St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-09-22

silhouetted against the freight from
the big front room. Ring. the watchful
guardian of the house, gave us greeting
in full-toned bay that somehow
seemed the keynote to the whole de-
lightful time. Cap.t you see the
big kitchen with its snowy
floor and shining stove-or was
it big fireplace. big enough to take IN
a cordwood stick, and with a back log
of w0nderOuS size and durability? The
tubs of rosy apples in the middle of the
room. piles of shining pans and sharp
knives on every hand. The mistress of
the house, Aunt Polly or Cousin Sue
or grandma, as the case might be, with
her spotleSS calico dress covered with a
big white apron, her cap strings tied on
the top of her head, we'll out of harms
way. was busy in the "buttry" fixing
goodies for the refreShment of her COM
ing guests. Then the noisy crowd
surged into that room, settling like a
bevy of blackbirdS around the tubs of
apples: then it was the boys work to
fill the pans and bring the knives. each
striving to get the sharpest for his one
fair lady, and to quarter the apples
after the girls had peeled them and
empty the cut fruit into the tubs again,
eating phllop9na on the sly with some
j
allowed to give her something.
A little fiutter at one side of the room
draws all eyes in that direction, and we
see pretty Susie Brown standing poised
like a bird for fight. with long ribbon
of crimson apple skin in her hand. Up
goes her Shapely arm. round and round
her mead it swings, and Just at the right
moment her fingers lose their hold and
the shining ribbon flies through tine air
and settles on the white floor, clearly
defining the initial letter of the name of
her future lord. Do you remember the
look on Tom Clark's face when some
one cried out. "Oh, it's perfect c."
Then whsn the tubs were en-
piled. the pans carried away, the and
quartered apples safely stored
in tue shed. the young people seat
ed around the room in pairs enjoyed
the supper they bad SO pleasantly
earned. Where will you find such
viands now? Cookies that crumbled at
a touch, dOughnutS that melted in your
mouth, salt-rising bread white as a
snowflake, with that indefinable sweet
ness that only that kind of bread has
when baked in long-legged ''Oyen"
over bed of hickory Goals, and butter
that held the concentrated perfume of
tiiS CIONCA dllu anu oilfOl
roses that ran riot over the pasture
back OF the orchard. But, bless you,
those unknowing young animals
thought it common diet, and hurried,
even. to get through, and be at their
games.
Supper over, Billy Baker, with dainty
Sallie Judy on his arm, led Off in Hap
ply Is the Miller. Some say Billy al
ways did lead off, even when it came to
forlorn hope, when he led the way to
victory but found death on the way.
One after another the couples fell III
till the room seemed full of happy
~millers grinding at the mill. Then we
played Old Sister Phoebe, and how
sweet were the kisses given under the
fignrative juniper tree. In the big front
room party was marching down TO
old Quebec. out in the moonlight in
the porch tender stories were told and
sweet questions asked and answered.
The Dig clock in the corner chlmed the
the hour of 10. The minister's little
daughter. mindful of parental injunc-
ton, declared that she must go home ;
the big wagon rolls around to the gate.
goOd-byeS were said, and with song and
laughter the merry crowd is carried
away homeward. Silence settles over
the old house, Uncle Joe covers the fire,
Aunt Polly dOns her other cap, prayers
are said, and the pleasant evening is
done. FRANCES K.