The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1870-07-14
GRANDMi,S STORY.

"WHEN | was little rl,"-began
Grandma Hollis.
WHAT" exclaimed Carl, stopping in
the middle of n summersault, and looking
at his grandmother with his face upside
down ,hst hetwesn ga;r his two feet. .,. -,
when | was little girl she said.
Carl was on his feet by this time.
a didn't know you ever was a little
girlr' he exclaimed, in a tone Of great as
constituent.
"Whst did you think ?" she asked
laughing.
"Why, thought you were always
Grandma Hollis" he said.
"Well | wasn't" she replied. "I was
girl once, no bigger than your Cousin
jamie"
"And did you wear your spe'tacles and
your cap then?" asked Carl "and was
your name Grandma?"
"No, indeed" sand Grandma "I looked
Just like any other little girl, and my
name was Hetty 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
end of the long kitchen there was great
fireplace. 1t was So long that great logs
would lie across the andirons, and the
bright blaze lighted the whole room in
the evening. My brothers and | often
roasted our apples and chestnuts there.
"Over the fire hung a 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.
Il liked to see her lift the kettles, and
hang them on the hooks, and then swing
them over the fire. often asked her To
let me do it, but she said, No; you wait
till you are older and bigger
"One day, my mother went to visit a
sick neighbor. 1t was a long way to the
sick woman's house, though she was our
nearest neighbor. So my mother lett me
at home alone, and told me not to 60 near
the fire.
"But after she had gone, l thought il
would be nice time To play with the
crane. l could not find the teakettle or
the great dinner-pot, for my mother had
put them away somewhere
Nv lille [ was hunting for them, L hap
pened to see basket flied with tow that
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.
so | carried the basket to the fire
place, and after a good deal of trouble,
managed to get it hung on the crane
Then | swung II over the fire.
"But what do you Think
| Of bansfInr harp like the tea
kettle or the dinnerpot, the basket anC
the tow began TO burn up o, how they
did burn
"And | was frightened half out of my
wits, and wondered what my mothe
would do when she came home and toun'
it out.
81 was miserable enough the rest of tn
afternoon, L can tell you.
"By and-by my mother came in, an'
she kissed me, and then she began u
smell the burnt tow.
"'What have you been doing, Hettv
said she.
Then I cried as hard as / could, ans
told her all about it. She was very sorry
but she punished me, and knew that
deserved it. l never disobeyed her b.
playing with the crane again"
story He asked his grandmother eve
so many questions about it, and forgot T.
turn another summersault that day.
When his papa came home from Tea
Carl climbed up III his lap, and told hiI
the story.
My grandma was not always
grandma" said he, "but she was llttl
girl. And her mother went visltin.
and told her not to get into the fire, an
she did. And she played with the cran'
And she found her mothers toes
the basket, and she burnt 'em all M
And pretty soon her mother came in, an
began To snuff up her nose, and sal,
why, grandma Hollis, what's burr
ingY'
|, And Hetty cried, and her moth,
whipped her"
, They all laughed at Carrs story, b
grandma laughed more than any one els