Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-03-27
PEGGY'S PANDOWDY.

"WA'AL, you take your apples," said
the culinary oracle, neighbor Kempton,
Peggy's uncle having decided that he
should relish an old-fashioned pandowdy,
such as his mother used to make forty
years ago.
off you can make such a one," he had
said, ''rll give you gold ring, Peggy, as
fine as wedding-ring-as good wed
ding-ring as you are like to get, poor
lass" he had added beneath his breath
and so Peggy had applied to neighbor
Kempton for the recipe.
'Wa'al, you take your apples" repeat
ed Mrs Kempton. "Bless me! ain'tthat
there pot abiding over?"
mo" said Peggy; cts only Nancy
dishing the cabbage"
"Wa'al, as was a-saying, you take
your apples, and you There's Ben's
boat just a-coming up the river, if live!
The tides dead ag'in him, and the dinner
done to turn already"
"And the pandowdy," meekly suggest
ed Peggy.
ooh, as I was a-saying-my mind skips
about like q flea; it goes by telegram, l
have so much to think of. But you take
clothes line amt broke and let the things
nels-the first time they ever see the
wash, too!' And in the tumult that en-
sued Peggy effected her escape, feeling
fully competent to take the apples and go
ahead, after so many admonitions to that
end. She next resorted to the Cooks
Counselor, which advised her to line a
deep pan with paste, slice the apples,
sveeten with New Orleans molasses, spice
to the taste apparently overlooking the
fact that tastes differ, cover with paste,
and bake in moderate oven-brick oven
preferred.
On these hints Peggy proceeded. She
didn't care fig for the promise of a
ring. What was a gold ring to her set
With Jewels of Golconda, when, but for
her own folly and the malicious interior
ence of another, she might now be wear
ing a real weddingring, the happiest
wife in Christendoms For when she had
first come to live with her uncle, John
Briefly, Matthew Royston had set his
heart upon her, and she had in no wise
objected, accepting his devotions as a
matter of course. But Aunt Briefly had
other views for Matthew Royston. She
had made up her mind to marry him to
her own niece, Patty Pratt; and when
Aunt Briefly had made up her mind, it
wasn't an easy thing to unravel. If he
couldn't be managed by fair means, he
should be managed by foul. And wasn't
all fair in love? She contrived to arouse
Matthew's jealousy concerning another
admirer of Peggy's, and with sly and
subtle insinuations to harrow his soul
with fear lest he was being chosen by his
sweetheart not for himself, but his pros
poets. And yet her insinuations were so
well timed and so deity handled that the
poor love-lorn youth conceived that they
were deductions drawn from his own ex-
perience and observation, rather than
suggested by Aunt Briefly. So one day
he forbade Peggy, up and down, to &C
cept any attentions but his own, though
there was only an understanding between
them, which, as everybody knows, is apt
to lead to misunderstanding. He had
never said, in so many words, "Will you
marry me, Peggy" or "Name the day,
sweetheart though they both hoped ii
would come to that in time.
So Aunt Briefly sneered in her quiet
way at Peggy for being under a mans
thumb before her time came, limited that
she had found a master, if not a lover,
the green leaf, what would be done in the
dry, till poor foolish Peggy, giddy with
youth, and inexperienced in the ways OF
willy women, began to believe that
Matthew was arrogating to himself more
authority over her than was becoming in q
lover-which was very likely the case
and so walked into the snare Aunt Brier.
ly had spread for her. One day, as they
sat together, Sam Perrin was seen to
drive up with his new turnout
"He has come to take you to drive, "
said Aunt Briefly.
81 shan't CO." said Peggy, decidedly.
"Of course not" continued her aunt
81 couldn't advise you to such step. Ii
wouldn't be wise. A woman cannot
begin too early to learn the lesson of ODE.
dience."
81 shan't CO." protested Peggy. "But
it isn't because | mean to learn obedi
ence"
MOP If you haven't begun before
this, you will never get the lesson, child
Sans got the handsomest team in the
place. He's a match to be proud OF, too
I wish he'd ask Patty to rider
u hope he may"
II trust he won't understand acAy you
decline" in the most honeyed accents.
''Well, | hacen't declined yet"
"Only because you haven't been ask
ed"
And the result was that Peggy accept.
ed, and Matthew came and found her
gone, and accepted Aunt Brierly's version
of the fact, which didn't vouuhsafe drop
of oil on the troubled waters, since she
did every thing in her power to irritate
him, while preserving the mask of peace.
maker. AS matter of course, an un-
pleasantness ensued, which owed more
than half its animus to Aunt Brierly's
arts. The lovers did not speak or look
at each other, except by stealth, for over
week, each one waiting for the other to
say the words which both were dying to
sneak and hear But lust as Peggy had