro-
graphs of4he Deaeon and his WIFI, look
ing as il b. y nHd eaten 4 particularly
| indiRestibI.- dinBer.. ~
Most Of the time Mrs. Pritehard's par
lOr Was closed against it's mortal enc
mies-hies, frrsh air, and sunshine. The
scent o the last tea-dihking was peri
OdiGally shut up in It, together with q
sticky smell of varnish, Now the good
mistress Opened the windows, and let
in the psrfumed breath OF June. the 1
songs OF birds, and uronEng Of bees. |
She bustled about with her feather Hire,
dustiDg her Craven images. Which con-
eisFed uf Two fmPuBsible China people,
| q crystallized alum basket, dnRuerresI-
4 types stFewing the cpnter-tabie like
| dreary little black petreiactions, her
! ''girondles,', ,, al she called them, with
their swinging prIsms, and Rp aspiring
| astral lamp. @5e5T
The furniture suffered painfully from
an irfuptien of t]dies.s wonder what
prolific genius Invented those uBeom-
/ f,Ftab ble things, witch fnsiab.on gettinR
/ inttl Syads down the nidd Ee OF pe0plesa
backs, and Rre so ottsnsfu tlpera the
cHrpat 1y aastrreYereRt hand eS some
male GInfl1af 3 r.r b I'd.
Mrs. Pritchard allowedlITa and Petty
younger members OF her brood (the
grown sons bad quit the farm and gone
into business IN distant town. tp stay
home from school, and pick the straw
berries glowing on the gRrden-beds. |
Cousin Hope was sitting by the pleas /
ant Kitchen window heating eggs, wis b \
her fair, COIN face just little flushed
by the excitement of the occasion. She
had been teacher b,ng and looked a
/ little schoOlma'amish and precise, per-
/ haps, but not bit the less sweet and
loving for hat.
You must get on your best bib and
tucker, Hope,p said the Deacon, put
ting his merry. VFeather. beaten face in
between the morning-glOF bellies, still
trembling with dew. tsNTrs Stover is
/ coming over this afternoons voa know;
and they say he's on the 1aekout.-
And me and mother wouldn' g be il kelly
to cry Ifsyous should happen to step IN
to the parsonage
4 "Oh Cousin Pritellarfl - said Hope,
rather pIeasantlY shocked ~ her rela-
tive's modeo banter. hat q man
you are for q joke
Don't you mind the Deaeon's hec-
toring Bit" put in Mrs. Pritchard,
energetically, coming from the pantry
with her cake-pans in her hands. he
loves to tease as we'll as he loves to
eat. 1t would look as if it was con-
trived plan to get you over here on the
minister's account; but You know,
/ Hope. what my views are on the sub
! ject of match-making.'' AE4afg
Rachel, the 'shelp," ," was taking down
/ the company china, transparent and
thin as an egg-shell, with green sprigs,
from the high shelf of the cupboard,
II and getting out the large glass dishes,
and the best knives and forks, which
II Ordinarily were kept rOlledTsiu p9perg
Every room in the house seemed to be
expecting visitors. There were as
I paragus boughs filling the dining
room fireplace and Hope went and
/ gathered an apFonfuI of white and red
I balsRms, purple pansies, as dusk as
L late twilight, and flaming scarlet ger
I aniun1s, which she arranged with fine
| artistic taste.in fiat dishes, and placed
1 like living pictures of joy among the
/ petrefaetiOns on the parlor table.
There was tongue numbering in the
| pot over the kitchen stove, which would
ent very firm and pink, once thorough
! ly- cooled. zs.s5 fst .rtttf-r-h Is .r-+s---l-.
"My cream-cakes have puffed up to
beat all, said Mrs. Pritchard, running
/ in, with her face burnt over the fire,
and her cap awry, where Hope was ar
| ranging flowers, as calm and cool as II
she had dropped down from another
| planet.
The cream-cakes were expected to
furnish a new sensation to the rustic
palates of Drastic. The Deacon's wife
received the fashions from the high
] Olympus where her sister, Mrs. Jones,
one of the first ladies of B., sat and
doIed them out by driblets to her less
favored neighbors.s ~ sn
'FYou won't mind sitting next to Mr.,
/ Slower, will yous Hope, and dishing
out the straw berries2 You know
Rachel viii be busy baking her waffies.
I thought I'd have waffles, because my
iron is the only one in the neighbOr-
hood, and they are always treat. =
Ira and Petty had picked strawber-
II