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

Lave you anywhere about your house
amidst your counterpanes and comfort
ablcs which you looked at five minutes
before buying, perhaps, one of those old
fashioned patchwork quilts made of the
uhlcSt pieces, arranged IN the most in -
rlcatc patterns, over which ut least one
pair OF eyes were strained for DAYS and
weeks before quilting time came, and all
those puffy little diamonds were marked
out amidst chat and laughter, by half-a.
dozen ladlest Did you ever, in child
hood, sit upon the bed and hear the his
tory OF the various pieces Of chintzl
That's piece of your first colorcd
dress; that | had when was a girl /:
that was your grandmoihers morning
gown; that is piece Miss s. gave
me. i have heard such history many
a time, and little pictures used to pass
before my eyes with the words. could
see just how grandma looked in the morn
ing-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. II doesn't seem half so funny now
for have begun to doubt whether shall
ever be anything else, aud TO know just
how many big babies there arc 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 childron were
found sitting with those idle hands, for
which DIR. Watts declares that Sataa 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 sparc bedding was storcd-quilts
OF many colors, quilts of only two, quilts
with large, square blocks, and quilts
with intricate patterns, like Chinese
puzzle, quilts that had been made by
people in their ninetics, and quilts that
had been made by people who could not
yet say: "l am nine years old. y
Piccing 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, it was said so.
When young person married,
| dowry of quilts had always been pro
vidcd-always would bc 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 10 be among he
share, as the eldest daughter of th,
house. She laughed then, aud said:
~ shall always stay Mt home with YOU
mamma. l 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, and, if all went we'll
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 mys
tercs Of pastry. Plain cooking ever
girl Of that family quite understood
4 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, aud the homely patel
work was just as fine in his eyes rs any
thing else; and there was often niue
talk about the pieces, and, once {
twice, he had cut them out, after til
cardboard patterns, loving to mcdd
with anything that she was busy Will
in old true lovers fashion.
One evening, when he went in, !
! found the girl looking, as an arti
might look ut rare old master, at q Ion