The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-03-24


umph, / set the sponge late last night with
half a Yeast cake. 1t was cold, and did not
know how TO keep the. sponge warm. Finally
! set my boiler upon the kitchen table, poised
on four bottles, and with tiny lamp under
Meath Then put on the cover of the boiler.
and went to bed. got up before Jack. My
sponge was ready TO run over. | mixed my
bread, and set it in the boiler turned on its
side before the stove the dough covered with
a CLOTH Jack had not seen it, and it was finely
baked and cold at dinneT-time, when Jack had
finished blowing and narrowing the ground.
What a surprise it wasl for Jack is particu-
larly fond of good bread. He asked where
got that splendid loaf, surprising some neigh
Dor had sent it to me. ! did not answer him
directly, and Jack turned to Birdie, seated in
her high chair, and gravely asked her where
that loaf came from. 'Mdmmd-tObe,' she re-
piled, pounding her plate with her SPOON |
thought Jack would not understand her word
for stove but he did, and expressed great
pride in my skill. Idon't think he is as proud
as | am of his learning to plow and told him
so. Last night a big empty house in the vii
lage was burned down-set on fire accident
ally by tramps, il is said We must be doubly
careful of fire-No fire-engines owned here
April l6-The Daily PrOtetLS sent Jack
twenty dollars last week for two editorials.
q how rich we felt! We Immediately bought
and set out LOT of fruit trees and shrubs, also
some evergreens and shade trees. | made Jack
hire man week to help him. There is an
Old neglected strawberry patch near the cot
tage, and three rows of raspberry bushes
have spent hours on my hands and knees pull
ing out grass roots and last years weeds from
these poor strawberries. Then i sprnkled
ashes over them, and from the first | have
poured all ray dish-water and soap-suds on
them; wonder if | shall have one strawberry?
April III have such trouble to make my
pretty little white LeghOrn hens sit They lay
all the time, and every few days one of them
will excite my hopes by pretending to sit
! give her a nest of eggs, and that seems to
Danish the last vestige of seriousness
in her intentions, and in a day or two | find
her laying again. L am told that this is feat
ure of the Leghorn fowl; very bad one.
think. y
''My good neighbors the wormleys moved to
the city to-day. We are sorry enough to lose
them. Jack spent nearly whole day helping
Mr. W. pack up his 'lares and penates, as he
said. Mrs. w. gave him some old chicken
coops, some much-needed farming tools, and
really good Observation-Disclosures butsohd,
and what much want. This Will be nee IN
our glest-chamber and by-and-by we will get
mattress and some bedding. With All our
poverty, though, we are able thank God, to
help others. Jack has helped another neigh
Dor, Mr. Hail. two orthree times, wher pressed
with his work, and have several times gone
over and helped Mrs. Hall with her washing,
for she is not well this spring, and she has
baby two months old.
april 20.-Our new neighbors the Pillsburys
moved into the WOrmley house to-day. had
some fresh bread baked, and kept thinking
ought to carry loaf to Mrs. Palsbury. 1t
seemed absurd too, but while Birdie slept put
Il loaf in a basket, covered it with snowy
napkin, and started Mrs. p. came to the door.
She had a towel on her head, and looked
very tired ! told her ] was her near
est neighbour and though by no means
a spiritualist, / had been possessed with
the idea that she wanted leaf of bread.
Her face beamed with pleasure. She said she
iCdS q spiritualist and that breadWas Just what
she most needed, as, in the confusion OF get
ting ready, the staff of life was forgotten. She
came out and chatted with me, and we agreed
to lose no time in getting acquainted. she is
almost as young as am, but has no children
nf fnI inc i'm "a
feathers all ru1fled up came in and settled her
self in corner behind a saw-horse. Mrs. z.
threw her out of doors. She told me that that
hen had preserved her mania Tor sitting all
through the journey. She was incorrigble. 1
timidly asked if | could borrow her, not
dreaming of anything but arefuSal to such an
odd request Mrs. Pillshury said l was well
come to her services. But will she sit |
asked, If taken to my placer Sit! exclaimed
Mrs. p. That hen will sit in pail of water,
do believe. In less than ten minutes that
Brahma hen was comfortably sitting on my
twelve duck eggs in the corner OF my wood
shed. How nice if they hatch! Jack says they
may be last years eggs for aught l know,
Commend me TO you, Muggins' foG faith! he
exclaimed, and then he had to play bear and
dsarrange my collar and my back hair. He is
always behaving like big boy
april 2l.-Our pease, planted some three
weeks ago, are looking lovely. Can it be pos
sibe that ] am to enjoy the delight Of prepar-
ing fresh, delicious green pease from my own
place? Dear mel do not get time to put down
the tenth of what we do here. How the
blessed time flies! When we first came we
spent almost whole day raking up leaves in
SQUARE hole Two FEET deep viii 5 the ID st fe
moved piled up in bank along the north side.
We danced on the leaves to pack them down,
drove down stakes around il. and this was our
hot-bed Two old sheets sewed together served
in place of sashes. Our neghbor Hall (Old
Classy, Jack and call him-sbort for CaSSan-
dra, because he is always predicting evil came
by as we were adding the final touches. He
mol rod hot
were all covered with earth. We told him
leaves, soap-suds garbage and boiler or two
of boiling water. %, you can't get any heat
without stable manure, said Old Classy. Some
days later, when Jacks seeds were all in the
bed, Classy went by and Jack pulled Their
mometer out of his hot-bed and showed it
standing at eighty degrees. He looked incredu-
lOus. Never did plants grow better in a hot
bed. We shall have lots of plants to sell. All
one end we devoted to sweet potatoes-plant-
ing whole bushel as close together as they
could lie.
May I've have christened our place
Mount Hope, because it is on a hill, and Hope
is one of our watch-words. We do not wish to
be rich; but please God that our honest, hard
work may give us the means to continue as
happy as we now arel l never was so happy
before. The ogre, the landlords agent who
used to come with such merciless promptitude
every month and take away our painfully
sayed-up earnings, can not enter here. A poor
tramp came to our door to-day. He wanted to
work, and we gave him some clothes.
May 2.-All day by spells I have been
out helping Jack make the garden. Inever
worked out-of-dOors before we came here. 1t
is inspiriting. The day was delicious. Birdie
toddled about, falling down every other min
ute, but always growing with delight. She is
the dearest little cherub in the world. Yester-
day Jack lay down on the lounge and fell
asleep. He had been up long before sunrise
and was tired. | was doing my work and
watching her She went about very softly, so
as not to wake papa. She was struggling with
all her little might, placing the chairs care
fully in Il row before the lounge so that papa
might not fall of.
May l0.-.Jack's hard work, instead of hurt
ing him, as | feared, is making new man of
him. He will not wear broad-brimmed hat.
lie wants 10 get brown, he says.
May lT.-Eureka! My ducks have Matched
at least seven of the twelve eggs. Almost
all our planting is done. The tramp that came
to us last month returned some days ago and
asked to stay and work for his board He
seemed honest and we could not refuse |
took Mrs. Pillsbury into my confidence and she
lent me some things to fix up a room for this
newcomer We call him our g. G. good
genius, because he is so handy and so helpful.
He took some big crates which he made him
self, filled them with sweet potato plants. and
carried them down to our one grocery store
and to our meat market. He expects that they
will sell at forty-five cents hundred.
MAY 1S.-Our garden grows apace We
have lettuce from our hot-bed, and also
radishes. We undertake everything, Jack and
l. when we first came we read how to plant
asparagus, and made bed, dug trench two
feet deep. filled the bottom with old boots
rubDers, straw, weeds, and every rubbish that
could decay. Above this "A load of stable
manure bought of Classy; then the earth, and
the plants We set down deep into this the other
day. JACK says we are capable OF stapner-
ing into anything AT last one of my Leg
hoEns dld seriously sit and gave her nine