The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1883-02-17
THE THREE GRANDMOTHERS.

clared Grandmother ilui1ey's iife-like
voice.
Prepo,terous indeed" responded the
bassoon. More than preposterous-
d:sgracrul. \ mechanic! common work
ing man! a house painter.
" He's fresco painter timidiy cor
rected Gertrude.
Which amounts to the same thing. y
| groaned the bassoon.
"Micllael Angelo began Gertrude.
"Heaven preserve nS-' shriiled the
fife: she bringing some lrishman into
the discussion now. Be silent, miss.
| Well not hear another word from you.
And under stand distinctly, once and for
all that if that person C Ills here to NOR
row, which no doubt he will have the i'm
pertinence and assurance to do, you are
to dismiss him instantly, or we will
g And entieavor to begin the new year.
| the bassoon took up the strain again
"in "a manner betting descendant Of
the illustrious General Won Breeks Won
| Starch. whose unexampled bravery made
him aud Bergen-op Zoom-the city of his
birth-famous not only throughout llol-
| land but the entire world at a time when
you were not dreamed! Of.
| As for Grea.-,ran Peeky, she had sat
softly rocking to and fro in her cushioned
rocker munching her caraway biscuits
| a store of which she always carried in a
little satchel suspended at her side
sleepily regarding the group of takers.
and saying not word herself But that
was nothing strange for her. She scarce
ly ever spoke save in menosyllAbles, and
never even in them when Madame Won
| Breeks Won Starch and Mistress IIutley
were laying down the law Ga favorite &c
cupation of theirs, by the-bye) to SER
wants, trades people, or granddaughter
Gertrude. And the last thing that could
have occurred to either of the amiable
| lawmakers would have been the idea of
| appealing to the old lady for al opinion
on any subject whatever. 1t sutticed
them that she paid without srumbling
The greater part of the expenses Of the
| household out of the income which was
| t, cease at her death, and yet allowed
them to manage all things pertaining to
| it in their own way.
| Gertrude-so named by Madame Won
Breeks Won Starch in honor of the patron
saint of Bergen-o -Zoom-had lost both
her parents in her infancy. and her father
| having been reduced to poverty some
time before he died by various gentle
manly vices, she had been left wholly de-
pande It upon her three grandmotheIs.
| OF these Great gran Peeky was the
mother of Grandmother IIuifey, who i'll
turn was the mother of Gertrude $ moth
er, while Grandma Won Breeks Won
| Starch held the same close relationship
| to her father.
The bassoon grandmother was at the
| head of the American branch OF her
| family (she had been a Won Breeks Won
Starch herself, aud had married a cousin
| of the same name)-a family of great
prowess and many bags of gold in their
| father land some century and a half ago.
| See was :ail. stout, and solid with a
round face, big black eyes, abundant iron
gray hair, and q carriage that Immediate
| ly sug ;estei to the beholder the last
| syllable Of her aristocratic name.
The file grandmother, five years her
junior, was directly her opposite, being,
| short. slim, ard timber. with sharp cut
face, extremely Tain fair hair, and faded
| blue eyes.
| Great gran Peeky. notwithstanding her
| eighty three years, was by far the best
| lookiu of the three (though she did
| look, | must confess, when launching
her caraway biscuits, somewhat like a
very nice tneditative old rabbD. Her
sn wy white tresses waved prettily above
| Ler still daik eyebrows, beneath which
beamed with a mild, dreamy light her
soft brown eyes, and a pleasant winter
bloom fingered on her wrinkled face.
| Ic was iron her Gertrude had received
all the picture books and sugar pums,
almost always bestowed in perfect silence
that had frightened and swcetened her
childhood, Grandma Won Breeks Won
Starch supplying the lessons in deport
ment, and Grandmother IIuffey (let ME
whisper il the punishnents, usually in
tlcted with :: slipper or the back of a
| hair brush But in spite OF the lectures
and lessons and other disagreeable things
Gertrude led toerably happy life with
her three grandmcthers until her eigh-
teentil birthday. From that day dated
such stlict surveillance, 50 much sarcasm,
SO many seedlings, that even the hair
brush and slipper period seemed by com
rarison a regrettable one. And all on
account of the young man who came to
flesc, the parlnr ceilings. y handsome
Young man he was, possessing the high
" euphonious name of Everdell Irem-
lett. But neither his good looks nor his
romantic name awaited him au3ht with
the two managing grandmothers, who
saw in him only one of the working day
-, 20 with which the lIutfeys and the
you Breek, Won Starches had nothing in
common.
And therefore with no more thought
about the matter than if john the man
servant had been there in his stead, they
allowed their granddaughter to practice
her music lessons in the back parlor-thc
sliding door being partly open-while he
was at work in the front.
t And SO i, happened that Gertrude, try
ing to play an air from memory and ind
;,u it continually elluded her, was about
giving it up in vexation, when some one
4 softly whistled it behind her; and turn
o,icLlv ON the revolving stool, she saw
w.. vonus pai;ter. brush in hand, stand
ing in the doorway.
III "Bes pardon, but that Is what you
n ,t.a is it. noto' he asked as he ceased
" uh;.t,;,,, in a voice as deep as that OF
ny the basson grandmother, though mueh
' T. more m"lodiouS.
e d "Oh YES. thank you said Gertrude
y o. With blush; and turning to the piano
0e'n again, she played the whole AR sk''i'ul'y
:fsoa ahdsracefuliy.
and and Its beautiful thing said the paint
ert,, e. still standing in the doorway out
4" a.,