Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1876-12-07
Gales aud Sketfhss.
MISS MARIGOLD's THANKSGIVING.

modest display, the one a satin, the other
a velvet bonnet.
1t is true the window was small. and
the light a good deal cut off by the shop
OF Pinkham Sisters. adjoining Miss Mari
Colds and built further out into the street;
the plumes were little thin and faded,
the colors OF the ribbons were not arranged
SO as to harmonize into any very happy
effect, and the bouquets could not be said
to have much of an ''air," bnt such as they
were, they told the story, and invited Gus
toners in. And when once in, there was
something about Miss Mary Marigold that
made them pretty sure to buy. if the stock
at all approached what they wanted.
But the stock was so small that it often
failed to do so; that was the very trouble
in Marigold's business, and one that was
constantly rejecting its difficulty back up
on itself so that the occasions when she
heard the tinkle of the little bell at the
door. and put down her work to come up
from the back room only to say that she
hadn't 1t in just that shade, or precisely
the width, outnumbered her sales a good
many times, and were rather discouraging
TO the customers
But not in the least so to Miss Mary
Marigold. She said good afternoon, and
what an unusually pleasant day it was,
and went back to her little room with lust
as bright smile, and began humming
Just as serene tune as when she had
made an extraordinary sale, or as If the
trip hadn't given her lame knee a good
deal of rain. And the customers went on
to the larger shops that cut off Miss Mari
Colds light, really regretting that they
could not have bought of her. The old
patrons knew very we'll what it was they
preferred in Miss Marigold, but further
than her smile. the new ones would have
found it difficult to tell, for she hardly
talked at all while at the next door one
OF the Pinkham Sisters not only talked a
great deal, but the other maintained q po-
sitlon she was known to have held for
years,-Just one pace and half behind
her sisters right elbow, on the next
breadth in the carpet, and repeated every.
word she said in voice pitched inst one
key higher.
1t was Thanksgiving morning, and as
1t Is quite matter to get dinner properly
even for one, Miss Marigold wished to
have it well under way before she dressed
for church, so that she might neither be
late nor disturbed in her mind during the
services. eea.
The poet says:
1.-The mind of man doth move amazip'
quick" and though like most poets he
made no allowance in his rhyme for that
of woman, Miss Marigold's. the instant
she placed the little saucepan on the table
repassed the space of all the years since
her girlhood; those days so long gone
by were like the very touch of things
around her, and only the present seemed
far away and dim. Such a stretching of
the table to make room for the scattered
ones come home; such handsome, hilari-
Gus brothers, grown so manly since the
year before; such odors from the kitchen
and ranges of everything in the pantries,
and such wandering of thoughts toward
them before the seventy-flve minute SER
mon in the church was donel Then there
were the endless tricks and mischief Of.
the brothers, and sleigh ride in the after
noon. and such doings in the evening as
no pen could describe. and somebody else
besides the brother who was sure to come,
and a sweet placid face, with folds of
whittier muslin fastened underneath the
chin. that smiled peace and benedction.
over all. The little saucepan was the
that had brought them back, and
set Miss Marigold In their very midst
again. aafag
''Such changes" :" she said at last, and
wiped her eyes with napkin scarcely
whittier than the snowy table where it lay
But it wasn't at all about the changes
that Miss Marigold wanted the napkin; it
was only on account of the onion she was
peeling. r.sf
Perhaps another person would not have
RhngAn tbnf atuh for hn. I'll
treat but Miss Marigold had naturally
quite a weakness that way, and the one
reasonable objection to them she consid-
cred quite removed by her solitary life.
80 wonderful" she used to say to her.
self 'how one can find bright side to
everything in this world. Now if one
must live quite alone, that to be sure gives
a shadowy feeling now and then, but how
perfectly one can enjoy an onionr
So she was smiling behind the napkin
at the very moment she was wiping her
eyes; and Miss Marigold had superb set
OF teeth, though everything else about
her had been growing thin for good
many years. .fis
"Such wonderful changes ~ she went
on, land so wonderful, the way have
been carried through them all So many
DO 10 SURE, MISS NdT1gO1u, JQdL
you get to church in good season, .or GER
tainly there is no one who has more to re-
fleet upon to-day than you. And as you
havn't much but your feelings to make
ihank-otferings with, you want to be sure
to get the stew we'll off your mind before
you start. There, if you leave that just
it will be done to bubble
when you get back unless, indeed, the
minister should be more than usually car
ried away by the occasion"
In a few minutes more Miss Marigold
set off. with her heart all in glow, and
her head in rather unbecoming second
hand bonnet, which she had taken from a
customer in payment for the work on q
new one. sn si.ss.s..
Wonderful" she said TO herself, eyery
lime she put it on, "how my wants are
always met"
And in just one hour and half she
'ame back, limping good deal to be
sure, but smiling radiantly, and finding
hat the stew was at the very point to put
N the onions. That would need at least