The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-02-25

Don't you ever say such awful
things again. cried sister Mary; iii
makes me sick to think of it!''
'.Such things have been DONE" said
jeff, stontly, sand I wouldn't be a bit
surprised f.
But Mary and Kate had fled from the
ROOM, and JEFF threw himself down on
the feather-bed and laughed.
One of U cousins in Minnesota
wrote to me and asked:
that black jar? Ma says she has no idea
what 10 in It, and the cousins in New Jersey
wrote and asked us II grandma had brought
JEFF and I and our two older sisters
were along in our teens now, but u
interestin that jar did not abate in Che
least.
'It's just one of grandma's whims,"
said mother one evening. "Yo1 know
grandma is old and childish, as most
people of her age are apt to be. 1 m
sure l don't care how many old jars
she has," For five years we discussed
the probable contents of that jar, which
came and went with grandmother in
all her ~journeyings to and fro. She
had eight children, all married, and
living in different States, and she Wis
tied all of her children in those five
years, and the jar went with her.
Her box was delayed for two month 8
once on a Western railroad line, and
she wrote to my mother:
my box Is not here yet, and I am having
to sleep on one of them. nasty hair-mat.
without that jar. I do hope nothing win
happen to II"
After that we felt more confident than
ever that the jar contained hidden
teasures, and most of our thirty-hve
cousins were also of this opinion. They
had all seen the jar-the outside Of it
only. Some Of us. great boys and girls
in our teens, had lain awake nights
wondering what could be in that jar,
but I am glad to remember, now that
we are all men and women, that we
had too much generation for grand
mother, and too much respect for our
selves, to pry into her secret, if secret
It was, by opening the jar. Even the
Murray cousin who NEARLY broke his
head falling from grandma's closet
shelf, Indignantly denied that he had
any idea of opening the jar. BE. said
he simply intended to ''.shake it and
smell of it," and he felt that his tum-
BILE was a just punishment for even this
lack of respect to grandmother. At
the end Of the five years, grandmother
was visiting in Kansas. My brothers
and sisters and were sitting around
the fro evening in November,
talking about the Jar and wishing il
and grandma were both in our home
again. We were now all firm in the
conviction that the jar contained val,
uables that might be u some day Il
we were good enough to deserve them.
Our cousins all shared this belief. W.
had heard Of stranger things, and
grandfather and grandmother had both
been noted for their eccentricities.
While we were sitting around the fire,
father came home from town with {
a letter for me-. II was from one of my
Kansas cousins. The letter was Ions
and ''newsy," and added to it was thfi
aggravating and exciting postscript,
"Grandmother's black jar fell down ant
ali to share It's contents sanaiiy Just ID ",
thought. Am writinF IN 4 big hurry, q
We were SO excited that we could no
sleep that night, and were fairly fu
rious with Cousin Ben for ending hi
letter so abruptly. Even father ant
mother were interested now, and I sa
down and wrote to Ben to write s.im
mediately at once" and tell us what tn,
jar contained. JEFF and I feared thai
there was a conspiracy on foot to rol
us of nj rightfu1 share of the iar'sc con
tents, and there were other cousins wht
lay awake that night thinking the sam
thing, for Ben had sent postals or let
tiers with postscrips to all the othe
cousins, telling them what he had toll,
us, and no more. A whole weel
dragged away, and then jeff and
wrote a saucy letter to Ben. Jei
thought | had better intimate that j
would be impossible to defraud us, an,
suggested that I say something abou
securing legal advice if Ben did no
write at once, and tell us what that ia
contained.
Ben wrote. A postal came thre day
after I had mailed the second letter
Over the postal was scrawled In blu
ink;
y was her old herb jar for her camomil,
soulI How do you wish yours sent?''
The stately household. legend wa
ruined. Things are beautiful to men
ory only by fine association, and so
was compelled to drop the jar out 9
our poetic family mysterieseYouM
Companion.