Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-07-26
A Patchwork Quilt.
BY MARY KYLE DALLAs,

have you anywhere about your house.
amidst your counterpaues and comfort
aoleS which you looked at five minutes
before buying, perhaps, one of those old
fashioned patchwork quilts made of the
tlniest pieces, arranged in the most in
'rlcate patterns, over which at least one
par OF eyes were strained for DAYS and
weeks before quilting time came, and all
thoSe putty little diamonds were marked
out, amidst chat and laughter, by half-a-
dozen ladies' Did you ever, in child
hood, sit upon the bed and hear the his
tory OF the various pieces of chintz?
That's piece of your first colored
dress; that l had when l was a girl;
that was your grandmolhers morning
gown that Is piece Miss s. gave
me. L have heard such a history many
time, and little pictures used to pass
before my eyes with the words. I could
see Just how grandma looked in the morn
lng-goWn. | could see myself baby,
taking toddling steps in the blue frock. II
seemed so funny to have been baby
when | was an important person of five
years. 1t doesn't seem half So funny now.
for l have begun to doubt whether shall
ever be anything else, and to know lust
how many big babies there are in this
world.
Dear old patchwork qpiitai We've lost
something in losing them, l think, and
probably Mrs. Mumford thought so, too,
Tor whenever any of bet children were
found sitting with those idle hands. for
which DR.. Watts declsrps that Satan al
ways finds some mischief, she invariably
remarked: "You'd better get your patch
work"
They always obeyed, those three little
girls, Lucy, Ruth and Olive, and there
were piles of quilts in the upstairs room
where spare bedding was stored-ouiIts
OF many colors, quilts of only two, quilts
with large, square blocks, and quilts
with intricate PatterEJ, like a Chinese
puzzle, quilts that had been made by
people in their ninetics, and quilts that
mad been made by people who could not
YET say; II am nine years old. :"
Fleeing Quilt was the first work and
the last of the members of the Mumford
family. I think an ancestor made some
patches on board of the Maytiower. At
least, it was said 20.
When young person married, a
dowry Of quilts bad always been pro
vlded-always would be while Mrs.
Mumford lived. When Olive was fifteen,
she had been told that the white and
Turkey red quilt which her great grand
mother had made was to be among her
share, as the eldest daughter of the
house. She laughed then, and said;
81 shall always stay at home with you,
mamma. shall be the old maid daugh-
ter"
A year afterward she did not think
this, whatever she might have said, for
the year had made her feel that she was
no longer a child, and she had met Harry
Martin, who had put an engagement ring
on Olives finger, and, if all went well,
her seventeenth birthday would find her
matron.
Nothing like seeing your children
settled before you are broken down YOUR
self" said the mother; and thereupon
began to teach Olive the higher mys-
teries of pastry. Plain cooking every
girl of that family quite understood
A lover always takes great interest in
his lady's handiwork. Harry regarded
all the little pieces of sewing which
passed through Olives hands with i'm
mense admiration, and the homely patch
work was just as fine in his eyes as any
thing else; and there was often much
talk about the pieces, and, once or
twice, he had cut them out, after the
cardboard patterns, loving to NEEDLE
with anything that she was busy with,
in old true lovers fashion.
One evening, when he went in, he
found the girl looking, as an artist
might look at a rare old master, at long
breadth of fashioned, lowered
chintz.
"Mother has just given me this,
Harry" she said. at is like gown of
old Aunt Hepsiba's. 1t shImmers like
silk, and see how fine it is. But
fancy wearing such large patterns. Look
butterfly on bough, and rose, and a
butterfly on bough again, and then an
other rose, like wall paper. The diff
Guilty will be, said Olive, pausing to con-
slider, chow to get the pattern into a
patch without spelling it."
'Pll help YOU" said Harry; aud to
work he went, and for pleasant hour or
two he kept cutting patches A bud and
butterfly on one, rose on the other,
bud and butterfly, and rose agaic,
"And he has not spoiled one, uramma. :"
said Olive, in tone of pride. sim sure
/ should have cut dozen butterflies
heads off, if had tried"
So the young things laughed over their
exploits, and then slipped merrilg away