The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1888-01-06
A GRATEFUL SAVAGE.
H+y Great Grandmother's New
Years Caller.

'N'-''' N'SiJ Nii'u ulS grand
mother but not many have Il
grcat-grandmothcr--a grandmother's
mother. | have, and she is the dearest
Old lady in the world.
She wears black gown. n little
whtc muslin handkerchief over her
shou.ucrS, and IA white lace cap over
her crown false front, that all old
ladies used To wear.
She has fine gray eyes, and nice
tecth--all her own. too-and is ninety
years old. She reads the papers. and
knows all that is going on; and worries
over the accidents just as much as if
her own folks were i'll them.
She Is, fond of politics, for she and
grand1ather-dcad this thirty YEAR
used to keep IL roadside tavern, where
all the famous lawyers stopped on
their way to II, where the county
court was held Daniel Webster had
stopped at the tavern, and many other
distinguished men.
Grandma loves to tell Of those DAYS
White she hnits in the freight. She
moves her needles rs swift as MAJ
chine, aud can knit in the dark. She
taught me to knit. too; but think she
found stupid pupil. though she never
said SO. She docs all kinds of knitting:
scars, mittcns, wriSterS and stockings,
aud when She was young she used TO
weave, and made her own linen for
sheets and bedding when she was mar
rieI.
Once grandma visited Boston; only
thirteen she was, yet remembers every
detail! of her visit. Her uncle, an ex-
Governor gave grand balls and par
ties, and the shy little country girl had
n glimpse Of the fine manners and gay
life OF Boston ; old aristocracy
But she loved the country best. and
married a ncighbor's son, and went
with him to an unbrOken forest
way up in the north of Maine, and
lived pioneer life in all its hardships
of want and cold
She hid eight children, and made
every stitch of their clothing. as we'll
as hey husbands. and taught them,
too There was no schoo!-housc near,
and her only book was the Bible, and
out of this they learned to read and
spell. She had all the work farmers
wife must do, and fancy knew little
rest. There are few such workers
nowadays.
Graudma's best stories arc about In
dians. There were rowing bands of
them in Maine fifty and sixty years
ago, and some times they were not
peaceably disposed. especially when
farms were isolated and far from
neigEbors' help. How many times
they pIundcrcd and burned, and how
many families they murdered and
scalpcd, will never be known; for who
could tell. in the depths of forest,
what blackened clearing mcantP |
1t might be only place burned by |
those mysterious forest fires; who was
to know it was the ashes of a once
happy home9
a few years ago grandma was down |
Co our house ON her regular winters |
visit. and she found us girls much eX-
cited about New Years calls In n !
small country town, few people receive
calls on New Years Day, and mother
had not done SO since we were too
little TO remember. The last day of
the old year we were talking with
grandma in the hour before tea, when
it was TOO Clark to read or sew, and too
light for lamps. OF course grandma
was knitting, this time a big pair of
for an old man that used To I
saw wood for us. Grandma had no.
ticcd his mttens were ragged. and
finding he had no one to care for
him, took it upon herself. and gave
HIM three pairs of good yarn stock
ings before she went away and he
said:
''Now marin, you be one OF the good
sort. the Lord reward
ye.
"You never heard about my New
Years caller, did you. girls?' said
grandma
No. we cried, eagerly.
WAS it in Boston, at the Gov
crnOy' s?' asked Jen.
ut must have been grand there
said Mamie, half-ehyiously.
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