Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-03-08
VOL. 81. NO. 50.
MRS. THOMPS0N'S WHITE
WARE.

the little lady, for there was an I'M
air of "spite" in the way
she tossed the potatoes into the pan of
cool spring water, waiting there to re-
ceive them. 1t was sultry weather;
and through the open window came
the sound of mowers whetting their
scythes blended with the call of the
Robin, and the faint notes of the
cuckoo in the shaded wood. But it
only irritated Mrs. Thompson indeed
everything Initiated her that day.
Looking out from the back door,
might be seen lovely landscape, with
broad reaches ofmeadow land, fringed
with graceful belts of birch /; and soft
ly rounded mountains lifting their vel
vety foreheads to the white, feecy
clouds, that went slowly sailing across
the exquisite ether, like huge drifts of
thistle down. But this also irritated
her; everything could be beautiful
save her life and that was cold, and
rude, and barren. At least, Mrs.
Thompson, in the plenitude OF her
present unsatisfactory mood, was tell
ing herself that it was.
To begin at the beginning. Jane
Lawrence had been an unusually ro-
matte girl, and had gone to boarding
school for two years. She had always
fancied she would marry some famous
artist or scholar, who would take her
to Rome and Venice, where she might
live in perpetual dream of beauty
She so loved beautiful things! Per-
haps all women do; and that may be
the reason so many are found ready to
barter love for gold.
But, contrary to all her preconceiv-
ed notions, she married Robert
Thompson, a plain, practical farmer !;
and instead of touring it in Italy, she
went to live at the old homestead,
which had been the abode of the
Thompsons for generations. Dreams
and reality are so very different, you
see.
Robert Thompson was working
farmer as well as a practical man, and
all his people worked. His mother had
worked in her day, his sisters had
worked, be expected his wife to work.
She took to it gleefully: she had not
been brought up with high notions,by
any means: and at first the work did
not seem so much. But every exper-
fenced lady knows how the labor
seems to accumulate in plain farm
er's household as the years Of after
marriage 90 on. There were plenty
of men and boys about, but only one
woman servant was kept; and Mrs.
Robert Thompson grew to find she
helped at nearly everything, Sweeper
haps. the very toughest of the labor.
La place of lounging in elegant foreign
studios, or gliding down famed canals
and streams in picturesque gondolas,
she had butter and cheese to make,
and poultry to rear, and dinners to
cook in the long, low ceiled kitchen,
and the thousand and one cares upon
her shoulders that make up busy
household. Quite contrast; as must
be admitted.
With things little different, she'd
not have minded the work so much
could she have had nice carpets, and
tasteful furniture, and books, and a
picture or two, and flowers. The home
was SO very hard and practical; and
its surroundings were getting so shah
by. At;first she had noticed these, and
cared for it; but every year, as the
years went on; made matters look din
gier. Old Mrs. Thompson had not
cared to be smart and nice; Robert
never thought about it. And what
though he had-it is only natural for
men to assume that what had done for
a mother would do for wife. In time
Mrs. Robert Thompson began to ask
that some renovation should take place ;
al which Robert only stared: the house
that had done without painting so
long, could do yet and the old things
in it were good enough for them. She
did not venture to urge the point; but
she did press for some flowers. There
was a strip of ground under the south
parlor windows where a shrub of
sweetbrier grew, and pinks, sweet
williams, and marigolds blossomed in
their season. But they were old fash
toned, common flowers; and she pinned
for the rare and elegant plants she had
seen in Conservatives and public
gardens. But Robert Thompson
would as soon have thought of buying
the moon, as such useless things as
flowers. The garden, like himself was
all practical, filled with cabbages, on
ions, potatoes, and sweet herbs. And
so went on her unloving existence, in
which dissatisfaction was becoming a
very nightmare. Now and again, on
those somewhat rare occasions when
she went out to visit her neighbors,
and saw how pretty many of them had
things, she came home more than
ever out of heart. The worst was Cor
the best)there was no real reason why
little money should not be spent in
making the home prettier and happier
for Robert Thompson was doing well,
aud putting fairly by. Bat under
standing had not come into the man :
and his wife was too meek: perhaps
too oonstitutionally timid, to make
tro uble over it.
The matter to'day--which had put
her so very much out was this. A
sewing club had recently been estab-
lished in the neighborhood. There
was much distress amidst the poor lab
erers'w wives and families, and some lad
les with time on their hands had set up
asewing-club, to make few clothes for
the nearly naked children. The farm
ers' wives had joined it; Mrs Thomp'
son with others; they met at stated
intervals, taking the different houses in
rotation: dining at home at twelve,
assembling at one o'clock, and work
ing steadily for several hours. TWAS
surprising how much work got done
how many little petticoats and frocks
were made in the long afternoons. In
less than a month it would be Mrs,
Thompsons turn to receive the com
pany--for the first time-and she nat
nraIIv he0an to consider WAYS and