Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-06-22
Miscellaneous.
AUNT JEWS BONNET.

DIP You ever watch canary flying abou
in its cage and turning its head knowingl,
from side ~ side, AZ If itwere IN deep med
itstion upon some subject through all III
restless hurry Well, very much ate
that same fashion, Mrs Jemina Veer wen
fitting about 10 the little drab house undeI
the hill one bright spring morning. Sh'
SHOOK out the white muslin curtains with
q tender respect for their old age, and ar
ranged them 80 that the darns should mol
show, placed a cushion carefully Ovei
damages wrought by little feet Ia the seal
Of the old.faghi0ned rocking chair, and
busted the tall clock In the corner as faith
fully az II It's long hand were not missing
In truth, that room WIS q sort Of hospital
Tor disabled furniture; but then the In.
yalids all had such a cOzy, well cared fol
look that one never thought Of noticing
their deficiencies; and the little brown.
eyed, brownbaircd woman who BUSTED
about among them WAS as bright and
CHEEKY as need he. But this day there
was an unsolyed problem looking out from
the eyes, and now and then Miss Jemima
would come " momentary pause in her
occupation, and strike an interrogation.
point attitude at the end Of some mental
question. AT last she stopp d by one Of
the windows, and drew from her pocket a
somewhat faded green and silver purse-~a
lean, dyspeptic.looking purse, that Topped
about In dOwncast way, AZ ifaware that
IL would be called upon " deliver up what
II had not got. Miss Vecr's thorough fin.
gers searched It's utmost depth, then
turned IL wrong side up and shook II, that
no Sinking penny might be hidden away
In its corners. The amount In her hand
was small enough when all was done. She
counted 1t forward and backward, but 1t
didn't grow any either way 20 she closed
her fingers over II, with the faintest breath
of sigh, and said, with decided shake of
her head
Il can't DO IL. Teddy wants new shoes,
Rob must have jacket and bonnet isn't
" be thought Of"
Which didn'tfollow At all forshe thought
of 1t more vigorously than ever after hay
ing ascertained beyond doubt that there
was no money To buy a new one. She did
not need to look nj the one she had worn
oil winter 10 see how shabby II was; she
could feel that, even with II away up stairs
in the bandbox II had been twisted and
turned, made and rcmadc, from year
" year, until II was poor but
respectable" no longer, besides being
all out Of season. and 80 her head,
bereft Of It's ancient shelter, went seeking
a new covering. When the house was all
In order, and Rob and Teddy laudably en-
pI0yed In trying 10 plough up the back
yard with the flour scoop, she went up
stairs, and from among the cast off treas
ures Of certain old red chest In the attic
fished up straw bonnet--immeDsc In size,
yellow In color, and OF shape indescriba
Bile She laughed at the effect ~ she tried
II on before her tiny mirror; but, after
all, II was not a laughing matter, indeed,
II seemed more like n crying one AZ she
tnrned the antique affair. on her hand and
wondered soberly what II would be posi-
BILE to make OF II.
Upon her indications there suddenly
broke the slight rustic Of stiff dress, and
the sound of footstep that spoke OF dig
nifty and one hundred and fifty pounds, and
announced the coming Of Aunt Hester.
II was the only announcement that lady
thought II necessary to make for she en-
tered without the iormality Of a knock,
seated herself In the rocking chair, or At.
tempted 10 do 50, but Immediately re-
sumed her feet again.
"iluml advise you TO put that chair
out Of the way, Jemima. One can't BIO
always remembering that the bottom Is
broken out" she remarked severely ''un-
less, indeed, you intend IL as trap to catch
your friends in"
"If that was the object, I'd set II just
outside the gate, and try TO catch them be-
fore they got in" Miss Jelnima whispered,
rebellionsly, to herself, M she arose TO
bring forward another chair--a sound, sub.
stantial wooden one.
Aunt Hester surveyed II doubtfully, ms
II she suspected some deception, but final.
ly settled herself In 1t. shook her black
alpaca into into proper folds and said:
al thought would call to see how you
were getting on"
II did occur to Jcmima that If she had
known of her coming she would have got
% far on as to be out Of sight; but she
only answered quietly,
"About US usual we are, thank you,
Aunt Hester"
"Aunt Jem! Aunt Jem" cried Rob and
Teddy, making rush from the yard, get
ting terribly mixed up In the door way, and
each trying to explain the Others re-
marks before he had made any. "'Deed,
Aunt Jem, we won't hurt It any--a rum
breller to build barn with; cause we
can't put our horses nowhere; and we
want It top O. the chicken coop. Say,
may wes"
Eyes, dear, yes; but don't be 80 noisy,
boy Don't you see Aunt Hester is heres"
answered Aunt Jem, indulgent but dis
trcssed.
Eyes; that's what we don't want to
come In for" answered Teddy, with re-
freshing frankness wont you please TO
hand the rumbreller out, Aunt jenny"
Aunt Jem produced the umbrella, in full