The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1890-07-24
A Patchwork Quilt.
EY ;fARY GYLE DALLAS.

Lave you anywhere about your house.
amlus' Your counterpanes aud comfort
ablcs which you looked at five minutes
before buying, perhaps, one of those old
fashioned patchwork quilts made of the
tnicSt pieces, arranged in the most in
trlcatc patterns, over which at least one
pair OF eyes were strained for dnys and
weeks before quilting time came, and all
those puffy little diamonds were marked
out, amidst chat and laughter, by half.n.
dozen LADIES' Did you ever, in child
hood, sit upon the bed and hear the his
tory OF the various pieces Of chintz2
that's piece Of your first colorcd
dress; that | had when was "A Girl .
that was your grandmolher's morning
gown; that is a piece Miss s. gave
me. | have heard such history many
time, and little pictures used TO pass
before my eyes with the words. | could
see just how grandma looked in the morn
inS-gown. | could see myself baby,
taking toddling steps in the blue frock. Il
seemed so funny to have been baby
when | was an important person OF five
years. II doesn't seem half 80 funny now, ,
for | have begun to doubt whether shall
ever be anything else, and TO know Just
how many big babies there are in this
world.
Dear old patchwork quilts1 We've lost
something in losing them, think, and
probably Mrs, Mumford thought so, too,
for whenever any of her children were
found sitting with those idle hands. for
which Dr. Watts declares that Sataa Gl-
ways finds some mischief. she invariably
remarked; "iou'd better get your patch
work.
They always obeycd, those three little
girls, Lucy, Ruth and Olive, ami there
were piles of quilts in the upstairs room
where spare bedding was storcd-Quilt-
OF many colors, quilts of only two, quilts
with large, square blocks, and quilt,
with intricate patterns, like "A CHINESE
puzzle, quilts that had been made by
people IN their ninctics, and quilts that
had been made by people who could not
yet say: "l am nine years old. >
Piecing n quilt was the first work and
the last OF the members of the Mumford
family. think All ancestor made some
patches on board of the Mayhowcr. Al
least, il was said so.
When young person married,
dowry of quilts had always been pro
vidcd-always would bo while Mrs
Mumiord lived. When Olive was fifteen
| she had been told that the white ant
Turkey red quilt which her great-graud
/ mother had made was to be among he
share, as the eldest daughter of tn
house. She laughed then, aud said:
~ shall always stay mt home with YOU
mamma. | shall be the old maid daugh
ter"
A year afterward she did not thinl
this, whatever she might have said, TO
the year had made her feel that she wa
no longer n child, and she had met Harr
Martin, who had put an engagement rim
on Olives finger, aud. il all went well
her seventeenth birthday would find he
matron.
Nothing like seeing your childre
settled before you are broken down youl
self, said the mother; and thcrcupo
BEGAN TO teach Olive the higher my,
teres Of pastry. Plain cooking ever
girl of that family quite understood.
i lover always takes great interest i
his lady's haudiwork. Harry regarde
all the little pieces of sewing whic
passed through Olives hands with in
mcnsc admiration, and the homely patel
work was Just as fine in his eyes as any
thing else; and there was often niue
talk about the pieces, and, once {
twice, he had cut them out, after tn
cardboard patterns, loving to mcdd
with Guything that she was busy Will
in old true lovers fashion.
One evening, when hc went in, |
! found the girl looking, as an arti
might look Ut rare old master, at Ion