Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1894-10-04


y the large, clearly room parti-
toned off for carriage-house
was full of the breath of sum.
mer.
Opposite the door stood the family
Surrey wearing the drapery provided
for its hours of retirement, and in one
corner was a lofty pile of sleighs, OF
various patterns and sizes. On the
same side as the door stood the gaunt
frame of an old-fashioned hand-loom,
and high in state before it was seated
the mistress of the farmhouse. Many
happy solitary hours Mrs. Merritt spent
there.
She ''loved to weave" she said, in
her gentle, meditative voice.
But this love was not merely for the
weaving. 1t was more for the pleas
ant sights and sounds of the summer
weather, and for the kindly leisure OF
life's afternoon. The peaceful task be
lOnged to summer as much as did the
swaying of the daisies and the hum OF
the bees. In winter the loom stood
neglected and forgotten, but in the late
days of May, when the grass was
already deep and green by the foot.
path, and the apple-trees had shed theil
last lingering blossoms the longing fol-
the dreamy, delightful task would
awaken, and Mrs. Merritt would bestil
herself to set up "web.n
The old loom had come to her by in.
heritance, and she valued it as she
treasured the ancestral homespun linen
and the family traditions which eX.
tended back even to the inevitable
"three brothers that came over from
England"
She often told her daughters of the
remote grandmother who, when the
men of the family had inadvertently
carried off the pick of the household
armament on an excursion to Ticonder-
-o9a and Crown Point, defended her
home and babies with an axe. TO such
deeds the Merritt sisters felt themselves
quite adequate, had need arisen, but
they could see no reason why their
mother should sit in the barn and
weave rag-carpeting in the fact that
the loom had been framed of oak TIM
Der cut when all the hillside beyond
Roaring Brook was wilderness. But
if "mother' pleased it was all right.
And Miss Sarepta Toker even was
welcome to bring her knitting-work
and sit in the doorway, and tell who
was married, from Roaring Brook tc
the Nepash. For Sarepta possessed
married sisters and cousins in half the
towns of the county, which gave hel
an immense advantage as purveyol
of news.
She was meagre little woman, who
had never been credited with MUCK
alertness of mind or body. 1t added 6
little brightness to her existence even tC
look on from the outside at the life anC
stir, the coming and going, at "ths
Merritt place."
And in the intervals when "S'repty'
sat and knitted, with her eyes shut tC
visible things, she was no more hin
drance to the placid musings of Mrs
Merritt than would have been cat
doing in the sunshine.
Back and forth moved the shuttle
then followed the dull stroke of the
descend from her seat to turn the raj he1
of the beam upon which the fabric was
wound.
GLOW nice you do beat up you
weavin'r' exclaimed S'repty, rousine
herself to admiration. "Mis' Minks
don't half do her'n, and Rosalia has
said, time and ag'in, she wouldn't senC
any more rags to her; but then she's
kinder sorry for her."
ats hard for her to struggle along, )
said Mrs. Merritt. eff her children haC
lived, it would have been different"
"Your loom got kind O crowded gu
of the house, didn't it?' said S'repty
"The old furnitoor has got to go. Re
minds me of what cousin Spencer Doc
little said when Square Lane fugleC
round an got him turned out of the
gallery to the Baptis' meetin'-house
He'd played the bass viol to lead the
singin' for forty year. There amt M
room left for the stable foundations o
order, SEE he. Folks mus keep under
minin', an counterminin' an improv
in SEE he"
at was my notion having the loon
set UP out here" said Mrs. Merritt
"He saws it's my amusement for sum
mer weather, that | have to have, JUS
as the girls play croquet and tennis"
Another long, dreamy silence, excep
for the shuttle that went on and on.
There was a sound of wheels, and al
semblance of slumber fled from Sarep
ta's ewes as there appeared at the from
gate very shiny top-buggy. AnC
when in a few moments slender shad
ow fell across the doorway, and Lois
Merritt entered, no detail of her appear
ance was unobserved. The girl wa
tall. like her mother, with the same
large. serious cast of countenance.
"What awful little bunnits they b.
a-wearin'!r said Sarepta, as If obeyins
an irresistible inner prompting. Lois
received placidIy this implied criticism
of new summer millinery, and he
mother thought complacently: "Loi
don't mind S'repty. Emma ana Lucli
amt so even-tempered. They'd hav'
1ared up"
1t required but little urging to induc
the visitor to stay until after tea. L