The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-07-31
A Piece of Her Mind.

''There now. Bess, just see what you'v We
done. There are, dear knows how many
rose leaves wasted that might have helped
to make our pillow, if you had not been SO
energetic as to break off the whole branch,
buds and all poor bush. it is too bad :
Bessie was a merry chatterbox, full of life
and fun, but she loved the dear old garden,
and touched the flowers as tenderly as her
gentler sister did. Matte, knowing this,
was sure there must be some reason for the
accident, and looked around lnqulrlngly to
see aunt Nancys cork-screw curls and sour
vlsage looming over the garden gate. Pears
to me, girls, We have precious little to do.
I've been a watchin' We this last two hours,
sky-larkin' round the garden like a couple
of butterflies, and lookin' for all the world
like 'em too, trioked out with your ruft1es
and your puffes. | can see what upon
airth your mas thinkin' about any way. 1t
ain the way she was brought up, | can tell
ye.' Il wonder how she could spare the
time to watch us, don't YOU, Mat? SAID
tie explained why, Aunt Nancy, we have
been busy we are gathering rose leaves to
make a pillow Rose leaves to make a
pillow. and amt geese feathers good enough
to pillow your silly noddles on | wonder?
They were good enough for your grand
mother and she was a sight smarter woman
than either of you'll ever be. What the
use of your bordin' school and your larnin
I'd like to know, if We can find nothin bet
ter to do at home than gatherin' a lot OF
rubiShin leaves that amt no more account
than so many weeds p There been a heap
of money spent on your eddication first and
last, but you'll never set the river on fire, |
reckon!' ''and disgrace the family by being
arrested for arson of course we won't,
auntie," laughed the irrepressible Bess, asthe
f%ault-fnding old lady marched into the house
to give sister Lucindy "a piece Of her mind
ness of a mother who could feel it right to
hire a dress-maker while the girls were frit-
tering away precious time. 1t was in vain
that the long suffering Lucinda told how
busy the girls had been all day, with house
work and canning, and how it was a charity
to employ the woman who helped them
make their dresses, since her earnings we're
the sole support of herself and child, and an
invalid mother and how they always worked
with her and learned something every time
she came, and could make a dress now as
nicely as anybody in fact, a great deal bet
ter than a good many older people, which
last remark Aunt Nancy considered personal,
and founced out Of the house, declaring she
NdS1 L SOilS u COuIlcIIdIlCc SlCu OIIn
on. and be insulted into the bargain"
1t is a noticeable fact that people who are
in the habit Of donating fragmentary por-
tlons of their minds to an unappreciative
world are usually possessed of SO ill-natured
an article that nobody would begrudge their
keeping the whole of it for themselves. A
piece of ones mind is not a thing to be covet-
ed; it IS generally painful, frequently surpri-
sing, often-tlmes lmpertinent, and the be-
slowing is almost invariably more of a graft
~tication to the donor than the recipient.
Spite and temper too often masquerade In a
garb of moral excellence and call it truth and
trankness. There are occasions when plain
speaking and bitter truth are the outspoken
desire OF a noble heart for the welfare Of its
neighbOr, but these emergencies are not of
daily occurrence, and they concern more
vital questions than the trivial affairs of every
day life. There are people who transeress
every law OF kindness and good taste in their
desire to free their minds by frank speech
there are even those who descend to sllrs
and inuendoes, in order to let people know
what they think, but, thank Heaven! the
world is wide, and there is still room for a
who do not feel called upon to
maintain their reputation for candor and
veracity by making painful and
dlsagreeable comments, however true they
LiiSLl NC. 10 nc sure, one must tell nothing
but the truth, but away from the witness
stand, the laws of God or man do not de-
mand that one should invariably tell the
whole truth. Fortunately a golden silence
offers no ignoble refuge to those who can
find nothing pleasant or agreeable to say.
since It Is ten thousand times more honorable
and editying than unkind speech.
St. Paul's items in RoJesonian: Several
alligators have been killed in a swamp known