New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1886-11-24

that had such capac' ties as hers. tits
a Yankee thanksgivin' breakfast-sau-
sages an fried potatoes, an buckwheat
cakes an slrup-maple sirup, mind ye,
for father has his own sugar bush and
there was big run o. sap last season.
Mother says :Ezry an Amos. won't
you never get through eatin? Wewant
to clear off the table, for there's pies
to make, an nuts to crack, and laws
sakes alivel the turkeys got to be
stuffed yit! Then how We all fly
round. Mother sends Helen up into
the attic to get a squash while Mary's
maxim the pie-crust. Amos and l
crack the walnuts-they call 'em
hickory nuts out in this pesky country
of sage brush and pasture land. The
walnuts are hard and it's all we can
do to crack 'em. Ev'ry once n a while
one on 'em slips outer our fingers an
goes dancin' over the floor or flies into
the pan Helen is squeezin' pumpkin in
to- through the col'nder. Helen
says we're shif'less an good
for nothin' but frivolin'; but moth
er- tells US how to crack the
walnuts SOS not to let 'em fly all over
the room, an SOS not to be all jam
med to pieces like the walnuts was
down at the party at the Peasleys'
last winter. An now here comes Try
phena Foster, with her gingham gown
an muslin apron on; her folks have
gone up to Anhurst for thanksgivin',
an Tryphena has come over to help
our folks get dinner. She thinks a
great deal of mother, cause mother
teaches her Sunday-school class an
says Tryphena oughter marry
missionary. There is hustle every
where, the rattle OF pans an The clat-
ter of dishes, an the new kitch n stove
begins to warm up an git red till Hell
en- loses her wits an is fustered, an
SEE she never could git the hango that
stoves hampers.
can now" murmured Ezra, gently,
as a tone of deeper reverence crept
into his voice, II can see father sittin'
all by himself in the parlor. Fathers
hair is very gray and there are wrinkles
on his honest old face. He is lookin'
through the winder at the Holyoke
hills over yonder, and l can guess he's
thinkin' of the time when he wuz a boy
like me an Amos, an useter climb
over them hills an kill rattlesnakes
an hunt partridges. Or doesn't his
eyes quite reach the Holyoke hills?
Do they fall kind o. lovingly but sad
~ on the little buryin' ground jest
beyond the village-ah, father knows
that spot, an he loves it, too, for
there are treasures there whose mem
DRY he wouldn't swap for all the
world could give. So, while there is
a kind o. mist in fathers eyes, can
see he is dreamin'-like of sweet an
tender things, and communin' with
memory-hearin' voices I never heard,
an feelin' the tech OF hands never
pressed-an' SEEM fathers peaceful
face find it hard to think of a thanks
glvin' sweeter than fathers is.
The pictur' in the freight changes
now" said Ezra, "an' seems as if
wuz in the old frame meetin' house.
The meetin' house is on the hill, and
meetin' begins at half pas 10. Our
pew is we'll up in front-seems as If
could see it now. 1t has long
red cushion on the seat, and in
the hym-book rack there is a
bible an a couple of psalmo-
dys. We walk up the isle slow, and
mother goes in first, then comes Mary,
then me, then Helen, then Amos, and
then father. Father thinks it is lest
as well to have one o. the girls set in
between me AN Amos. This meetin'
house is full, for every body goes to
meetin' thanksgivin' day. The minis
ter reads the proclamation an makes
a prayer, an then hegives out a psalm
an we all STAN up an turn round an
join the choir. Sam Merritt has come
up from Palmer to spend thanksgivin'
with the OF folks, an he is singin' ten
or to-day in his Old placein the choir.
Some folks say he sings wonderful
well, but l don't like Sans voice.
Laura sings soprano in the choir, and
Sam stands next to her an holds the
book.
"Seems as if could hear the minis
ter's voice, full of earnestness an mel
ody, comm from away up in his little
round pulpit. He is tellin' us why we
should be thankful, an, as he quotes
scriptur' an DR.. Watts, we boys WON
der how anybody can remember so
much OF the bible. Then get nervous
and worried. Seems to me the minis
ter was never comm to lastly, and
find myself wonderin' whether Laura
is llstenin' to what the preachin' is
about, or is writin, notes to Sam Mer-
rift in the back of the tune book. 1
get thirsty, too, and Ifidget about till
father looks at me and mother nudges
Helen and Helen passes it along to
me with interest.
can then," continues Ezra in his
revelry, "when the last hymn is given
out an we stan up agin an join the
choir, l am glad to see that Laura is
singin' outer the book with Miss Hub
bard, the alto. An goin' out o. meet
in kind OF edge up to Laura and ask
her if | kin have the pleasure of seem
her home.
can now we boys all go out on the
common to play ball. The Enfield
boys have come over, and, as all the
Hampshire county folks know, they