Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1874-11-27

and sure that the present hard times would
soon he over, and things In general easier to
everybody -
In this mood, on the Wednesday after Miss
Maria made the move about the turkeys in the
.Bibe-class, Hepzibah said as she poured out
her second cup Of tea, as they fingered at
breakfast
al don't mean to take. much trouble about
Thanksgiving this year. The last time ]
wanted a'turley IL took a heap Of wood and
made me no end Of trouble. was glad o. the
| trouble, cause knew poor Jethro d have no
| turkey anywhere else. And he did take pleas
ure in that turkey, anyway. But Jethro
(well, I s'pose Jethro must be In the Sand
wich Islands, mother, now, he won't be
| here. And Sally told me she should be out
| TO Melrosc. There won't be nobody but you
md mo, and | don't think It's worth while
bothering about the turkey. I've got 70 10
at onceto help 'em at Miss Scaflctts They'll
have o heap Of people tomorrow and told
| Miss Scarlett u, If | could, I'd come round.
| It would be plague TO you TO be
| fussing over the gravy, II we had
| the turkey; so / guess we won't have
none. When get home from Miss Scarlett's
| I'll just roll out little paste, and can mix
up and kind o. stew few cranbries fore 90
to bed; and If you'd stone some ras,ns us
you sit here TO day, I'll mix little plum
pudding tomorrow, and we'n call that our
| Thanksgiving"
The old lady expressed her entire satisfac-
| tion; said she should eat no turkey herself IL
they had any; that she thought.it would be
as much bother to her rs IL would be TO Hep
zibah. And they thus disguised from each
other the truth, which was perhaps well
known to both OF them, that a turkey for
| Thanksgiving was as unattainable as was
Aladdin's Roc, or Roc's egg, had they taken
any fancy that way.
AT noon the two took another cup Of tea
| together and each ate q cold sausage. Hep
zibah said she was rather in hurry to get
round to Miss Scarletts, because they would
not be able to do nothing till she got there
and would be kinder expecting her She
would not get regular dinner, therefore, at
| home, unless her mother particularly wished
| 1t. Her mother replied that she did not feel
much like eating, and had thought of sug-
gesting that they should not set the table for
dinner, but have a bit Of bread and butter
and cup of tea. So they were both satisfied,
or pretended to be, and Hepzibah went TO
| Miss Scarletts.
| She had not been gone more than half an
hour when the old lady, sitting in that eternal
darkness, was reused from her after-luncheon
| doZe by rap at the door, She cried Come
! inm as loudly as her weak old voice would
say so; and Miss Maria entered, cheerily and
| cordially. She was no stranger in the place,
and Mrs Brown recognized her knock, step,
and voice Immediately. Miss Maria was a
| little disappointed that she did not find Hep
zibah; but was glad to find she had got
work." She inquired carefully about Mrs.
| Browns health; and, which was much more
to the point, listened faithfully and
patiently TO the old lady's answer-a
thing philanthropists are not quite so
sure to do as they are to make proper
inquiries. Miss Maria then said she
thought times were going to mend, and that
it would be mild winter, and that work
would be more plenty than ever, and that she
! thought Hepzibah would have more than she
could do; for which opinions | am afraid
| Miss Maria was largely indebted to q cheer
full temper. Still, as she held them, in a GER
tain form, am glad that she expressed them
| to poor old Mrs. Brown, who certainly needed
all the comfort she could pick up, and whose
means Of knowing the mind of the street"
on such subjects were limited. Then Miss
Maria said she could not make along call, and
came TO the proper object of her visit.
She went to the door and, with her own red
right hand, brought in the turkey, which she
had waiting there for a surprise. All! me.
There was no need leaving it outside to sur
| prise old Mrs. Brown. Miss Maria might have
brought in feather-bed on her back and the
old lady would not have known it in that eter-
nal midnight.
As it was Miss Maria brought in her plump
eleven-pounder and put it on the table at the
old lady's side, and explained that the young
ladies at the Bible-class had arranged the din
ner as surprise for Hepzibah, and made as
If she had herself nothing to do with the af-
fair. Then she tapped at the window,
and Phineas came upstairs from the
doorway, where he had been wait
ing for the proper moment in the
| surprise, with the sugar and tea and cram
| berries and squashes, the cheese and apples,
and the bag of flour. She explained what
these "iXin's" were, and was about to leave
| somewhat abruptly, when the old lady, who
was really very thankful and behaved very
sweetly through the whole, asked her if
| Phineas would mind putting all the things
| into the store closet, and laying the turkey
on certain shelf which she described, high
above the highest fight of the cat in the back
entry. For, she said, it occurred to her that
| 1t would be very good fun TO surprise Hep
| Zibah when she came back from Miss Scar
| let's. | ought, perhaps, to mention in this
place that twas now forty years since Miss"
Scarlett had been united in marriage to the
Hon. lie Fevre Scarlett-she having been
| Miss Lillian White-and that the title Miss"
was merely the form used by the aborigines
in describing the condition of honorable
wedlock.
Phineas gladly fell in with all Mrs. Browns
devices, and the stores were concealed ac-
cording to her order.
She had relapsed into stoning the rasins,
after knitting a few rounds on along stocking
which Miss" Plumptre had sent .he yarn
for, and which was to be sent to a Maori
chieftain when it was finished and when its
companion was finished, when she was
aroused again by the sharp closing of the
outer door downstairs. There was no room
for question, as to the step on the stairs this
time. Men and angels knew that step as that
of Officer Fosdick, who was this week
On the day patrol in Lucas street;
Iand Mrs. Brown, who was neither man nor
an angel, knew it as well as If she had been
both at once. Hastily she ran through the
little catalogue of her sins and Hepzibah's,
inquiring which of them fell within the
category Of crimes prohibited by the law.
She was certain that they had not thrown
marbles at an auctioneer, as Harry Griggs did,
and was sent to Westborough for doing it.
Certainly they had not lifted ribbons from
Mudge's, as that odious Miss Farrelly did, in
the next house, when the neighborhood was
disgraced by her arrest. She knew that the
pipes and faucets had not been protected
against the cold; but she did not believe that
there had been any frost yet hard enough to
catch them, and she and Hepsie were, as
usual, running for luck in the hope that there
might not be- As officer Fosdick stumped
up the stairs Mrs. Brown thus exhausted her
catalogue of crime, and with conscious inno-
cepee uttered severe Come I'M"
"How do, Miss Smith ?" said Officer Fos-
dick, civilly enough. "Thankee, mum, Pm
pretty well myself. Isn't your daughter to
home ~
{" No, sirn said Mrs Brown, still with con.
: scious innocence and greatly aggrieved
" Hepzihah isnot at home" Was she TO re.
joice or not at her absenceg Suppose Hep.
zibah were to be arrested at some distance
from home, what would become of Mrs
Brown?
Sorry, num-" said officer Fosdick; " but
, it's just as well, seeing you are!"' Horrible
! suspense to Mrs. Brown Suppose she were
arrested and hauled to prison, as Paul and
: Slas were at Philippi, what would happen
when HepZibah returned?
But the suspense did not last many seconds
Officer Fosdick continued, IN tone which
! showed that he was well pleased:
" The Captain sends his compliments mum
to you and your daughter, mum; and here's
y turkey, mum, for Thanksgiving. There's beer
c a little subscription at the station, mum, tC
= give turkeys to them as might not-wel, a;
= might not have thought to buy 'em, mum
5 and the Captain said himself, mum, that hC
c wanted to be sure you had one, num-"
1t was well that the officers speech wal
4 long, for Mrs. Brown thought, at the begin
c ming, that he was announcing the same tur
e kew which Miss Jennings had brought. Blu
4 she recovered herself without betraying thu
fact that another turkey had arrived, whicl
| Ia, ya1