Lexington advertiser. [volume] (Lexington, Miss.) 1838-187?, 1870-07-22

'Gr,ndma w nhN Hdl,is "DUIUAINUu]
WHAT" eXClaim,
| s}le middle of II mmCl1EDTyEC YN
| 1T lis grandmother with his face u,22-1 ~
down between his two feet.
81 was going to tell you story about
when was little girl" she said
Carl was on his feet by this time.
"I didn't know you ever was little
girl W he exclaimed, in q tone Of great as
Lonishment.
"What did you Think" she asked
laughing.
"Why, thought you were always
Grandma Hollis" he said,
"WclI wasn't" she replied. 81 was
a girl once, no bigger than your Cousin
jamie"
"And did you wear your spe'tacles and
your cap then?' asked Carl land was
your name Grandma?'
"No, indeed" said Grandma 81 looked
just like any other little girl, and my
name was IIctty Rice. lived with my
father and mother, just as you do with
yours. had two older brothers, but no
sister.
"Our house was very different from
this one.
"Thtrc were no stoves then, but at one
end of the long kitchen there was a great
fireplace 1t was so long that great logs
would lie across the andirOns, and the
the evening. My brothers and | often
roasted our apples and chestnuts there.
"Over the fire hung large iron thing
called crane. My mother used to hang
the teakettle on it, and swing it over the
blaze, to heat the water She boiled meat
there too.
81 liked to see her lift the kettles, and
hang them on the hooks, and then swing
them over the fire l often asked her to
let me do it, but she said, No; you wait
till you are Older and bigger
Gone day, my mother went to visit
sick neighbor. 1t was a long way to the
sick womaus house, though she was our
nearest neighbor. SO my mother left me
at home alone, and told me not to go near
the fire.
"But after she had gone, I thought it
would be a nice time to play with the
crane. | could not find the teakettle or
the great dinner-pot, for my mother had
put tnem away somewhere.
"While was hunting for them, l hap
pened to see basket filed with tow that
my mother used about her spinning. |
thought that would do just as well as the
teakettle, and better for could play that
the tow was pudding, and l was going
to boil it,
$50 l carried the basket to the fire
place, and, after good deal of trouble,
managed to get it hung on the crane.
Then | swung it over the fire.
"But what do you think?
"Instead of hanging there like the tea.
kettle or the dinner-pot, the basket and
the tow began to burn up! o, how they
did burn
"And | was frightened half out of my
wits, and wondered what my mother
would do when she came home and found
it out.
az was miserable enough the rest Of the
afternoon, can tell you.
"By and-by my mother came In, and
she kissed me, and then she began to
smell the burnt tow.
60 What have you been doing, Hetty ?
said she.
"Then cried as hard as I could, and
| told her all about IL. she was very sorry,
but she punished me, and l knew that |
deserved it, | never disobeyed her by
playing with the crane again"
Carl thought that was pretty good
story. He asked his grandmother ever
so many questions about it, and forgot to
turn another summersault that day.
When his papa came home from tea,
Carl climbed up in his lap, and told him
the story.
"My grandma was not always a
grandma" said he, but she was little
girl And her mother went visiting,
and told her not to get into the fire, and
she did. And she Played with the crane.
"And she found her mothers toes in
the basket, and she burnt 'em all up
And pretty soon her mother came in, and
began to snuff up her nose, and said,
Why, grandma Hollis, what's a burn
ingY
And Hetty cried, and her mother
whipped her"
They all laughed at Carps story, but
grandma laughed more than any one else,