St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1886-04-03
A FAMILY MYSTERY.
What My Grandmother's Black
Stone Jar Contained.

J" udG MY C1TduOLuOLu0I 3 0I6C6
Stone Jar Contained
When my Grandfather Ryse died.
grandmother came to live at our house.
She was my mothers mother, and the
only grandmother my brothers and sis
ters and 1 had ever had. Fathers
mother died long before any of us were
born. We We're very glad to have
Grandmother Ryse come and live with
us. Her husband had died in dis
tant State. and mother had gone at
once to bring grandmother to our
house. l remember with what eager
ness we children made ready to meet
mother and grandmother on their re-
turn.
We lived in the country. and father
had said that all of us might 60 to town
with him. as it was in the fall of the
year, and there was not much to do at
home. There were six of us. beside
father, to climb into the big farm
wagon, and ride five miles to the
railroad station. We saw mother come
out of the car first, and behind her was
little old lady, dressed in black. In
her arms she carried black stone jar.
Its mouth was covered with a clean
white cloth, tied down smooth and
ight with many rounds of cord.
What can she have in that jar?"
asked my -brother. JEFF of me, before
grandmother had reached us, with her
r,,c;~,t k.Iy2xx, 10, l1gss orI 1o,. hiss ~
each of our mouths.
1T can't be mince-meat," said JEFF.
with hallff-he half hopeful leek, fer JEFF was
snordinately fond of mince-pies, and
mother had often said:
''Wait until grandma comes to see
as, and she'll make you some mince-
pies that are mince-pies." But no
mince-pies ever came out of that jar.
Grandmother had insisted on its be-
ing put on the seat beside her, and she
kept her eyes on it all the way home.
.May be it's full of money!" said
sister Katie: and for long time after
that we children were all very respect
full to the jar, under the impression
that Katie's surmise had been correct.
Grandmother had the jar carried up
TO her room and put on high shelf in
her closet. We heard mother say onoe
that grandmother was verv poor. and
that damaged Katie's theory of the jar
being filled with money. We asked
mother one day if she knew what was
in the mysterious jar.
20, not much of anything" she said.
with great Indifference. lit is an old
family relic and l suppose grandma
wants to keep it. remember seeing
it when was little girl" But this
answer did not satisfy six curious boys
and girls.
Grandmother Ryse lived at our house
two years, and then went to stay a year
with my aunt in Colorado and the jar
went with her. packed carefully in the
center of her feather tick. for Grand
mother Ryse had horror of new
tangled things in the way of hair and
spring mattresses. and would sleep on
feathers only. When she came home
from Colorado, we children all assem-
'bled to meet her at the station. and we
saw that jar coming out of the car door
almost before we saw grandma herself.
''Them keerless Murray boys forgot
to pack it in with my feathe-bed." She
said; land I had no idee or leaving a
good jar like that, so l Jest brung it
along in the car with me-
jeff whispered to me. and said he
would as soon travel with Young pig
as with jar like that But we would
all have been glad to see our Jolly old
grandmother, even though she travelled
with whole pottery. The Murray
boys. who had forgotten to pack grand
mothers jar. were our cousins, and
few weeks later one of them wrote this
to me:
What do you suppose grandmother keeps
IN that old black jar Brother Sam and
grandmother don't like inquisitive people,
and she is so particular about her things
sam tried to climb up to high shelf to peep
INTO the jar once. and fell down and nearly
broke his head. If you and JEFF and out
wnat Is in the jar. you let US know.
wrote that We would, but despaired
of ever getting peep into the jar, for
mother had long ago forbidden us to
go into grandma's room. unless she in
vited us there. Once when she had
called us all in, to show us some old
pictures of grandfather, and had given
us all sweet anise and cardamon seeds,
asked. in my most insinuating tone:-
grandmother. what is in that fun
NY old black jar up there?''
My brothers and sisters all pricked
up their ears, but grandmother simply
gave merry little laugh, and said:
Snaps and snails
And little dogs tails.
Grandmother was fond of travelling,
and the next spring she went to New
Jersey to spend six months with a son
who lived there. And that jar went
with her. 1t came home with her in
the fall and was restored to its place on
the closet shelf in her room. The next
March grandmother went up to Min
nesota to spend the summer with her
youngest daughter.