The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1879-11-01
praise God from whom all bless.

to the door, and they did look surprised
enough, but somehow they didn't look
30 cheerful as yotswould expect. Bat
they was dreadfnlly surprised; they
didn't even think to ask us in; but we
didn't wait for an invitation, but kept
crowdin' in, and the minister and his
wife kept .backin' back It'll the house
was full up stairs and down. Squire
Lymans wife and me and some Others
went out into the kitchen to look after
the victuals and other things that was
donated; and such sight as twas.
deacon Bates brought bushel Of
potatoes, and Squire Lyman a peck Of
onions. Levi Morse brought hull keg
of pork; to be sure Parson Noble or his
wife never eat any, but then it showed
Mr.. Norse's good will Then Mrs Prentis
brought them a chrome Of bare-headed
girl pickin' flowers. You see Mr.. Noble
preached a sermon one Sunday about
folks making home attractive for the
children-said they ought to have books
and pictures and all such things. s'pose
Mrs. Prentis thought 'twould please him,
and think she was very thoughtful
don't you'll Somebody brought a nice
Bible. l( Bibles, you know, are always APP
propriate, to give minister +ef.e..
:" should think a minister was the
last person who would need a Bible" in
terrupted Miss Prudy. Miss Betsey did
not notice the interruption, but con-
tinued flSIif ~ eeG9En
i"Then there was a peck of apples and
some soft soap, four loves of bread, pan
of doughnuts, two lovesof cake, couple
of mince- pies, and a loaf Of gingerbread
that I made myself The victuals, of
course, was for refreshments, for every
body expects mething to eat at dona-
ton party. But there was one thing
it did seem as If everybody had agreed
upon, for'I should think that everybody
that came must have brought few
links Of sausages such pile of 'em we
just sat down and laughed; we couldn't
help it when we saw 'em ~ y '.'.
"Of course we helped ourselves to tea
and sugar and such little things-.w
knew Mrs. Noble would be glad to
furnish 'emo then nobody thought to
bring any preserves. So we called Mrs.
Noble out and asked her what we should
do about it., She said she had jar Of
ounce sauce we might have Mrs.
Pierce dished 1t out, and she said it
wouldn't 60 half round; she asked me if
she'd better get two or three cans open;
but told her twould make more
trouble, and twasn't no matter if the
children didn't have any. SO we made
it go, as far as 'twould; but it did look
kinder stingy.'''
i"WelL, | never heard Of anything
equal to thatp cried Miss Purdy, slash
ing away at the cloth before her as if
she had a grudge against it. iss ~ :
Bless my soul !, what are you doingT',
exclaimed Miss Betsey: {" You've spoiled
that sleeve, and didn't get but nine
yards; twon't do to waste any. Well,
as was saying, we posed everybody
had had something when Mrs Lyman
came ioutfand said there hadn't been a.
thing passed in the library. So we
hunted round and found loaf of
bread, n couple of loaves of cocoanut
cake. and some pies that Mrs Noble had
baked up for company, You see she
was expecting a minister to stay over
Sunday. Twas real fortunate, for she
might, not have had anything in the
house but for that; and she had all the
next day to bake in, so we thought it
wouldn't do no hurt TO take it. Mrs.
Jones said that she. found pan of seed
cakes afterwards that Mrs. Noble had
hid away We felt real worked up
about it, children think so much of seed
cakes, you know; and Mrs. Jones said
that she thought it looked pretty small
whenfwe was giyin' 'em such Donation
But maybe twas Just as well, for some
Of the boys threw cake at each other,
and it got trod into the carpet at times,
and I don't believe in having things
wasted. Use up the pieces if you can,
Miss Purdy, and leave the hull piece for
new sleeves, ..if I'D. -..-.=..f,- -..
"There was one, thing | was surprised
to hear; the. children got to fooling up
stairs and knocked over a pitcher of
water, and broke it; twas a pity, for it
belonged to a chamber set Mrs. Noble
had given her when she was married,
and was painted by hand. And Mrs.
Adams said when Mrs. Noble heard of it
she looked real mad. Such an example
to set before children and a minister's
wife too!e Children viii be children,
you know, Miss Purdy.''. a45t Vs :
7"The place for children is at home
evenings, 1 think said the dressmaker,
sharply. ~ >; s0rs. inn. t.o, m
q Well, dunno as twas any worse
than what Mr.. Lum did !. he was leaning
on the fernery and the glass broke in d
minute. But then, accidents will hap
pen, and twas different being donation
party" '''"
"Of course acquiesced the little
dressmaker.- Eli IN u ..,& 100
Then it was real funny, continued
Miss Betsey, " the way they worked it.
You see the minister's folks go home
real early--being certain, | reckon they
thought we would follow their example,
but law sakes alive no; why before we
got through with eating things and -
"Then you had all the dishes to
wash y put in Mrs. Purdy. .,.,..,l ...,.s,.,
"Bless you'll no; if we had attempted
to wash the dishes know Mrs. Noble
would have stopped us, and besides it
would have taken as half the night, and
Of course she didn't expect it, But as
was saying, they kept staying, and it
was past midnight before they all got
away.
"Well, the next Sunday we all thought
the pastor would have an extra sermon,
and make some, acknowledgment of the
donation besides, and of course every
body went to meetin'. / started early,
and stopped for Melissa Jones on my
way. When We got most there, Melissa
stopped sudden and says she, what on
earth. is the n,atter?r tWhyp saws T.
I'd been, talkin and hadn't noticed any,
thing. Don't you see,' says she, that