The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1876-05-31
MISS PETERSON'S WOOINGS
RY IH'CIA G.. BELL.

MISS PETERSON's WOOINGS.
BY LECIA C. BELL.
From the Worthington Journal.
Saturday WAS Miss PetersOn's wash
ing and ironing day. She did this
work because she liked it. Certainly,
Miss Peterson as principal of the high
school in one of the finest public schools
in the state received a salary which
ought at least to have hired her wash
ing done. And she boarded herself.
Nothing could deprive Miss Peterson
of the luxury Of her own little table
draped in linen from the green little
farm in far away Sweden, nor of the
cup Of good Swedish coffee which she
loved to make with her own hands.
The floor of Miss Peterson's room was
bare and white. The very sight of
those 'sstuffy carpets half smothered
her. Not only did she do her own
cooking, but she made her own butter
in golden little pots from the cream
off the the single quart which was
brought every day to her door.
Washing is said to be the hardest
work that human backs are heir to,
but nobody would believe it, in the
presence Of lngra Peterson at the wash
tub, so 1.-the and strong and blithe,
with her mass of golden hair twisted
back in a generous coil and the strong
locks curling in little rings around her
forehead in the stain from the suds,
with her cheeks scarlet. and her white
strong arms and supple wrists
1uxuriating in the vigorous exercise.
No place could be sweeter or brighter
than Miss Peterson's room when she
ironed, with the snowy floor, the gilt
tering stove, the little forest of vigor-
Gus greenery in the sunny window {;
the whole space filled to overlooking
with expanses of fragrant, shining,
pearl-clear linen ''airing' in the sun
shine. It was like q sun.lit lily.
She had cage full of canaries, and
a pet hawk which some little boys
had brought to her in it's hideous in
fancy. Anybody also would have shud-
dered at the thing. utnothing in ma
ture is repulsive to healthy children.
Neither could it be to Ingra Peterson.
There WAS also cage of white mice,
which had been bereft of their mother
at so tender an age that Miss Peter
son was obliged to sit up three whole
nights to raise them by hand.
Although a good teacher and COM
manding Il good salary she never was
known to possess more than two dol
lars beyond her Immediate wants,
which were astonishingly simple.
Charity was the passion of her life.
Hundreds of pairs of stockings were
knit by those beautiful, vigorous hands,
Just for the JOY of giving them away.
Christening robes for the children OF
poverty were made, tucked and en-
broidered, by her, with the enthusiasm
which painters feel for their pictures.
She would stop in city street and give
away her last shawl to some poor shiv-
ering creature, and had been known in
in one startling moment slip off her
felt skirt then and there, give it away,
and go home rejoicing. After the
war she made an excursion into the
south in her impulsive, independent
fashion, and brought from thence to
her neighborhood, a horde of lawless
little colored people for whom she
wished to lind homes, much to the dis.
may OF the helpless farmers. When
friends demonstrated with her for such
irresponsible and improvident generos-
ty as she every where displayed, the
reply always came, quietly, ssGod will
take care of me-" ,-.,.- 49, ~-,,-
1ngra's style of dress was somewhat
overwhelming. Just as some people
possess an indescribable, indefnable
knack of making a harmonious cos.
tune, she possessed a mysterious capa.
bility of making herself absurd, even
while she really desired to do the cor.
rect thing and make respectable ap
pearance. Her garments, over-skirt
sacque, ruff, sash, and all, usually gave
one vague impression that they may
have lodged on her in high wind.
Yet, every women was infascinateC
by Ingra Peterson, being, perhaps, pc
culiarly attached by that tinge of grac
So