Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1888-10-08
Mrs. Symingt0n's Bargain.

All women, we are told, have their
weaknesses, and Mrs. Stanhope Sym
ington was china maniac. as are
most people to some degree IN the
aesthetic nineteenth century OF the
world. She would prowl in second
hand stores, penetrate into the cav
ernous recesses of tenement houses,
drive long distances into the country
to old homesteads where she had
heard vague rumors concerning s'far-
ing blue" sold green glaze" "but-
terfy Yellow and "genuine old India
wares" She would remorselessly
turn the choicest pieces of modern
bric-a-brac from her tables to make
way for spoutless tea-pots, cracked
bowls, and noiseless jugs. She
crowded her drawing-room with
brackets, shelves and cabinets for
the accommodation of ancient plates,
wnlcn she called 'eplaques, and
pitchers which she re-christened
"vases.''
Mr.. Symington, meek little man
with limp yellow-white hair, a fiat
nose and colorless eyes, like dim
glass marbles, began to find it no
slight task to make his way through
his own house without breakage OF
misfortune.
81 wish there was not such thing
as old china in the world,' he lament
ed, upon one particular occasion, af-
ter he had knocked a handleless cup
from a tripod draped with olive vel
vet.
"Stanhope,' reproved his wife. not
without severity, 'would you retard
the progress of modern civilization?
This cup, fragile as it may seem, rep
resents an era in decorative history"
"Well, it won't represent it much
longer" observed Mr.. Symington, as
he gathered up the fragments, with
something very like vindictiveness in
his faded eyes.
"But, Stanhope," cried his wife,
"what are you going to do with those
pieces?"
ssThrow them into the ash-barrel,
of COURSE" said Mr.. Stanhope, spir-
itlessly.
But Mrs. Symington rescued them
from his grasp with spirit of appre
hension.
care you mad, my dear?" she
calculated. 81 can mend them with
a little cement, and a great deal of
time; and even then | wouldn't take
$40 for this exquisite cup. And |
have been thinking, Stanhope ="
"Well, my DEAR said the luckless
iconoclast, looking dolefully at his
finger, which had been cut with one
of the pieces OF broken crockery,
"what have you been thinking?'
'sThat L should like to go up into
Maine next week. said the lady, in
sinuatingly.
ssInto Maine? In midwinter?"
echoed the amazed spouse, opening
the dim eyes very wide indeed.
ssTo see Aunt Grizzel,' explained
Mrs. Symington-''my aunt Grizzel
Grumpton, you know, at Wild Riv-
err
"Humph p remarked Mr.. Sym
ington, bandaging his finger with his
pocket handkerchief. 81 didn't know
that you cared so very particularly
about your Aunt Grizzel !"
''My DEAR" said Mrs. Symington,
merging her speech into a mysterious
whisper, GIVE just remembered-all |
of a sudden, as it were-that she had |
a set of very old-fashioned blue Chi
ma. She must have. 1t belonged to |
her mother before her; and how I've |
forgotten it all this time Pm sure |
can't imagine. Even now | should |
not have recalled it to my memory, l |
suppose, if / hadn't CHANGED to see
Mrs. Hepburn's afternoon tea yester-
day, the darling little egg-shell cups,
with bridges and pagodas and willow
trees all over 'em, exactly such as
Aunt Grizzy's mother used to have.
And then it came to me like flash
of lightning-Aunt Grizzel's china?
''Probably it's all broken by this
time,' gloomilv suggested her hus-
band.
"Nonsense !'' said Mrs. Syming
ton, briskly. ssAunt Grizzy never
broke anything in her life. She is
carefulness itself; and up there in
Maine, you know, they don't have
clumsy mattresses to fling things
about. No, no; you may depend
that she has it all safe and sound in
one of those odd three-cornered cup
boards of hers. A treasure, Stan
hope, perfect treasure. Money
wouldn't buy such set as that;
hundred years old, if it's day. So,
if you don't mind, my dear, I'll just
run up to Maine and see about it.
.'Do as you please, Arabella," said
Mr.. Symington, resignedly. He
knew that Mrs. Symington generally
did as she pleased, and he saw no es-
pecial advantage in debating the
question.
"Thanks, dear; so kind of you p
uttered Mrs. Symington. ''And of
course l can't go to the polar regions
entirely unprotected, SO I'll order one
of those comfortable seal dolmans
that everybody is wearing now, and
a new plush hat with cluster of os-