The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1881-05-06
Old Lady Gossip.

There is much pleasure to be had in
/ listening to nice old lady as she gossips
/ of the people and customs and things of
I long ago; as she tells of a society that
/ passed away ere we of this late genera
tion were bonn; of the building of the
houses which were old when we were
young, and of those who dwelt in them
the grave citizens and their fair danes
who led the town sixty. years back, and
whose names strike upon our ears not as
strange and new, but rather as awakened
} memories. 1t is pleasant, indeed, TO hs-
ten to her as she thus brings before our
eyes hfe-hkely those details of person
and place which in themselves are trih-
;ng, vet without which we can have moth
ing that approaches to a perfect picture
of the past
Most astonishing Is the dear old lady'I
memory 4 little rambling she may b.
IN her talk: a little uncertain as to the
sequence OF events, and IN date she al
ways is hopelessly Mt sea. But the ma
terlal points of her narrative. the small
facts which give it strength and flavor
and reality. never are lost. Her back
grounds may be hazy, but her portraits
and groups always are clear-life-like
because they are drawn truly from life.
And what matters it that a love story
three score years old is not ticketed with
the very year to which it belongs? Sure,
there Is no place for such harsh crudities
as dates IN true romance. 'It was
about the year 1925 or 1880" IS far less
striking a beginning than: 1T was ten
or fifteen years after the end of war"
And if she Is not interrupted by ill-ad-
vlsed inquiries as to the when and how,
she Is fairly certain in the long run, tell
ing her story in her own way. TO make it
coherent and clear. Sometimes she may
treat decorously of the certain doubts
and doubtful certainties of the past
with no thought of malice, yet in a fash
ION to make the backs of some of the
nowadays mice" people creep awk-
wardly, in response to the queer social
rule that makes one responsible for the
doings or misdoings of ones grandfathers
but most times her recoHections run In
more placid channels and are busted
only IN bringing once more TO light the
queer, entertaining memories of the time
when she was young. One of the chief
charms of her storytelling is that YOU
never know, when she Is fairly started,
what she Is going to tell. 1t may be a
sketch of the good Bishop White-sil- /
very-haired, graceful, serene in his per- |
feet goodness; or of that stout veteran. /
Captain Anthony Morris-last of all !
Philadelphinns 10 wear knee -breeches: or /
of Father Fillmore, the eccentric rector /
of St Paul's: or of how the cows of we'll !
to-do citizens were pastured on the Hos |
pital lots; or of how the Vauxhill Garden /
was raked by a mob; it may be one of a
hundred such stories as these that she !
tells, or it may be story In which. so far
as the facts are concerned. there is moth
ing Of interest at all But even when her
stories are commonplace, her hearers
scarce viii find them dull; so sincere Is
her own interest IN them, SO genuine the
zest t-with which they are told. Mellowly
lender and full of a sweet fragrance are
hese gathered memories of long ago,
md very pleasant Is 1t 20 listen to them
IS they take form in gentle words They
ire. in truth, but the shadows of the
past; and vet a heart unhardened
oy the world viii find them far
better worth pondering upon than are
he angular realities sprung up III our
own time And as the dear old lady
presents them, they have a tinge of true
Dathos To us of a later generation they
ire memories of old, old times; but to
her they are memories of the one glad
season when all was new-when the eyes
which are grown so old and see so mnch
hat Is sorrowful, looked out happily
lpon the world and saw it brighter,
iresher, fairer than It is now, because
-hey were Young TohilGdeiDhid Times