The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1869-05-14
SELECT STORY.
HRS. THOMPSON'S WHITE WARE.
BY MRS. Il. Il. EDISON.

! MIS- hcuupSou otOOu W I'll
kitchen table pairing potatoes 70
dinner Something was evidentl
wrong with the little lady, for Their
was an anmistakea6le air of spite il
The way she tossed the potatoes il
the pan OF cool spring water, waitib:
there to receive them. 1t was
sultry July day, and through tn,
open window came the sound o
mowers whetting their scythes
blended with the call of the robin
and the faint notes OF the cuckoo il
tie shaded wood. But 1t only
irritated Mrs. Thompson : indeed
every thing irritated her that day
Looking out from the back door, one
saw lovely landscape with broad
reaches OF mellow land, friBged with
graceful belts of birch, aud softly
rounded mountains l:fting their vel
vety 1oreheads to the white, fieecy
clouds. thst went slowly saiiing
across the exquisite ether, like huge
drifts OF thistledown. But this also
igrilated her; everything could be
beautiful save her life, and that :7as
cold, and rude, and barren.
But 10 begin at the beginning
Jane Lawrence had been an unusual
ly romantic girl, she had AWAY
lancied she would marry some ia
nous artist or echolar, who would
take her TO Rome, or Venice, where
she would live i'll a perpetual dream
OF beauty. She so loved beautiful
thingsl Perhaps ali women do, and
perhaps that is the reason so many
barter love for gold.
But, contrary 70 all her precon
ceived notions, she married Robert
Thompson, u plain, practical farmer;
and instead OF Italy, she went to live
at the cid homestead, which had
been the abode OF the ThOmpson's
for generations, and instead of
lounging III elegant studios, or glid-
ing down storied rivers in pictur
-esque gondolas, she made butter and
cheese, raised poultry, and cooked
dinners in the long, low ceiled
kitchen for three or four great, brown
handed, rayenous men. Quite a
contrast, you will admit.
If she could have had things lit
tie different, she wouldn't have
minded the work so much. If she
could have had soft carpets, and
tasteful furniture, and books, and
pictures, and flowers. To be sure
she had little slip under the south
window where sweet brier grew,
and pinks, sweet Williams, and mari
Colds blossomed in their season.
But they were so old-fashioned, and
she pined for the rare and elegant
plants she had seen in conservatoTies
and public gardens. But Robert
Thompson would as soon have
thought of buying the moon as such
useless things as flowers, and though
his wife earned them q dozen times
over, it never entered his heart that
she did. Indeed, he considered it q
very liberal thing when he gave her
twenty five dollars, fall and spring,
to buy her clothing, and wondered
vaguely where it all went to, and if
she had not got some boarded away
somewhere.
AS TO books, there was the family
Bible, with the record of all the
Thompsons for three generations
Then there was Fox's Book of Mar.
tyrs, and Pilgrims Progress, and an
English Reader which her Thompson
had when he was boy and went to
school in the little red school house
up on the ''Pine Barrens.'' Besides,
there was the Report of the Board
of Education, Laws and Resolves,
Patent Office Reports, and a pile of
the Farmers Almanac for twenty
five years, besides any number of
documents on the best and most
improved breed of cattle, the theory
of understanding, rotation of crops,
grass and forage culture, DC.
What could any reasonable person
ask for more than that ? And as
for pictures, there was "From the
Cradle to the Grave" an allegorical
picture painted in colors, with a
descriptive couplet attending each
particular stage of the journey,
sampler which bis mother had work
ed "when eleven years of age and
a very effective scene illustrative OF
The Lovers Parting" wherein a
very red-cheeked damsel in puffed
sleeves, short waist and very low
neck, dissolved in the arms of her
parting swain.
Certainly Mrs. Robert Thompson
must have been very hard to please,
but the particular matter of griev-
snce on this particular day was of
quite another thing. The easter
vile Sewing Circle and Ladies Be.
nevolent Society,"" were to meet at
the farm house the next Friday, and
Mrs. Thompson had set her head on
q new Get of white ware for the
occasion, and that morning had