Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-11-19
MISS lSNEDERERS THANKSGIV-
mo.

MISS sNEDEKERS THANKSGIV-
mo.
p. SNEDEKER.
That was all the unpretending shingle
with black letters aud touch of gilt on the
capital and s, said. Some malicious school
girls (who did not like the way Miss Snede
ker tied her bows, likewise considering her
trife old fashioned in the important matter
Of shapes) insisted upon calling it a post
script, and in that way Miss Snedeker was
usually addressed when sufficiently far from
hearing But it was quite unlike any other
known woman's postscript, in that it gave
no one any further information beyond the
hint that z. Snedeker was TO be found with
in such invitations in thriving village
street being generally understood. There
was one small window in the shop, with an
ancient lace curtain suspended across the
lower half of the sash, to cut of the vulgar
gaze and tempt inquiry we'll and there
was little alarm bell fastened to the outer
door 80 that, on the occasion of a call, Miss
Snedeker being duly warned, would put
down her work in the back room, slip behind
the counter, and ask what was wanted, with
the air of having so much in reserve that the
only difficulty would be for the puzzled pur-
chaser TO choose from the infinite variety.
Miss Snedeker was a milliner; not from
CnOlce, DTtn OF euuChtlOu, bne hOulu bdyt
with a calm air of superiority when she was
questioned, but, like another character delin-
Gated in English fiction, circumstances over
which she had no control'-Miss Snedeker
had way Of using pathetic sniff for her
commas and periods, and 80 no one ever
heard anything after had no control'-but
every one understood the sniff as an allusion
to former days, and knew perfectly well that
Miss Snedeker had never dreamed of merg-
ing her life into solitary postscript affixed to
a milliners door. The old people, and mid
die aged people all liked her it was only the
young misses who thought her just trife
too old maidsh to be perfect authority on the
subject of coaching hats, and those alarming
little pancakes of felt and velvet that stay, by
some latter day miracle upon a young girls
frizzes and curls, aud exercise all the inge-
nuity of the masculine mind to determine
cause and effect. But even the young girls
were sorry when they went out from the lit
tie shop without purchasing Miss Snedeker's
pathetic sniff pursuing them as it were down
the street, causing them sometimes, sorely
| against their will, to turn back and say some
| thing pleasant and consolatory in lieu of a
| purchase and am grieved to record, these
occasions far outnumbered her sales, and
caused her a degree of anxiety only under
stood by those who metaphoricany were in
the same boat with Miss Snedeksr.
Dut lulh luhuhhBlNluH uOtulub hhe was
neither springing her mine of secreted wealth
upon her solitary customer, nor restoring the
| lost glories Of a sun-browned Dunstable on
the contrary, it being legal holiday, she had
| been having a busy time brushing up the
| faded square of Wilton carpet that adorned
the centre of the room from behind the store
which was sitting. room, bedroom, and kitch-
en-, all in one. A chintz curtain concealed the
bed, andled the unwary to suspect anotherroom
| I IL
| ished to an unheard of degree, stood modest
| ly in the open fire place, and established a
sort of dividing line in the proprietors mind
between kitchen and parlor. In the oven a
solitary duck, portly with potato and onion,
| vas lesurely roasting, and in the closet, COW
cred with a white napkin. reposed two plum
tarts. This was the feast which had given
her so much solictude in providing. and
toward which, in spite of her desire to sepa-
rate herself from worldly things, her
| thoughts had continually wandered ali through
the long prayers and hydra-head sermon.
A dinner was such an event in her life, and
| Thanksgiving dinner at that She had hest
tated long time over a superannuated chick
en- and an ancient turkey, and finally settled
| upon duck as, in every way, more appro-
pirate TO the day, Miss Snedeker viewing the
duck as a bird peculiarly adapted TO Thanks
giving purposes. The dinner hour she had
settled in her own mind, should be four. Not
only for its extreme gentlity, but as preclud-
ing the use of candles, as well as the supper
afterward. This would also give her an hour
of two of reflection and reading, and in the
evening she might light the lamp trihe
earlier, and oontrive to wire a cap frame and
tie few lilac bows for old Mrs. Pennysni1-
ers, who would be sure TO drop in the morn
ing after Thanksgiving to find out if her
neighbor was invited out to dinner, and if
not, what she had for her solitary meal.
She drew her chair before the fire, then
turned the damper in the stove to make it
warmer, and put on a trihe more coal, then
took slice Of bread and large cucumber
out of her pantry, and sat down to lunch and
to read Pollock's Course of Time, which
somebody had once told her was q very i'm
prOUing book. The heat soon made her
head ache, and Pollock and the cucumber
aiding it, she was in fair way of passing an
unpleasant interval between the browning Of
the duck and dinner so she determined to
read no longer, but fold her hands and enjoy
that season of reflection which she had per-
mitted herself when striving to listen to the
long, the unusually long, sermon of the
morning. The text had been ''In everything
give thanks for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you, and a troubled
look began to gather in her eyes as she caught
herself wondering what she had to be thank
Iul IOr III lnlh ire IL CeHlhluly was very
lonely. The little shop was SO still the
room back of it 80 dark, and dull, and dingy
in the fading light. The square Of Wilton
carpet began TO stretch and widen out, until
it covered the floor of a long, low, old fash
ioned parlor fire blazed upon the wide
hearth, and the old people, with snowy hair
and smiling faces, gathered about its blaze
and watched the children at their play. Such
a rush of young feet scampering over the car
pet Such shouts of laughter as the tall
boys saluted their partners and stood up in
two long rows for the Virginia reel and the
fragrance of the duck, slowly simmering in
the oven, brought back other odors from the
steaming kitchen of long ago, and all the
years since her girlhood faded away like a
dream, and only the present seemed far away
and dim. 1t was the duck that made Miss
Snedeker girl again, tapping her feet on the
Wilton carpet, gay with gorgeous blossoms
now, and waiting her turn to be swung
around and dance down the middle, never
thinking of the roses under her feet. o
how like young girl 1t had seemed to her
that life's roses never could wither and here
was all there was left of it-a square of fad
cd, dull, brown oovering-how exactly II
! matched her life The tears rushed to hei