The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1876-02-24

bargain They both looked inqnirngly at
Mr. Peck.
"Ihave friend" he explained, ''in New
York who takes a great fancy to all pot
tery-buys it and sells it, you know, and
thinks as much of it as | do Of ry-goods
or greenbauks He's singular sort of
man, and it occurred to me as | sat here
Just now that | might take that platter
and those other utensils that you said your
branch Of the family was in the habit Of
using, and any such little traps as you
happen to have about the house-that
might take them tor him, you know, and
give you this silk-eh?''
Miss Car'line's wrinkled face fairly
danced with delight. The chance to clear
out q ''mess OF traps" from the house, to
haggle over the price of each, and to Sc
cure for Amy Il coveted Gift at a cost so
small seemed to be crowding too much
pleasure into u single opportunity For
do but state unromantic truth when | de-
clare that in this old house, whose iounda-
ton timbers had withstood the storms Of
two hundred and thirty years, no particu
lar value was placed upon the heir-looms
which had come down through an Unbrok-
en- line of Rossells Everything was pre-
served and cared tor with Il neatness char
acteristic of the New England household.
But it had never entered the mind OF Miss
Can line that porcelain, which the dett
ha'ids of the Celestials had fashioned be-
to- the secret OF It's composition was car
ried to France, was greatly to be prefer
red over the ''iron-stone china of the
modern potteries, with its coarse solidity
and glaring white face
The great soup tureen, with its gener-
Gus ladies, prolusely decorated with elab-
crate designs in the pure blue of the gen.
uine Chinese cobalt Ghc supply of which
was exhausted more than one hundred and
sixty years ago; y the dinner plates with
their figures OF the mandarins. with the
ever-recurring Sacred Mountains as a per-
petual background; the delicate tea plates
deeply, darkly, beautifully bTue;n the
egg-shelI cups, concealing curious designs
which only became visible when the tea
was poured in; the big platter, which had
first attracted the peddler's attention, and
which, without crevce or crack on its
broad surface, had celebrated Its centenni-
al-these were only a few Of the many
things which were quickly laid out for the
inspection of MI Peck There was pair
of candlesticks which had been sent from
England in 1850, they were ordinary brass
candlesticls, and when M Peck proposed
to throw them in for two dollars, Miss
Carl turned her face to hide her salts
faction.
Amy was all excitement till the trade
was completed. When the peddler meas
ured off the twenty yards of silk and gath
cred up the ''trusk' which he had taken
in payment. and drove his four black
horses down the read, the delighted girl
tried to assume that repose Of manners
(Which stamps the caste of We're de We're, :"
and failed conspcuously.
That silk is rotten. 1t don't stand 20
reason that peddlcrs 90 travelling through
the country trading off dry goods that are
worth anything for old crockery and brass
clndlesticks. | say it don't stand to rea-
SON" This was young Mr.. Ellis sententious
comment on the transaction.
Amy at her uncle's house in the city OF
New \ ork was dressed for dinner, AS she
stood in front OF the long plate mirror in
the cozy room to which she had been as
signed, she wondered if they wouldn't
think she was "gawky." She had gone to
Hartford to have her dress fitted, and she
was satisfied that it did not differ materi-
ally from those described in the colnmn
of New York fashions. The mirror flat
tered her, she thought; she was half
ashamed Of her pretty pink checks, OF her
white limpled chin, of her snowy rounded
throat. and OF her deep brown eyes that
flashed with unwonted excitement
81 look so awfuly healthy.' she said to
herself, 'that they'll think I've lived on
bread and milk all my life, and gone to
bed at sundown.'
A brisk tap at the door disturbed her
foolish meditations. She opened it, and
Gabrielle Graham entered
"Oh, I'm SO glad to see YOU" said that
impetuous young lady, without ceremony,
81 should have been at the station with Pa
Rossell to meet you, only had to 60 and
take my French lesson. | hate French
don't YOU ?-and music and drawing and
all those things they call accomplishments.
But think shall like yourcal well. And
how pretty you are and what 4 lovely
dress! DO you know, thought you would
be sort OF countriiied; but you're not a
bit. OF course you won't mind anything
I say. All the girls call me Gabby Gra
ham, because my name is Gabrielle and |
talk so much"
After this comprehensive introduction,
|
age to confess TO Gabby that she was un-
accustomed to city dinners.
"Oh, you'll get along all right was
the reassuring response. ''Therc'll be no
body there probably but Pa RosselI and
ma and Jack and you and me-"
Who's Jack"
"Why, don't you know Jack How fun
ny that seems! | thought everybody knew
| ITos, IIo1x ,l,.. taI
at Harvard last year, and he thinks he
knows everything, and he tries to make
me say cont for can't; but he's awful jol-
ly. and | shouldn't wonder if you liked
him ever 50 much Girls generally do
You'll like mamma too; but, oh do you
know anything about bric-a-brac?n
Amy confessed her Ignorance.
ssBric-a-brac isn't anything in particu
lar" Gabby explained. "It's all sorts OF
odds and ends But mas perfectly crazy
about it, She has bones from the ruins of
Pompeii, and a piece OF stone Clipped
from Cyclops Pyramid Cor was it Cheops?
| never can remember these old names,)
and a pair of knee e-breeches-isn't that
horrid 2-that Gen Washington used to
wear, and a piece of the rope with which
poor Major Andre was hung, and some
| vases that were made in Peru before the
discovery of America, and such lots of
porcelain, and, oh | don't know what
she doesn't possess. We have antiquaries
here every few nights to dinner. They
wear Spectacles and look awful wise, and
they 60 into ecstacies over mas treasures,
but, between you and me, | believe they
care more for their dinners than they do
for the bric-a-brac Jack says
The dinner bell rang, and jacks sayings
were lost for the time being
Sure enough, an antiquary had dropped
in to dine. Partly in his honor, and part
ly to crafty her own fine and increasing
taste for rare curiosities, Mrs Rossell had
caused the table to be set with some beau
tiful antique porcelain which had just
come into her possession.
But it was not the antiquary who sat OPP
posite Amy at dinner. Her ris-a-uiz was
a tall, athletic youth, whose general ap-
Jn hat ho