The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1882-07-06
MRS. DODD's PORTIERE.
By MARY N. PRESCOTT.

5T's BIZ MARY N. PRESCOTT.
~ mean to have portiere, sure's you
hve," announced Mrs Dodd
..Lor. what's that?" asked Lucinda.
''One of Mrs. Parloa's new recipesa !
hope it's something good.'' I'D
"a portiere !! child alive! Don't you
know what that isp They's curtains,
hung up to the DOORS. and they sweep
on the floor and they're worked with
crewels. and yarns and things! Lawyer
Brownies folks, over to bingham, have
real satin brocadc ones in the best par
lor, good enough for gown. But Mrs.
Kitchener, the housekeeper, she took
me into her room, and there they was
/ nothing but coffee -bagging, if you'll be-
slieve it, with bits of colored cotton fian-
mel sewed on 'em; and the bagging ain t
over fifteen cents yard"
Il don't see the COOL of hanging cur
tains up to the DOORS; nobody can see
through EN-
ssL0r, child, the door is took off, and
the portierc hangs in its place, and looks
mighty grand, and makes you feel as
though you was living in palace
II don't believe. it'n deceive me-"
SDllieu LuClnUa.
''Do get the dictionary down. Lucin-
dy, and look out portferc. l want to
know how to spell il; nnd all about it,
and when Mrs. Jerry comes in she can't
trip me- How cut up she'll be! You
know when brother Ben left me his best
woolen carpet she wanted to know if l
wasn't afraid of moths getting into the
house" ...... -....-
Lucinda took down the consumptive-
looking dictionary and pondered over
it.
Il don't believe that's the right word. "
she said presently; ''there amt no such
word here
NO such word! You're just like your
Aunt Jerry Dodd, - always making
folks miserable. Don't you suppose
Mrs, Kitchener knows. and she living
this twenty year up ter Lawyer Brown
esp"
I Il daresay she's poking fun at you"
/; "Poking fun at me! Do YOU think
your mother is a person calkilated to
hev fun poked at her, Lucindy Dodd?'
The Duncans have got an una
bridged,''- said Lucinda, waving the
question:; I'm run over and hunt it
up"
But don't let on what you're looking
after. l want the neighbors to come in
and ask what I've got a-hanging up
there, and / want TO tell 'em, "a portiere,
to be sure;' andI want to see 'em a.
turning it over in their minds, dying of
curiosity to know what a portiere is, but
hating to give in that they never heard
of the thing before!"
? But Mrs. Kitchener, who had been
commissioned to buy the coffee bagging
in bingham, happened over with it the
next day. git-s
''Do you know" said Mrs. Dodd,
privately, we've hunted through the die
tionary, and Lucindy's looked in the un.
abridged. and we can't find portiere,
high or low?" ,...ttse
s.Of course you couldn't" answered
Mrs. Kitchener. "Why, it's French
wordn s..s--. s-.s...lg. ,..5 ..s5- ..
"a French wordr' repeated Mrs.
Dodd; ga real French word! You don't
say so! Why folks'll come from Old.
bury, and Nearfield, and all about to
see it, just as if it was whole menagerie
Mrs. Jerry'H be just fit to die. But ]
don't know what Toni Il say about tax
ing the door off the hinges!' .-
'I guess he'll talk French" put il
Lucinda. And he did.
Take the door off the hinges!' he
cried. "What tomfoolery is this. eh!
Are you crazy Pameley? All the neigh
bors'll be laughing at you. Hang YOU
portiere. ,pset.
"That's just what we want to do,'
giggled Lucinda. r..
. ''The neighbors don't laugh at Law
yer Browne folks, and there : portiere'
and porticres all over the house. l se'
aem with my own ayes" -.-
,.'And the doors took off?'' gaspeC
Tom.
Yes" EFw
blessed if lever, heard of such ,
| thing!f. 1t must be modern; progress
| Why not take down the side of th'
| house and hang up curtain? What
| it for, any ways It amt pretty; it look
like a horse blanket. It'll be might,
nice for rheumatism and influency.-
Why not take the roof off'the house i'll
| stead?'
But for all Tom Dodds disapprova
| the door came off, and the porticrc, bril-
| liant with cotton-fannel dragons, ia
| panese young men and women, hall
moons and hieroglyhics, reigned in it
stead. Mrs. Dodd was ready for tn
neighbors. -, -
.:AIercy sakes aliver' calculated Mrs
4 Jerry, who had come in with her darn
ing for little gossip. What on cart
have you got a-hanging up there? an
hgwhere's your door gone?n
THAT Oh, that's only portierc," q
if a portiere in Millvillage was the mos
common thing in the.world.
"a what! 1t looks like side-show q
the circus, or poster.
Everybody don't take to 'em whe
they first see EN- Uttered Lucinda
sFather didn't. Folks have to be edit
Gated up to 'em, like eating tomatoes.
r. ''A porttere, did you say? Where
you get the ideer?" %
ITS French word, "said Mrs. Ton
j as if French were her daily speech. 81
came from France"
"Pity it hadn't stayed there. 1t mus
/. let in sight of cold air"
4 1--WE haven't suffered no inconven
ence,"n returned Mrs. Tom, loftily.
at amt to be sneezed at" said Ii
cinda b..
Il t AS luck would nave l, however,
! cold snap set in about this time. Mr.
Dodd piled on the coal and shivered SUI
reptitiously.
Your INTERCHANGEABLE don
seem to keep out the cold like a door,
suggested Mrs. Jerry in another of ht
neighborly calls. Il don't believe they
be popular in Millvillage."
They're popular at Lawyer Browne
and in the first families to bingham,
returned her sister-in-law.
"Well, / s'pose they have a furnat
there, and the price of coal amt no col
sequence to 'em. For my part, Ishouln
be able to reconcile it to my conscient
to waste Jerry's substance in po
tieren ~
If Mrs Dodd had wished to set tt