Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1882-12-25
A Case of Coincidence.

apple, with great deal of snow
white hair set up in big puff on the
top of her head, and eyes as black
as huckleberries, always puckered
up with smiles or laughter.
She never would wear a cap.
II can't be bothered with 'em p
she said and when Amelia Rut-
ledge, who was determined her
grandmother should, as she said,
'slook halfway decent made her
two beautiful little mob caps, soft
and fluffy, and each with a big satin
bow, one lavender and one white,
put on to show where the front was,
Grandma never put them on right;
the hsv was over one ear Or behind,
or the cap itself was awry, and in
the end she pulled them off and stuck
them on a china jar in the parlor, or
a tin canister on the kitchen shelf,
and left there till the flies and dust
ruined them.
"Amelia's s as obstinate as pig -
said the old lady: 'she would have
me wear 'em and [ wouldn't !"
That was all, but it was enough;
not a grandchild ever made her an
other cap. Moreover Grandmother
Grant always dressed in one fashion
she had a calico dress for morning
and black silk for the afternoon,
made with an old-fashioned surplice
waist, with thick plated ruff about
her neck; she sometimes tied on a
large white apron, but only when
she went into the kitchen; and she
wore pocket as big as three of
yours, Matilda, tied on beneath and
reached through slit in her gown.
Therein she kept her keys, her SMELL
ing bottle, her pocket-book, her
handkerchief and her spectacles, a
bit of flag root and some licorice
stick. l mean when | say this, that
all these things belonged in her
pocket, and she meant to keep them
there; but it was one peculiarly of
the dear old lady, that she always
lost her necessary conveniences, and
lost them every day.
''Maria p she would call out to
her daughter in the next room, shave
you seen my spectacle" "
mo, mother; when did you have
| them?"
''Five minutes ago, darning Har-
rvs stockings; but never mind, there
is another pair in the basket
In half an hour when Gerty came
into her room for something she
needed, Grandmother would say:
"Gerty, do look on the floor and see
if my specs lie anywhere around.
Gerty, couldn't find them, and
then Grandma would say:
Probably they dropped out on
the grass under the window, you can
see when you go down; but give me
my gold pair out of the drawer
And when Mrs. Maria went to call
her mother down to dinner she found
her hunting all about the room, turn
ing her cushions, peering into the
wood-basket, shaking out the silk
quilt, and say "What is it you want
mothe. :"
"My specs, dear. | can't find one
pair"
"But there are three on your head
now p and Grandma would sit dowr
and laugh till she shook all over, as
if it were the best joke IN the worlC
to push your spectacles up over tht
short white curls on your forehead
one pair after another, aud forget al
about them.
She mislaid her handkerchief still
oftener. Gerty would sometimes
pick up six of these useful articles il
one day where the old lady dropped
them as she went about the house
but the most troublesome of all he
habits was way she had of putting
her pocket-book in some queer plac
every night, or if she left home in th
daytime, and then utterly forgetting
where she had secreted it from tn
burglars or thieves she had all he
life expected.
The house she lived in was he
| own, but DR.. White, who had marri
ed her daughter Maria, rented of her
and the rent paid her board she ha'
a thousand dollars year beside
half of which she reserved for he
; dress and charities, keeping the 9th
: er half for Christmas presents t
r her children and grandchildren. A
$ there were ten of the last, and tn
ten always need something. Cert
White, the doctors daughter, wa
: twelve years old; she had thre
! brothers: Tom, John and Harry, a
older than she was. Mrs. Rutledge
+ who had been Annie Grant, was
e widow with three daughters -Sylvia
Amelia and Anne, the latter two no
: out in society and always glad c
l. new dresses, gloves, bonnets, rit
: bons, lace, and the thousand sma
;, fneries girls never have to their fu
S satisfaction. There were Thoms
IS Grants two girls of thirteen an
IL fifteen, Rosamond and Kate, and b
little boy Hal, crippled in his bab.
hood, so that he must always wal
"a on crutches, but as bright and hapE
y :. as Grandma herself, and her prin