The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-04-30
GEORGES DONATION PARTY.
BY ROSE TERRY COOKE.

back windows. where kitchen and " KEEP
in room" were one. for Aunt Nancy's con
venience and the saving of fuel. The par
sons bedroom opened from this same Gen
eral refuge, for the sake of warmth, am
Aunt Nancy slept on a lounge to be nea
at hand; there was boy who did chOre
for these two old people. but he occupie,
the kitchen-chamber, being used to coli
weather, and not particular about his toi
lette luXuries, if only he had comfortable
enough for warmth. Aunt Nancy was
sprightly old lady Of siXty-seven-ParsOI
Wilbur's youngest half-sister; for he him
self was ninety-two. For ten years h,
had shared his labors with a colleague
that is he stayed at home and prayed fol
his people, and - Brother Smith, preached
and visited, and did all the work!
NOppit is poor place; sparse, mul
lein-growing, mOldy old village, on tol
of hill !: and Brother Smith had small
salary, but ParsOn Wilbur allowance wa
smaller still. and so it had long been tn,
custom to give him a dOnation-Visit once
year to which the people came from all tht
villages about, for he was the lion of thOs'
parts; a minister settled in one place il
Connecticut for fifty-tive years beins
almost as rare there as a woman who neve
got divorce. This is why the house wa
lit up tonight in every corner; all the bed
rooms were dressed" not only witt
white spreads on the tall beds, and quaint
chintZ curtains on the testers, but some
distant branch of the Wilbur tribe, fresl
from boarding-schOol, had decked the wry
faced loOking-glass, and the mourning
piece done in hair, and the tall candle
sticks. and the high clock, with wreaths O
ground pine and hemlOck twigS, so thai
/. ,,ta.,. 1a
held therein a curiOusly twisted face set in
green, that might have passed for tine like
ness of a maSquerading Faun if NODpit
people had been classical in their reading,
Ii was a bitter November night, dark as
blackness, and the fires that blazed on
every hearth, and kept Aunt Nancy run
ming about with brush in terror of snaps
and sparks. were welcome to the chilled
visitors who had come miles in cold and
darkness, partly for fun, partly from hab-
it. Below stairs all the doors between the
rooms were open, and a stove in the parlor
warmed its chill gcntility TO an endurable
pitch; here were the portraits of the par
son and his wife, taken at a time when
these worthy people must have been con-
structed of sheet-tin; pictures calculated
to strike terror into the hearts of refractO-
nv children, and awe sinners TO propriety.
If either class should ever penetrate that
sanctuary.
There were certainly both sorts here to-
might. for the Parsons pOSterity to the
third generation had gathered in force ;
there was Miss Nab Wilbur, aged three,
whose real name was Mehitabel, after the
awful female on the wall. whose cap and
ruflleS and small, sharp eyes seemed to
glare fiercely on the little yellOw-haired
mite i'm cheap finery below; a child who
Shrieked. and frerted. and got under foot
everywhere, and misbehaved GENERALLY; A;
there was her aunt, pale, and skinny, and
wOrn-out. rs became "A woman who had
kept district school from fifteen to twenty
five. then married poor farmer and had
eight children: by her sat her mother, a
fat and fair woman of sixty, very positive
and practical: other descendants were
there. also deacons galore" Deacon
Peters. short, lean. and tremulOuS. with a
squeak in his voice, rolling blue eyes, and
a dominant. black-oyed, sharp-nOSed wife /;
Deacon Graves. long and lank, with aqui-
line features and wig. but such a meek
look withal You knew his wife. recently
deceased. had carefully trained him, and
was now deeply mOurned; you could see
how shocked he was once to catch himself
in a smile. how he hid it with a white
handkerchief as bic as a crib-sheet, looked
furtiyely about and coughed. There was
Deacon Coffin, very fair, smiling, and
comfortable, with a big watch and chain
of solid silver, and chronic cold in his
head: and there was Deacon Gallup, tall
and shy. and eager to please everybody, a
man to whom the opinion of other people
was matter of life or death; tOrtures
would not have induced Deacon Gallup TO
be a dishonest man-for fear somebody
should find it out!
There was everybody else and their
wives there too; farmers with hands
rough as the rocky soil they wreStled with,
and faces red with summer sun and wiz
ter winds. men who worked so hard they
did not know how to play, whose Sunday
coats were aS pleasant to them as straight
Jackets, and who were, one and all, Sc
cretly longing for a bit of pine and a jack
knife. they We're so unaccuStOmed to
wearing their hands as an article of dress {;
the wives too, presented remarkable ap-
pearanceS to the eye of keen observers {;
their hard ana lonely lives knew no more
how to blossom than the potatoes in our
own cellars, they only sprOuted, and
sprouts are not cOmely to bohOld. To see
their dress was to be affected Historically,
struggle for fashion and style was pathet-
ic: the flimSy "delaine" or 'pOplinette -
tortured into overskirts so curiOuSly loop
ed YOU saw with terror that the wearer
could not sit down with safety to the
dress; polonaiSes of skimpy cut, clinging
hclpleSSly to figures most like chestnut
rails: tlOunceS of frantic arrangement,
and colurS-but there let us pause. rain
bow would have Shuddered out of sight.
The center of all this crowd was poor
old ParSOn Wilbur, in a thick, warm,
dreSSing-gOwn, and big armchair by the
parlor stove: his falling mind. that seemed
usually to have withdrawn itself from the
world and its affairs. half from conscious
inability to grapple with life. half from
want of interest therein, tonight, under
the influence of more light and warmth,
the atmosphere Of fresh society, the mag
netiSm of youth and gaiety that the young
men and maidenS gathered about him
afforded. seemed to rally and brighten
wonderfully. As the little gifts that one
and another brought him were laid on his
knee or exhibited TO him by his "oldest
girl, " a. he called The old lady of sixty we
have S,en before, his face beamed with
pleasure, child'S simple delight in gift,
at first, and rs gradually he comprehended
llt Nllolt tOCstNloils utt-llcT tA DItSSlOu Vi
affection and gratitude. Ii was touching
and painful both TO see this slow reconcilia-
ton of mind and body, so long alienated
from each other; one could not but won
der if the soul's dark cottage, battered
and decaved." ;" did not cucumber its inhab
liant instead of letting in
''New light through chinks which
Time hath made -
But Noppit people were not given TO meta
physics, they had TO work; and now a
committee of matrons were arranging
gifts in the pantry. unveiling heaps OF DIS
cults piles Of doughnuts, more pies than
would kill an ostrich, and pan after pan OF
frosted cake. not to speak of potatoes and
apples in the cellar; salt pork, squaShes,
meal. lard, apple-Sauce, hanks of yarn,
mittens. tea from the grocer, herbs from
Aunt Sally jerks, who looked like dried
catnip herself. so wilted and lean and
brown: even a raw-hide from Ben Jones,
the small tanner on Sandy Brook, who had
nothing else TO "dOnate.n The parlor
swarmed with young people, who did moth
ing hut giggle and flirt after the manner Of
young people; one happy pair particular
~. ensconsed in a corner behind two dea-
cons cOnyersing on church affairs. seemed
to be having lively season. - as Deacon
Graves remarked about the last revival !:
these two were Ruth May, farmers