Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1894-09-13

and could trim bonnets so we'll that
people preferred her work to that OF
the village milliner. She was so use
full in sickness that every one sent
for her; and she could play beauti-
fully on the organ, too, although she
had never taken any lessons.
Even Llewellyn, who was thirteen
years old. apd only boy, could be
trusted to get dinner better than
Phoebe Jane; he could draw delight
full music out of the old fiddle that
they had found In Grandpa Pulsifer' s
garnet, and could puzzle the school
master himself when it came to
mathematics.
Phoebe Jane couldn't play on any
thing, except comb, and she was
obliged to go to the barn to indulge
in that musical performance because
it made Eunice nervous; she said she
could bear it II Phoebe Jane could
keep tune. And Phoebe Jane was
very apt to be at the foot Of the class
| at school.
Never mind! Mrs. Ponsonby Ten
Brock might fatter, but Eunice
certainly never did, and Eunice had
said that she. Phoebe Jane, had a
| "knack."
Phoebe Jane slipped away that af-
ternoon without giving any account
of herself. She called first on old
| Mrs. Prouty, who had been the Pales-
trina dressmaker for fifty years. Old
Mrs. Prouty had the reputation of
being Snug" she had great store
Of 'pieces" in her attic, and she had
never been known to give any away,
even for crazy-quilt.
| But she and Phoebe Jane were very
intimate. Phoebe Jane had brought
up Mrs. Prouty's tender brood of tur-
keys, Matched during thunder
shower; had always stood up for
Ginger the old lady's little natter
rier, that was voted a nuisance by
the neighbors, and had twice rescued
him from cruel boys. Moreover old
Mrs. Prouty's niece Lorinda sang in
''the seats" and longed for evening
rehearsals.
The pile of 'pieccs" in Mrs.
Prouty's attic was like a mountain
of rainbows, and old Mrs. Prouty
had so good a memory that she knew
to whose dress almost every piece
had belonged.
Phoebe Jane made two or three
other calls, and before she went
home the success of her plan seemed
assured.
Eunice said, II don't see how your
going to make rug that's large
enough" and q hope you won't
get tired of it before it's half-done
as you did of the bed-spread you
begun to crochet" But she
helped; Eunice would always
help, though she was practical
and saw all the difficulties at once.
Llewellyn got the Corey boys to
help him make a frame that was
large enough, and he helped to make
the rest too. By dint of hard work
it was finished and laid upon the
parlor floor the first Of December.
AS Phoebe Jane said, If you don't
believe it was q siege, you'd better
try one! A real Daghestan pattern,
nine by twelve feet.
Then, alas! when the rug was
down, and the parlor furnished, all
the pleasure of the choir rehearsals
was spoiled by church quarrel. 1t
arose as church quarrels and others
often do, from what seemed a very
small thing.
Old Mrs. Tackaberry, Aunt Gin
thia's mother, had the old-fashioned
New England habit Of suspending all
labor on Saturday evening, and be-
ginning it again on Sunday evening /;
and being u very obstinate woman,
she would knit in the Sunday evening
prayer meeting. No matter how
loud the minister and the members
prayed and exhorted, no matter how
loud the congregation sang, old Mrs,
Tackaberry's knittingneedle seemed
to click above everything.
Some people were shocked and
some had their nerves affected, while
others declared that IA mother in
Israeli" like old Mrs. Tackaberry,
should be allowed to indulge in such
harmless eccentricity. At this
time the church was divided into two
parties, one insisting old Mrs. Tacka-
berry should cease to knit or leave,
and the other declaring that if she
left it would leave with her.
So the church was rent asunder.
The supporters of old Mrs. Tack
aberry hired the town-hall for their
services, and young divinity stu
dent for their minister. The funds
that had been barely enough for one
church were sadly insufficient for
two, and there was enmity between
old friends and neighbors. So Phoebe
Jane said with fearful sense of the
futility of all human hopes. that
there was mo comfort in hdJ q
choir rehearsal"
1t was old Mrs. Tackaberry who
had made the trouble between Aunt
Cynthia, and her brother-in-law,
years before, SO it was not very likely
that the Brecks would espouse her
cause, though Deacon Breck who was
a mild and gentle man, and never had
quarrelled with anybody but Aunt
Cynthia in his life-Deacon Breck
said he wished folks could have put
up with the knitting, for he believed
it was conducive to goodness to let
some folks do as they were mind
to-"
AS il Phoebe Jane had not had dis
n L