St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-11-29

were to have for dinner and how il
was to be served, and that it should be
at half past two in order to give time
for an appetite. The little boys had
begged that there might be side-ta-
BILE for them, but Mrs. Peterkin was
not sure that she could grant an Gin
dividual" turkey for their table. She
thought better to have one large
eighteen-pound turkey to be carved
by Mr.. Peterkin himself. She had or
dered this already, a real Rhode Island
turkey; she hoped it was one of the
very turkeys she had seen feeding on a
rich farm on the Rhode Island shore
last summer.
But there came up difficult ques-
ton, that threatened to break up the
whole plan-and could they consent
to break up their planR
Mrs. Peterkin had ordered not only
the turkey, but her chickens, her
pumpkins, squashes, all her vegeta-
bles,-there was a special head of cell
cry growing for her, which the little
boys visited every day. She had even
laid in her nuts and raisins, and the
little boys had the promise of cracking
the nuts. The citron was bought, in
case they should decide to use citron
in the mince pie, the tongue and the
ham were ordered, and the currants
were concealed on an upper shelf of the
kitchen closet.
But serious trouble suddenly pre-
sented itself.
They had no family Who was
there whom they could invite9 Of
course there were a great many out
side people they could ask, but their
object was to start with a background
of family party. Now how could
they do this without Il familyg
Mr.. Peterkin had family tree. His
name went back to ancestors in Eng
land and Scotland of wellknown fam
lilies there, and he knew we'll that the
Peterses, the Petersons, the Pitkins all
claimed relationship with him. 1t was
large family with many complica-
tons. But these were all distant rela
tives whom he had never seen. In his
own personal family there was not
even a grandmother There was an
old grandaunt who lived with an elder
brother of Mr.. Peterkin, in Alaska.
But they could not send for the brother
at such distance, and he was laid up
with rheumatism, and Mr.. Peterkin
had not seen him for years. He had
no family but one married daughter
living with him. The grandaunt, too,
had been many years lame, and with
difficulty had been taken to Alaska and
had never left her nephew's house since
she reached it.
"But why have we not an uncle and
aunt in Vermont" asked Agamemnon,
"people generally do have one. 1t
seems singular that we have so many
relatives in England and Scotland and
none in Vermont, or New Hampshire
or Connecticut 2"
There had been an Aunt Eliza on
her mothers side, and an Aunt Eliza
beth on her fathers, for whom Eliza
beth Eliza had been named, but Aunt
Elizabeth had died in infancy and
Aunt Eliza was living in Texas on
ranch, with a married son. He had,
to be sure, large family, but none of
them had ever come East, besides
Aunt Eliza's address had been lost the
last time the family moved. Mrs. Pc
terkin was sure that the last letter from
Texas had been put in a certain draw
er, but the men had changed all the
drawers when they moved the book
case, and they never could find that
address, and how could they write
when th0y didn't know where to write
All this took place, of course, before
the Peterkin family went abroad, as
everybody knows they did. Mr.. Pc
terkin had always planned, when he
did go to Europe, to look up these re-
lations in England and Scotland. But
it is we'll known that the Peterkin
family went first to Egypt, and that
afterwards they became hopelessly
scattered, so that whether they could
ever again have an invited family of
only it's own members, is very much to
be doubted. Mr.. and Mrs. Peterkin
were last heard of in Kamschatka,
Elizabeth Eliza and her husband in ST.
IBERIA, Agamemnon in Madagascar, Sol
onion John, perhaps, Il victim to the
Bulgarian revolution, and the little
boys, one knows not where.
But of course no suspicion of all this
dawned at this time on the Peterkin
family. If it could have been suspect
ed it might have quelled any desire for
a Thanksgiving party, or any wish for
travelling abroad.
CATER we return from Europe"
said Mr.. .Peterkin, "we shall be in a
condition to invite our English and
Scotch relations, but we can hardly do
it now, since we do not know where
they are"
81 am afraid we shall have to give
it all up" said Mr.. Peterlin, chow can
we give Il family dinner, if we have no
family to invite 2"
eve can't give it up" said Mrs. Pc
terkin, ''for we have all the things"
awe might eat them in time" sug
gested the little boys.
"But we have declined the Brom
wicks' invitation" said Elizabeth Eliza.
81 told them that we were going to
have a large family dinner party, and
L think she has invited other guests in
our place."
of we could only have the lady from
Philadelphia, and her familyr ex-
claimed Mrs. Peterkin.
But the lady from Philadelphia was
going to spend the winter in Italy.
She had not, however, yet left, and
they wrote to explain their predica
ment.
She had time for only hurried
answer.
alt is singular" she replied, "that
you have none of your own name and
blood to invite. | am constantly
meeting with those who claim that
they are Just like the Peterkins', and
must be of their family"
"What docs she mean," exclaimed
Mrs. Peterkin. eff she would only
send us their names, we might invite
them"
81 suppose she had not time for
list" exclaimed Elizabeth Eliza.
They took the note to Ann Maria.
ssIf we cnnld only find ont w hn these |