Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1883-10-31
wOOL-PICkIN,s AND A PICNIC.

ny, Is that you, Mis- Manly?
Come IN, won't YOU? | wouldn't
a-knowed you but for your voice. SEEM
rs your bonnet is SO fur over your face,
an this ham a-fryin' does make sech
fumes around my head.''
Mis- Manly" stood in the doorway.
1t was dusk. She wore a long gray
bonnet of the kind known as Shaker. -
with voluminous skirt that wrapped
her figure like a comfortable mantle.
If you could have peeped like a star
within that bonnet, you would have
seen a tired, worn face, and eyes that
looked with something like envy into
the comfortable kitchen where Mis-
Hornlsh was frying bacon for ''his"
supper. in this western country the
shy matrons always speak of their hus-
bands as ''he.")
Its so late can't STOP" said Mis-
Manly. Il just dropped round to say
l was tryin' 10 git up wool-pickin' for
10 morrow, an TO see il you am Deb
would come"
Debby Hornish was busy at the
irOning-table, pressing out a white skirt
with an overSkiTt and three ruffies; but
she stopped a moment, pushing back
the little black rings of hair from her
rosy brow, to say:
Why, Mis- Manly, what pityl I'd
have helped you with all the pleasure
i'll life; but there's the picnic! What
ever possessed sou to have the WOOL
pickin' the same day?"
Amt it just my iuck?n cried the
widow. You see, I've been kind o.
slack about my wool, an yeStiddy
mornin' Mr.. SimlinS said if I'd have
it ready agin Thursday, that he'd take
it i'll to Mulkytown and sell it for me.
It's the only chance III get to send 1t
OFF; and wool is up now TO 30 cents IN
money, and % in trade; so L just felt as
if | must get it out tomorrow, come
what might
How many have promised to comet"
well, you see, this picnic spolls
everything. L could a-got 10 or ~,
and we could a-finished it up before
noon. But everybody was plum crazy
about this picnic. L amt got the
promise of more'n five ladies. an you
know that amt no show at all to pick
out the wool of II sheep, am 1t seems
like my sheep was always the dlrtlest
shecp-an' the fondest o. brambies and
brier-h -hedges-of any in the country"
Here Mis- Manly let few tears tall;
mild as the rain OF drilling day, and
quite as depressing.
lit is too bad Tor anythlng!" cried
Mrs Hornish, with hearty sympathy,
IN come over, of couse; but Deb, you
know couldn't give up the picnic.
Law no, it couldn't he expected;
I'm powerful glad to haveyou. "fouH
come early, won't youI"
III be bound that get over before
you have your dishes done up, SAID
Mrs Hornlsh. with a jolly laugh.
The widow Manly took her sad face
home; the supper was dlshed; ne
came i'll from the wheat field; ana the
white dress was finished and fluted; put
somehow Debby Hornish did not feel
quite happy.
''She did look so pftiful, - she thought,
recalling the pinched little face under
the sun-bonnet. Il should have been
SO glad to have helped her," ,
In truth, the poor, complaining Httie
woman needed help a good many ilnies
i'll the course of the year. ne nao
been killed in a mill where he worheo
some five years before, leaving 10 lns
wife four children, small farm, e"
sheep, and COW; all OF which sue
managed as well as her load OF fears,
agitations, and chillS allowed. Ihey
all had chills, poor things; they hau
given up the doctor as VAIN luAuIs;
but they bought quinine and caloneI
by the pound, and worked ON dlslliaiiy
between the shakes. A wool-picAle
was one of the hardest -'chores" OIL liio
year.
Are there any of my city-bred young
folks who don't know what Mooi
picking isl 1t is a care1ul pi0hns
over of the wool after 1t mas peen
sheared TO free it from burrs, praihpio;
berries, Spanish-needles, dry mud, anu
dead insects that a lively sheep VIII
collect in his rambles through the "oriu.
Further north the sheep are taken W
sparkling running stream, ana wen
washed before they are clipped; put III
the stagnant. coffee-colored creeks Vi
the West this would be useless ceio
mony.
Not half-a-dozen in the county ~
help that foolish little woman, " tnouenS
Deb, wrathfully, why couldn't sno
have had her wool-pickin' a week ago.
AT any other time there WOULD nahe ave
been no lack of neighbors TO neiP .ns
widow in her need; but everybody Ma'
taken up with the picnic. III tne nIaas- n
work-day life of these people, lew pioa
ures arise; and in all the farm nou IL
through the six-mile and the nileIn shnmt
prairie this picnic had been taikeo 'o0"'
for month of Sundays.
They were going in buggies, wa, ,s'ddy
and on foot; were to fish in Blg,MuuHy s!
creek; to gather wild roses ana Sar,, piaon
berries; to light fire in the "tilnGe, .;ans
so they called the wooded poItionf0 paf
Of the Hat country-and make not co'