The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-07-14
BUTTERFLIES AND ROSES.
A Patchwork Quilt Which Reunited
Two Lovers After Many Years.

Have you anywhere about your house,
amidst your counterpanes and comfort
ables, which you looked at FIVE minutes
before buying, perhaps, n of those old
fashioned patchwork quilts made of the
tiniest pieces arranged in the most intzi.
cate patterns, over which at 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 q
dozen ladiess Did you even in childhood
sit upon the bed and hear the history Of
the various pieces Of chintz?
"That's q piece Of your first colored
dress; that I had when ! was a girl,
that was your grandmother's morning
gown; that is a piece Miss S. gave
me-" Ihaye heard such a history many
a time, and little pictures used to pass
before my eyes with the words. could
see just how grandma looked in the
morning gown. / could see myself a
baby, taking toddling steps in the blue
frock. 1t seemed SO funny to have been
a baby-when I was an important per-
son of 5 years. 1t doesn't seem half SC
funny now, for I have begun to doubt
whether I shall Q be anything else,
and to know just how many big babies
there r in this world.
Dear old patchwork quilts! We've
lost something in losing them, I think,
and probably Mrs. Mumford thought SO,
too, for whenever any of her children
were found sitting with those idle hands,
for which DIR. Watts declares that Satan
always finds some mischief, she in
variably remarked: YOU'D better get
your patchwork"
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-quilts
Of many colors, quilts Of only two, quilts
with large, square blocks, and quilts
with intricate patterns, like a Chinese
puzzle; quilts that had been made by
people in their nineties, and quilts that
had been made by people who could not
yet say: II am 9 years old" Fleeing a
quilt was the first work and the last of
the members of the Mu1nford family. ]
think an ancestor made some patches on
board of the M~ayhower. At least it was
said SO.
When a young person married a dowry
of quilts had always been provided-al-
ways would be while Mrs. Mumford
lived. When Olive was 10 she had been
told that the white md Turkey red quilt
which her great-grandmother 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 1 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 achild, and she had met Harry
Martin, who had put an engagement
ring on Olives finger, and If all went
wen her seventeenth birthday would
find her O 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 eye as any
thing else; and there was often much
talk about the pieces, and cnce on twice
he had cut them out after the cardboard
patterns, loving to NEEDLE with any
thing 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 a long
breadth of old fashioned, Powered
chintz-
Mother has just given me this,
Harry, . she said. 1T is like o gown Of
old Aunt Hepsiba's. 1t shim,ners like
silk, and see how fine it is. But fancy
wearing such large patterns Look! a