Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1883-08-23
A PATCHWORK OF LIFE.
A Quilt Made Of Pieces Which Tell Stories
Of Bygone Years.
From the Chicago News.

From the Chicago News.
A Chicago lady has a quilt filled with
both delightful and sorrowful stitches.
The border is made up of some grave
shades. THAT one" she said, pointing
it out, lis made from samples of the
dresses which my mother and my grand
mothers put on after the death of their
husbands. That one is from the burial
dresses of my husbands mother. The
one on the end made up of pieces, sent
me from Scotland, of an old friend of
LILY mother, who was twice divorced.
The pieces represent the dresses worn
by her during her trouble and her free
dom. 1t is about as checkered as was
her life. The other one is made up en-
tirely from samples of the attire worn
by friends of mine, who laid down in
them for the last time" Here she went
over the catalogue of names, telling how
each one had died and where each was
buried.
Between these borders and the patch
work proper were four rows of strips
, two OF white satin-from her wedding
dress, and two from her "second days"
| dress. The patchwork proper was
what had interested her most, and
caused her much trouble and vexaticn.
This had come about not only on ac-
count of the difficulty in procuring what
| she wanted, but in the harmonious
| blending of the same after she had Sc
| cured her memoirs. These patches arc
| from the cravats and neckties of her old
lovers and admirers, and those of few
of her girl friends. The story of one of
these is that the ''wearer of that, point
ing out n crimson block, ''was at Fort
| Sumter when the flag of the Union went
down under the bombardment from
Moultrie. He wore the tie at the time
from which this is TAKEN Another
was from the tie of the first man who
had proposed to her. ''He Is in South
America now very rich," she added, in
a sort of half regretful manner.
There is another which was struggled
through the lines during the war from q
drummer boy, who went out with the
10th Illinois regiment. 'He was
sweetheart of mine," she said, ''and his
death remains mystery. We know he
went out to battle, but he never came
back, and singular, or perhaps not sing
| ular, no one could ever tel where, when
or how he was killed or where he was
| buried"
There is little patch cut from era
vat worn by Abraham Lincoln on the
evening after his nomination in Chicago
for the presidency Il obtained that"
said the lady, ''from Mrs. Lincoln my
self, and here is one from the neckiic of
Stephen A. Douglass, one from that
of j Ohm &. Breckenridge and one from
John Bell. You know they were all
candidates the same year. Having re-
tanned the same sample from Mr.. Lin
| coins necktie 1 wrote to each of the
| others what WANTED and each one COM
Piled in autograph letters. You may be
sure that prize the collection.
She pointed out samples from the ties
worn by several sweethearts of con. mon
place note; of the one her husband wore
when he popped the question:" of the
one he had on when she gave him an
answer; of the one he wore the evening
OF their marriage, and, woven in with
these, were samples from the ''chokers"
OF The minister who tied the knot and of
the "best men" present.
'Do you see that -pink-with n
cross worked in 1t with blue silkp II is
very small. Well, that cross was put
in there by young fellow whom used
to like awfully well. am not sorry /
married the man did, but if the other
one had spurred himself up bit would
have taken him. He worked the cross
in there one day himself and sent Tito
me, on the square upon which YOU see
it, by my little girl, and l havcT never
heard of him since.
That one! Oh, yes; that was from nv
old family physician, and the one which
you have rightly surmised is turned
wrong side out is from new tie worn
by my husband on the occasion of our
first quarrel after marriage. No.
didn't keep up those samples" she said.
with merry twinkle of the eye. "be-
cause, you see, he didn't have enough
neckties."
She spread the work out on the floor.
and looked Mt its patches as woman
would. told few more stories about the
combinations, and, rolling up the spread.
throw 1t in corner, and brushed some
thing out of her eyes, and then laughed
aloud and almost hystericallv