Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1885-03-09


come up yon now.''
They passed through the porch into
a large square :seating room with
a wide old fireplace, more beds,
more clothes, more pictures from
Cooley and the Police Gazette, the
additional features being sewing
machine, and suspended from beam
overhead, an almost interminable row
of sun-bonnets, of every hue under
heaven. From this room flight of
steps, devoid of banisters, led ''up at
tic'' where were stored great piles of
dried ssyerbs," strings of onions and
peppers, bed-quilts, home-spun coun-
terpanes, several pairs of huge bro
gans, and two or three battered old
trunks. Martha Jane approached
one of these reverently and raised
the lid; the ,,pow'rful fine frock,"
however, was not on top, and her
solemnity relapsed into shrewdness.
'sThis yere's the bes' piece of
homespun | ever made,'' she said,
spreading the goods out on the ladies'
| laps, San hits plum the prettiest
piece made in this settlement, too, eff
I do say it; I'd sell it cheap to you
uns-blue an yaller-hit's kind of
quiet-like, an nd look pow'rful nice
for preachers wife, or might hap
pen that ar tow-headed young feller
down stairs 'ud like to buy it fer you;
l seed he was sweet .on you afore he
got you outen the hack
sMarthy Jane! You Marthy Yere
it, half hour to dinner an that ar
chicken amt even dead You must
not pay no 'tention to me-" added
Aunt Fanny as the three appeared at
the head of the stairs, s'but eff Mar
thy Jane don't pearten up an thrash
round yere lively thar amt goin' to
be no dinner, an men folks 'thout
dinner is wussen wild steers
AS the ''men folks had gone out
to explore the country the four wom-
en- went into the kitchen together.
A stove, a long table, and an enor-
nous fireplace were here, a few spark
of fire visible on the hearth among
the ashes.
SIT amt luck to have the fire on
the hearth 60 out, said Aunt Fanny,
vigorously sitting flour into the bread
tray, ''that thar fires ben a burnin'
sense Marthy Jane was baby"
"Marthy' Jane here entered with
the devoted chicken squawking in her
hands. She wrung its head off calm
ly and tossed it out of doors, drop
ping the chicken on the kitchen floor,
where it topped aimlessly while Mar
tha Jane poured little hot water into
tin pan. Then she picked up the
headless chicken, stilled it's last quiv-
ers in the boiling water, picked it,
/ cleaned it and cut it up. Hereupon
Aunt Fanny took the neck, back
J drumsticks and feet and laid them il
5 round pan with little water. Hel
2 visitors were growing interested an6
e positively held their breath as she
A took the dingy dough from the tray
e rolled it thin and pulled it thinner
4 and plastered ii with hard working o.
u her knuckles all around the sides o
the pan-each little square of dough
being carefully fitted, snd stuck to 1t.
neighbor few loose pieces were
thurst down amid the CORY pieces o
: chicken and the whole was put int
n the oven as q pot-pie. The rest o
L the dough was converted into biscui
P that turned out to be positively black
s while the rest of the chicken was pu
n into pan with a little water and Sc
q in the stove to fry In addition tt
b these viands the table was set witt
: fresh raw tomatoes, delicious greer
S corn, honey, peach pie-an unspeak
S able concoction which Aunt Fam
q especially recommended as having
: power of sugar in it-fresh butter
milk and yillalnous coffee. Th
: preachers wife asked for some water
: ssLa, woman p exclaimed Aun
e Fanny, "what'n yearth are you goin
y to do with water p
@ "Why, I'm going to drink it, Aun
I Fanny"
u s'Drink water when thar's butter
II milk. an coffee settin right afore We
Il Wal, / never see a gal do that yit =
" ssBut she's eatin' corn bread 'stea,
s O. them biscuit said Martha Jane
n who though waiting on the tabl
!. stood munching corn vigorously
O "She's like me. / takes corn brea,
t every time-none O. your -four doin'
e inside O. me p
s ''Marthy James fond O. corn il
: whatsomever shape," said Aunt Fan
II ny, but she can't more'n half eat
i. on the cob--her front teeth's gone
D but she's that set in her ways sh
4 says as she's goin' ter hev them snag
IL pulled out an hev new ones in"
S can will too,'' she answered
d ''Pm plum sick and tired of havin
n no front teeth. A woman over th
mountain-she had hern pulled an
d everybody told her hit would kill he
o she's sight oldern me-but whel
II she felt the chill comm on, she tuI
/, a good drink O. corn whiskey an
s went ter bed, an she got well, an
1T she amt dead yit, neither
II "Weli, you uns git along now,
:, said Aunt Fanny. 81 see you's e
oil 4