The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1893-07-22

Ridge this afternoon and q dance ut the
Grove Pavilion this evening, and We
invite the young men. You know they
gave us a lovely sleis bride, and supper
last winter, and this is to return their
courtesy, SO to speak. And I've in
vited George Sawyer to 60 with me-
and he's so bashful! Won't 1t be fun?
He's almost as bashful as your old
beau, AdOniram Jackson. Oh, aunty,
what does he always carry that lit
tie basket for? I met him with 1t
just a moment ago, and he was hold
ing 1t as carefully as If 1t contained soft
custard. What is In it,"
Aunt Sally laughed. She was used
to jokes about Adoniram and his b:s-
ket, and the raillery Of this fayorite
niece, whose name vas Miss Huler,
did not disturb her.
Il don't know anything about the
basket" she said as she put the beans
into some cold water to wash before
boiling; "Adoniram alters was u little
odd. OF course you can have the beads
| an welcome, Milly, though 1t does
seem kinder funny to think of the girls
invitin' the boys. Well, things has
| changed since my time" --..
She took the gold beads from their
nest Of pink cotton in the upper draw
! or of her ~brass-handlcd bureau, and
| Milly clasped them around her white
neck, and smiled at the reflection Of
| her lovely face IN the little oval gilt.
framed mirror which, adorned with
! peacock's feathers, hung between the
two front windows Of the spstlcss
| kitchen. ""
When lIilly had gone Aunt Sally put
her beans on to boil, donned = white
| apron and took up some blue knitting
! work. But the needles did not click
as usual, and by and by the embryo
| stocking dropped nnheeded into her lap.
And she spoke her thoughts aloud,
as people who are much alone often
fall into the habit Of doing.
"Why not, I wonder? "Tain't 80 aw-
full long ago that I was a girl. Folks
| would talk, I s'pose, but then folks IL
talk anyway. You can't suit 'em no.
how. I've a good mind to do it! Yes,
Eve q good mind tQ-ap' I will! | amt
a-goin' to waste no more time! TWEEN
ty years fooled away is long enoughl
! I guess I can get Squire Jones' old red
mare an the buggy wagon. I've hear4
tell that the old mare is skittish by
spells, but land sake! she don't look as
if she'd start up il the meetin' house
should IA by her! Yes, I'll get that
boss an that are wagon, an I'll invite
Adoniram Jackson to take a ride with
me to the revival meeti4' over i'll the
Varney schoolhouse tomorrow night.
l s'pose he'll be skairt out Of his skin,
but I'm a-goip' to ask him what he's
meant by COMM to see me for twenty
years, an alters forever bringiq' that
| are little basket with him. IT faint
onhecQmin' for girls to ask boys to ride,
faint o%pbecamip' for a woman Of my
age to ask Adoniram. an til take my
chance, An III tell him that ] don't
care q cent whether you 80 into the
water all oyer, or only get sprinkled
onto the top of your head"
Aunt Sally got her dinner out Of the
way In double quick time, fed the cat,
changed her calico dress for a rusty
black alpaca, and went down to Squire
Jones' to see if she could borrow the
red mare,
After q good deal of explaining on the
part Of the squire, that 1.-THE marc had
lost a shoe, an 'peared as if she was
a-gwine to have a SPAWN, an that are
ring-bone of her'n had been botherin'
her some, an she hadn't been very
steady about goin' down hill lately"
Aunt Sally game of victorious.
Sam Jones, the squire's youngest boy,
would bring the mare over to her the
next night IL nothing happened.
As for the invitation to Adopiram,
Aunt Sally decided to writ 1t and send
it to him by Parker's boy, who brought
over her pint Of milk every evening.
And after several trials, and a great
deal of bother with soaking out the
dried-up ink bottle, Aunt Sally produc-
ed the following:
'"To Mr.. A. Jackson:
Respected ~Sir,-There is to be a re-
| vival- meetin' over to the Varney
schoolhouse Wednesday night, an this
is to solicit the pleasure of your com
pany in Squire Jones' red mare an
buggy wagon at six o'clock. -,
0t-~ yours to command,
Sally Hurler.
81. SIT is q Baptist meetin'."
Aunt Sally entrusted this missive to
the Parker boy and told him to wait
for an answer. When be came back
he had a little slip of paper, evidently
torn from 2 soap wrapper. One side
Of it bore III large letter:
""Yery Best in the Market" and on
the reverse these words We're Written
in q eraaped hand and very pale ink"
THANK ye, Sally, T shall be pleased
to 90"
Sally did not sleep much that night.
1t was an exciting time for the good
old simple soul. She got up at last in
! sheer despair, and took Timothy Toots
into bed to see if he couldn't purr her
off to sleep. But all Timothy Toots
Well-meant efforts were in vain. And
sunrise found Aunt Sally red-eyed, aud
unrefreshed. She took @ dose of her
sarss parilla bitters and felt q: little bet
ter. -"
Then she looked over her wardrobe
to see what she had better wear on the
approaching mn9meRt0us. occasion. IN
the pRRderr drawer Of the tall RpHrea4
in the front ff99om}, pinned up in q linen
sheet, there was q gray silk dress made
In the fashion Of twenty years before.
Aunt Sally shock the. dead brown
and looked AT the wiMae.iowing sleeves
ana the yellow lace in the low cut neck
a little sadly. A drop 9f moisture fell
it away with her apron. Then she
hastily folded up the garment and laid
1t back into the drawer.
ING, nor said she. Il won't be such
an old fool as yhat!!. Good land!
WouldA't be spectacle goil' into the
Varney ~sehQ0ll9use with that gown on
/ airn't It a-pickiR=bl4aberiies that
simmer that Adoliram an quarrel
ed about the baptizil'. An made the
p%incushion I give him on his twenty
1 fffh- hi.f1pdn n ~ op1f - n ~S>1n "a A1,H 4