Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1878-02-14
THE QUILTING AT MISS JONEyS.
BY JOSIAH ALIENS WIFE.

Our minister was merried year ago,
and we hev been piecing him bed
quilt; and last week quilted it. 1 al
ways make pint of going to cuttings,
for you can't be backbited to your face,
that's a moral sertenty. L know win-
men jest like book, for | hev been one
"A good while. So / went.
| hadn't beer there long before Miss
Deacon Graves came, and then the Wild
der Tubbs, and then Squire Edwardses
wife, and Maggie Snow, and then the
Dcbbs girls 1--WE call 'em girls, though it
would be jest as proper to call mutton
lamb, for forty summers hev gilded
their heads il one has gilt 'em). They
was the last that come, for Miss
Browns baby had the mumps, and 9TH
erwise couldn't leave; and the Ripleys
had unexpected companS. But with
Miss Jones, where the Yuiltin' was
held, and her girls, Mary Ann and Al
zina, we made as many as could set
round the quilt comfortable.
The quilt was made of different kinds
OF calico; all the wimmen round had
pieced block or two, and we took up
collection to get the batten ard linin',
and the cloth to set it together with,
which was turkey red, and come to
quilt it it looked well; we quilted it
herrin'-bone, and a runnin' vine round
the border. After the path-master was
demorelized, the school-mistress tore to
pieces, the party to Ripleys scandelized,
Miss Browns baby voted unquestion-
able idiot, and the rest Of the unrepre-
sented neighborhood dealt with. Lu-
cinder Dobbs spoke up, and sez she:-
II hope. the minister will like the
bed-quilt." Uucinder is the one that
studies mathematics TO discipline her
mind, and has the Roman nose).
1T amt noways likely he WILL" sez
her sister Ophelia (she is one that has
her hair frizzled on top, and wears spec
tacles). 1T amt noways likely he will
he is a cold man, stone statute"
Now, you see, l set my eyes by the
minister, he is always doin' good to
somebody, besides preachin' more like
a angel than haman bein'. And l
wasn't goin' TO set still and hear him
run down; you see it riled up the old
Smith blood, and when that is riled,
Josiah says he always takes his hat and
leaves till it settles. Aad l spoke up,
and sez l.:
Lucky for him he was made of stone
before he was merried, for common
flesh and blood, sez l, would have gin
out hundred times, chaste round by
the girls as he was" (you see it was the
towns talk how Ophelia Dobbs acted
before he was merried, and she almost
went into decline, and took heaps of
mother-wort and fetty).
II don't know what you mean, Miss
Allen" sez she, turning red as brick.
II never heard of his bein' chaste; l
know never could bear the sight of
him."
1.-The distant sight," sez Mary Ann
Jones.
Ophelia looked so mad at that, that |
don't know but she would have pricked
her with her quiltin' needle, if old Miss
Graves hadn't spoke up. She is fat
old lady with double chin. 'mild and
lovely" as Mount Vernon's sister.
AS said, she looked mildly up over
her spectacles and nodded her purple
cap ribbons two or three times, and
said, "Yes," "Jest So" to both of us;
and then she was so afraid that we
wouldn't think she was jinein' with
both of us, sez she, "Yes, Miss Allen"
"Jest so, Ophelia." And then to
change the subject, sez she, HAS the
minister's wife got home YETI"