Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1892-02-08
am about to relate, without this

MIS-. SnOomaKor|S character was nee
essary, thought, to make my story
credible.
Among many little keepsakes and
testimonials of affection which were
presented to Becky, last Christmas,
were two which afforded her special
satisfaction. The first was pair of
remarkable pillow shams, presented
by a sister of mine, who lives in Bos-
ton, and whom we know to be
wealthy, and aesthetic.
am not going to try to describe
those pillow shams; there were ruff
fes and tucks, and [ know not what
besides, of a decorative nature, crown
ed by an embroidered hieroglyphic
which my wife said was a monogram
of 81. r. S."-Lemuel and Rebecca
Shoemaker.
was rather ashamed of myself, as
she said I ought to be, when found
that by no effort Of mind or magma
ton, could l discover any resem-
blance to those letters in the ocal-
led monogram. [ felt better, after
ward, when [ found that none of
Becky's friends to whom the articles
were shown, profuse through they
might be in admiring adjectives, were
any wiser concerning the hieroglyphic
than l was, until Becky enlightened
them.
Pillow -shams are one of the points
upon which Becky and do not agree;
she thinks them tasteful and elegant;
[ consider them foolish, useless en-
cumbrances. AS usual, I keep my
opinion, and Becky her shams.
Our spare-room bed had long been
decorated with a pair made by Lena
before her marriage, which her moth
er had hitherto thought too fine for
ordinary use. This pair were now
used upon our own bed, and the
spareroom was to be honored with
those from Boston; but, when the
change came to be made, it was found
that the shams did not fit the pillows.
Our pillows were oblong, the shams
were square,; our pillows were big,
soft, luxurious, fitted by years Of
comfortable, familiar use to the heads
that slept upon them; Becky shook,
pounded and bumped them vainly,
morning after morning, to bring them
TO the proper pincushiOn- like cOnsis-
tency necessary to display properly
that monogram and it's accessories,
but it was not in the soft, comfortable
nature of those good old family
friends to assume the required shape,
and Becky was unhappy.
The other present to which | have
alluded, which Becky received that
Christmas, was a ten dollar bill from
kind old uncle Of hers, who had
paid us a brief visit in December,
and, upon leaving, gave Becky this
gift sEto buy herself a Christmas box
with"
1t was not often that Becky had ten
dollars over and above our necessary
income and unreckoned on before it
came, and, consequently, it was some
time before she could settle upon the
manner in which it could be most sat
evening, as we sat upon either side of
our domestic hearth, she with her
stocking basket, and with my maya
zine, she suddenly exclaimed:
''I know now what I am going to do
with Uncle Jeff's ten dollarsl I will
shams?"
"What will you do with your old
ones?O said [.
cpl use them to fix up the other
pillows; we haven't a pair in the
house that will stand up as they
ought to do on the bolster; they are
all fabby, and need renovating. can
get one new pair, large and hand
some, and have feathers enough to
fix up all the others. Wouldn't you?"
she added, seeing that 1 was about to
resume my reading without making
any comments upon her plan.
''The pillows suit me very we'll as
they are," said "but suit yourself"
Next day she went down town and
bought her feathers and ticking.
When the bundles were delivered I
said: "Why didn't you have your pill
lows made and filled at the uphol-
sterer's? You don't know what
troublesome task you will have if you
undertake to fill them yourself"
81 should have had to pay fifty
cents extra, and a penny saved is
just as good as penny earned" she
replied, in a tone which always 81
lences me effectually; "besides, I
wanted to change the other pillows,