The Portland daily press., 1871-11-25
SELECTED STORY.
Miss Marigold's Thanksgiving

standard frames, uphoidiilS; III iioao ",
play, the one satln' 'iie o'ii0A g '0i'0' ''N
net -. Ill -,
If i, true the window was small, and the
Hgbt GOOD deal cut off by the shop of Pink
ham sisters, adjoining Miss Marigold's 5, and
built further out into the street; the plumes
were little thin and faded the colors of the
ribbons were not arranged so to harmon
ize into any very happy effect, and the bon
nets could not be said to have much OF an
''air," but such as they were, they told the
story and invited customers in. And when
once in, there was something about Miss Ma
~ MarIgold that made them pretty sure to
buy, if the stock at all approached what they
wanted.
But the stock was so small that it often
failed to do so; that was the very trouble in
Miss Marigold's business, and one that was
constantly rejecting its difficulty back upon
itself, so that the occasions when she heard
the tinkle of the little bell at the door. and
put down her work to come in from the back
room only to say that she hadn't what was
wanted, or that she hadn't it in just that
shade, or precisely the width, outnumbered
her sales a good many times, and were rather
discouraging to the customers.
But not in the least so to Miss Mary Mari
gold She said good afternoon, and what an
unusually pleasant day it was, and went back
to her little room with just as bright smile,
and began humming just as serene tune as
when she had made an extraordinary sale, or
as if the trip hadn't given her lame knee
good deal of pain And the customers went
on to the larger shop that cut off Miss Mari
COLDS light really regretting that they could
not have bought of her. The old patrons
knew very well what it was they preferred in
Miss Marigold, but further than her smile, the
new ones would have found it difficult to tell,
for she hardly talked at all; while at the next
door one of the Pinkham Sisters not only
talked great deal, but the other maintained
position she was known to have held for
years,-just one place and half behind her
sisters right elbow, on the next breadth in
the carpet,-and repeated every word she
said in voice pitched just one key higher.
1t was Thanksgiving morning, and it is
quite matter to get dinner properly even for
one, Miss Marigold wished to have it well I'M
der way before she dressed for church, so that
she might neither be late nor disturbed in her
mind during the services.
The poet says:
'The mind of man doth move amazing quick
and though like most poets he made no al
lowance in his rhyme for that of woman, Miss
Marigod's the instant she placed the little
saucepan on the table, repassed the space OF
all the years since her girlhood; those days so
long gone by were like the very touch of
things around her, and only the present
seemed far away and dim. Such stretching
of the table to make room for the scattered
ones come home; such handsome, hilarious
brothers, grown so manly since the year be-
fore; such odors from the kitchen, and ranges
of everything in the pantres, and such wan
dering Of thoughts toward them before the
seventy-fve minute sermon in the church
was done! Then there were the endless
tricks and mischief of the brothers, and
sleigh-ride in the afternoon and such doings
in the evening as no pen could describe, and
somebody else beside the brothers who was
30 and 49, 1nasI &C.
folds of whittier muslin fastened underneath
the chin, that smiled peace and benediction
over all. The little saucepan was the tails
man that had brought them back, and set
Miss Marigold in their very midst again.
"Such changes~ she said at last, and WHIP
ed her eyes with napkin scarcely whittier
than the snowy table where it lay.
But it wasn't at all about the changes that
Miss Marigold wanted the napkin; it was on
ly on account of the onion she was peeling.
Perhaps another person would not have
chosen that vegetable for their special treat
but Miss Marigold had naturally quite a
weakness that way, and the one reasonable
objection to them she considered quite re-
moved by her solitary life $50 wonderful. -
she used to say to herself chow one can find
bright side to everything in this world.
Now if one must live quite alone, that to be
sure gives a shadowy feeling now and then,
but how perfectly one can enjoy an onion p
So she was smiling behind the napkin at the
very moment she was wiping her eyes; and
Miss Marigold had superb set of teeth,
though everything else about her had been
growing very thin for good many years.
'Such wonderful changesp she went on,
''and so wonderful, the way have been car
ried through them all So many mercies !
DO be sure, Miss Marigold, that you get to
church in good season, for certainly there is
no one who has more to reflect upon to-day
han And
your feelings to make thank-offerings with,
you want to be sure to get the stew well
OFT your mind before you start. There if YOU
leave that just smmering, it will be done to a
bubble when you get back; unless, indeed,
the minister should be more than usually cat
ried away ythe OCCASION
In few minutes more Miss Margold set
OIL, with her heart all in glow, and her head
in rather unbecoming secondhand bonnet,
which she had taken from customer in pay
ment for the work on new one.
Wonderful" she said to herself, every
tine she put it on, Show my wants are al
ways met"
And in just one hour and half she came
back, limping a good deal, to be sure, but
smiling radiantly, and finding that the stew
was at the very point to put in the onion
That would need at least twenty minutes, so
Miss Marigold sat down on the other side of
the seam in the carpet, to enjoy little season
bound in red morocco, one of the few tangi-
BILE relics of the days her little hardware tai
1sman had just now conjured from the past
The fragrance of the saucepan had hardly
been pushed aside by the sweet SAVIOR she
found in its pages when knock was heard at
the shop door. Miss Margold was really
startled. $50 unusual on legal holday,''
she said. But when she opened it she found
no more terrifying object than the little
servant girl of Pinkham Sisters, in green
calico dress with yellow spots, and very tight
In the waist, to say that ''the ladies sent their
best compliments, and would Miss Marigold
favor them by coming right away to take
very simple dinner?'
'Dear mep' said Miss MarigoId, "such
kindness! OF course 1 will, and be only too
happy. Right away, yes indeed, and my best
thanks to the ladies. So unexpectedly
Wonderful" said Miss Marigold again, as
she closed the door behind the messenger:
Tor II the truth were to be told at the very
moment she opened the Selections" a
question altogether mundane was pressing
upon her mind. Could she by adding little
water to the stew, make it appear uite
enough for two days? Otherwise, unless
some customer should drop in in the morn
ing, she did not quite see how she was to
manage about the next days marketing.
The quarters rent always rather heavy
drain, had been paid the day before, and the
one little piece of currency left from that had
been dropped in the poor-box at the church.
For certainly there was no one there more
distinctly called upon; so wonderfully as she
had always been carried through
80 she smiled more radiantly than before
as she lifted the saucepan over to the stone
shelf in the pantry to cool, and, withdrawing
the onion, laid it on plate by its side. Then
one moment at the looking glass on the 9TH
er side OF the seam, and she was ready.
Il hope have not come too soon. she
said, as she stepped into the sitting-room of
Pinkham Sisters, and was met by her hostess
es standing in their usual relative positions.
and arrayed in ancient brocades, with very
full skirts and skimping sleeves, and wearing.
the one yellow, the other a plum-colored
bow OF broad ribbon just over the thin SPOT
on the top Of the head Pinkham and Pinkie.
the customers called them, if they wished to
speak to them separately, for the sign said
only "Pinkham Sisters . and they were new
er known to use any mere individual term in
addressing each other
Not minute" said Pinkham: son tbe
other hand, we really feel that we must apol-
gize." 'p0i-
''Oh, not a minute" said Pinkie in the
super-soprano; yes, we really should apollo
gize."
"The truth is, we felt such an anxiety
about the chicken, whether it was going to
take a handsome brown"
such an anxiety" said Pinkie; eve were
afraid it wasn't going to take handsome
brown"
And then again, sister wasn't at all well
yesterday; she could hardly raise her head