Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1889-12-13

esting and exciting events which oc
Cured in the "old homestead" VIZ
will now have to come to the seat O
the family operations for the next
two hours, atleast. The dining hall
1T was much more than room, was
capable of holding over one hundred
and fifty, and the table, n massiv,
one of solid mahogany, would
comfortably seat an even hun
dred; the chairs were quaint
old-tlme, straightforward ores, ir
which we were compelled to sit up
right.
In the center of the table was q
platter holding the largest specimen
of the gobbler kind that it was pos
sible to find amid the plentiful supply
on the farm; celery, cranberries, tarts
yell, krullers, rolls of golden but.
ter, plates of snow-white bread, and
OF good, appetizing brown bread,
were scattered over the long expanse
OF fine homespun damask, my grand
mothers wedding present from her
grandmother. 1t is utterly beyond
my power of memory torccall hall of
the tempting viands which were
placed before us.
The summons came from bright
little colored boy, whose grand
parents had been in our family for
years, as servants. His melodious
voice called, "Massa, de dinner am
all ready, and heaps of good things. !"
Our beloved grandfather, over whose
head the three score years and ten
had long since passed, led the party:
the bride and groom cousins followed.
then came the oldest son and his wife,
the next, and so on until we came to
dear little Dot" the pet of the whole
circle, and whose merry laugh broke
over her face as ripples over the sur
face of Il tiny brooklet.
After we were all seated, Just one
hundred and one, little Dot" being
the odd one, our heads were reverend
~ bowed as grandpa asked bless
ing to rest upon the food of which we
would partake, and upon all the dear
ones who were gathered around the
ample board" The dinner was a
merry one, and we all were on the
qui vive for the arrival of the plum
pudding, the acme of excellence in
the culinary line. 1t did come
at length, and all we saw
was the pudding and somebody's
propelling forces, for the butler was
entirely lost sight ofbehind the struc-
ture. There is legend in our tamil
~ that whoever finds n gold ring in
his or her piece OF pudding will be the
happiest for the next year. For fui-
~ hve minutes deep silence pervad-
ed the atmosphere as each one was
busily engaged in trying to find the
ring. Suddenly little "Dot" piped.
Use dot wing, in my take, see,
e aDpa, see" and sure enough our
darling was the favored one. We
did not leave the table until almost
four O'Clock. The remainder of the
afternoon was spent by the children,
masquerading in the attic; by the
young people in games; and by the
elders III talking of their past and
our future.
AS night wasslowly dropping her sa-
Die mantle over the happy world, we
assembled for prayers" GRANDPA
ther was ready with the old fumily BIZ
BILE on his knee, between whose lids
there is the record of the births and
deaths in the family ever since in
Cromwell S time. The one hundred
and iorty.eighth Psalm was read,
then prayer was offered to our heav-
emily Father for his watch-care over
us, his goodness and mercy to us, his
loving kindness bestowed upon us.
and his love given us before time was.
AS we parted to our homes it was
with the feeling that this might be the
last time we should see the dear old
couple alive, and so it proved to be.
Grandma passed away peacefully,
with q heavenly smile on her lips, and |
glad light on her face, as ifshe were
meeting some of the dear ones gone
before. Grandpa could MOTIVE with
out her, and not long ago we were
to the old homestead, to
ny him, whom we SO revered, away:
10 hear the minister say, "Dust to
lust, and ashes to ashes" and close
With the grand assurance. ''in sure
md certain hope OF n glorious resur-
'ectlon at the last time"