Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1875-12-02

|
couldn't squeeze in the Pullums edgewlse,
no way:"
Miss Betsy turned her dapper little fig.
ure toward her sister, and every line of her
| rosy face as well as the tones Of her CHEEKY
voice were interrogatory.
The Pullums were that lank crew on
| 'Bijah's forty.
1.-THE little glass preserve dishes
| wouldn't go round, I'm certain" began
| Miss Patty, with sigh.
"Of course they wouldn't, when there's
only twenty-four Of EN-" injected Miss
Sukey, vigorously squeezing her pump
kin sauce through the colander 81
! don't s'pose it'll hurt them, however, to
| 60 without victuals. Thanksgiving Day
| only comes once a year, and bcin' so poor
| once ourselves ought to make us more
considerin' O. these Pullumses, just because
they're poor. Put on your wraps, Patty,
| and stepup there and invite them 'Taint
| best to think twice when you mean to do
| kind deed. Tell 'em the minister's
folks and some Of our kinspeople are CON-
| ing home with us from meetin' tomorrow,
and We'll be glad to have them all join the
party"
just as you say, Sister Sukey," meek
ly replied Patty, untying her great
apron and preparing to carry the hospita-
bic message. 1--WE can borrow Miss
Cap'n Hovaker's spoons, most likely, and
maybe the laylock and green flower'd
chany saucers III do for the blue damsons
and sweet pickle. There's eight and
| twenty of them left cut o. the three dozen,
and the little glass preserve dishes can go
round with the coffee cups. Children
| don't take coffee, so there'll be plenty for
| that purpose"
"Yes," said Miss Susan, "the very
| thing. And now there's no earthly him
drance to asking the Pullums, for we can
stretch out the table by using those two
halfcircular stands from the parlor-one
at each end"
So, complacently, Miss Patty set out
upon her errand, and the sisters and
cousin continued the line Of duties The
| ow-ceiled kitchen eXhaled odors rich
| and spicy, and the rapidly filling pantry
shelves gave abundant promise that the
morrow's feast would prove no niggardly
| affair
"I'm happy glad you thought to men,
ton the Pullumses, Sister Sukey. Now
| come to think, remember Jared Biggs
tellin' 'Miah's folks how they'd all been
down with the jaundice since they'd
moved on the forty, and their sweet ia
toes had got touched with the frost afore
they was any of 'em we'll enough to dig
en- Miss Betty was saying, as she drew
her sixteenth steaming fragrant mince-pie
from the great oven, when the door
opened, and in stepped Miss Patty, her
withered cheeks glowing like roses, and
her soft, dark eyes shining like stars.
"Sukey! Betty! Prissy Prosser!'' she
exclaimed, breathlessly. "Only think!
Two Thanksgiving in one was what
Sukey said when she first mentioned call.
ing in the Pullumses to help us eat up the
extra killin's. And Betty said How
| things do happenr But none of us ever
could have thought that such thing
would happen as that, setting out TO ask a
lot of poor'strangers to share our feast to-
morrow, should be the means of finding
that which puts an end to all our perpleX-
tiles and makes not tao0 but taoeaty Thanks
givings in one for us poor girlses.'
And Miss Patty actually broke down in
tears and sobs as she drew from under her
shawl the yellow, creased, bat oh! we'll
remembered paper so long searched for,
so earnestly prayed for, the loss of which
had caused all the expensive having with
the Pitkins heirs, and the tindingof which
would make the Napp girls the richest
landholders in all Burndale.
You know the little shaving glass
father used to keep on his light-stand,"
sobbed Miss Patty, as the trio crowded
around and pl:ed her with questions.
'Bijah got il long with his share of the
effects, you mind. Well. when he moved
off the forty into his new house, he left
the glass, light stand and all, in the old
house, and made Miss Pullum welcome
to the use of 'em. In the shaving glass
drawer there was bit of paste board
| fitted to the bottom. Nobody'd ever have
| thought twas put there to hide anything,
| but it was Miss Pullum, she's master
hand to clean, and she thought she'd
scour out the drawer, and she'd het her
| lye, and had torn out the pasteboard just
as | knocked at the door, and she'd found
this paper folded under that pasteboard,
and without ever suspiclonin' that it held a
| mortal speck of value she was just about
| to toss it into the fire as my eyes fell upon
it in her hand. l never shrieked so in
my life, girls. The woman jumped as if
| she was shot, but when | showed her what
| that paper meant for US you never saw
anybody gladder than she was about it.
and to think" added Miss Patty, self-re-
| proachfully, " wasn't altogether cordial
| about my askin' 'em on account of the
little glass preserve dishes not going
| round. 1t does seem AS if the Lord is
| gracious to us in spite of ourselves"
| an things work together for good"
repeated Miss Sukey, her eyes filing with
tears "'Tis the leadings of Providence,
Betty. Even those dark, hungry days of
ours were steps by which God was lead
| ing us to this. For they helped Us to
| consider the poor And somehow, when
| Mandys pan of giblets came | seemed to
think they were meant to serve some pur-
| pose: they set me thinkin' whether'r no
we oughtn't to seek out some needy per