Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1884-01-23
HULDY'S PUMPKIN PIES.

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As IIuldv Brown stood ut her kitchen
table, her white arms bare to the elbow
aud her hands. which were somcwha
red, employed Just then in deity mold
inc scallopcd piece of dough-edging OF
the edge of one of her celebrated pump
kin pies, she looked about as unhappy
n girl rs YOU could easily find. | hav,
said her celebrated pies" Not only
were they so, but they deserved to be
for was not Hubby the sole rcpositress o
the great recipe at the mention of which
the good housewives of Binghamtor
glanced at each other in despair Did
il not come to her from her grand
mother. old Mrs. Clemmer, Deacon
IIeZckiah Clcmmcr's wife. And was i
not whispered to Hubby rs the two sal
side by side, holding each others hands
in the darkcned kitchenP
Huldy's position as the guardian of q
great trust was recognized in the very
way i'm which these pies were spoken Of
They were not ''Huldy's pies" nor the
"Brown pies, nor even the ''Clemmel
Pies they were the jackson pies,
for old Mrs. Clcmmcr had got the
recipe from her grandmother, who was
almost one of the Pilgrims; and this
gave an almost religious flavor to the
delight of eating them.
No portion of her work was done by
Hubby with more care than the making
of them. The oven had to be just right;
the door must be open ut just the proper
time. | do not know what they were
of beyond the fact that to the pumpkin
was added sugar and spice, and all
things NICE as the old description of
the little girls has it; but they were
thick and sweet and brown on top, and
the crust was light, and they were
good.
In the days of which | writc-1S47-
the ability TO make such pies as Hubby
made was quite sufficient to give any
girl distinction among her fellows, and
TO go II long way towards giving her
popularity; but Hubby had other and
better claims to the position she I'M
doubleday held in the country village
that of one of the best loved girls there.
She was pretty, affectionate and very
kind to all; she would take any amount
of trouble for those she loved, and her
kindness was never appealed to in vain,
even when strangers were concerned.
She was smart, too; there were few
things in the list of accomplishments, or
"duties, as they were called then in
New England, that Hubby could not do
and do well. She kept her father S
house in such state of clearly neatness
that it was almost sin to muss things
up, or come in on those well scrubbed
floors with dirty boots, although it must
be confessed that to men folks this was
just Il triie irritating. 1t is we'll
known fact that men minds are in such
matters not well organized, and that
they rarely take that undisguised pleas
ure they should in them. But even if
Huldy's father did sometimes feel that
he would enjoy things better if she was
notquite so particular, he thought it was
crring in the right direction, and be-
You'd good-natured protest OCCASION
ally. said little. In short, Hubby Brown
was one of those dear, good girls of
whom our country has, and has had,
fortunately, not a few.
But, bless my soul, have left her
making that pie all this time, and what
is worse, for the pie has been finished,
! have left her looking unhappy. The
truth of the matter was that Hubby had
not been left all these years without
attention on the part of the young fell
lows of the place, and one of them, q
by the name of Sam Stevens,
had been looked upon by her, if not
with favor, ut least not with the reverse.
Things had been going on swimmingly
enough, until the Wednesday before,
when Hubby had gone to quilting
party with jim Furness, n young farmer
in the ncighborhood, of whom Sam
was MORALLY jealous. 1t was SANS
own fault partially, for he had not
asked her, although she had waited to
the last to give him q chance of doing
so; and yet not wholly his fault, for he
did not know he could go himself until
an hour before tho time to leave. Of
course he had not explained this to her
that was not to be expected, i suppose.
However, when he found he could 90,
he dressed himself and called at Huldy's
house only TO find that she had gone.
Very much irritated, although most
unreasonably so, Sam had at first re-
solved that he would not go at all, and
then thinking worse of IL instead of
better, had asked Miss Mchitable Smith,
who was glad enough to accept.
At the party he had been very devoted.
to his companion, and poor Hubby hadl
got angry. Thinking to herself that
two could play at that game, she had
laughed and joked with Jim Furncss
until Sam was completely out-generaled'
and was perfectlv unable TO conceal his,
chagrin and anger.
Somewhat scared ut her own success
Hubby had, later in the evening, made
overtures for reconciliation, but Sam
had rejected them angrily, and she,
conscious that he was quite rs much to-
blame as herself, had tried no more.
Bo il observed, that word of explana-
ton would have cleared everything.
Hubby did not know of the uncertainty
about Sans being able to come. and
he had chosen Mehitable in
preference TO herself.
Sam did not know that Hubby had
put Jim Furness off twice, waiting for
his invitation, and had only accepted
when she had given him up. Lacking
the explanation, the two went home
unhappy. Sam leaving first
and taking the unfortunate Mehitable
with him, while Hubby made herself
but agreeble to Jim. Since
lhat evening Sam had not been near
her. What made things worse was
that the Sunday evening after the quilt
ing had passed without his coming, and
that, too, when Hubby had been moral
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