Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1895-02-07
MRS. THOMPSON'S WHITE
WARE.

nr
W \ RE.
Mrs. Thompson stood by the kitchen
table pairing potatoes for dinner. Some
thing was evidently wrong with the little
lady. for there was an unmistakable air of
.sspite" in the way she tossed the potatoes
into the pan of cool spring water, waiting
there to receive them. Ii was a sultry
July dav, and through the open window
came the sound of mowers netting their
scytbes, blended with the call of the
robin. and the faint notes of the cuckoo
in the shaded wood But it only irritated
Mrs. THOMPSON indeed everyt hing irri-
tated her that day. Looking out from
the back door one saw lovely landscape,
with broad reaches of mellow land,
frinced with graceful belts of birch, and
softIv-rol,naed mountains lifting their
yelyety foreheads to the white hetcy
clouds, that went slowly sailing across
the exquisite ether, like huge drift, of
thisfle-dovn. Butt this also irritated her;
ever1.t-f,i,, could ne beautiful save her
- ,-.Id end rnda md
nv civ 80
barren.
But to begin at the beginning: Jane
Lawrence b4d been an unusually romantic
,. ,;4 ,,.,,,,1i
girl 0He iaU al " ~ i'''N ~ 9'ie
marry some famous artist or scholaf' WHO
would take her to Rome or Venice, " here
-,,o,,ld 1.-Two in q ,,srnetpsI dream of
beauty 9He 50 ioNe" "eHu''Iui 'AiH@H.
Perhaps all women do, and perhaps that
- ~
'ut NNI'''' ~ az ''N' u ~ ~ ~
tions, she married Robert thompson,
plain, practical farmer; and instead of
1toI,. bs wont TO 1.-Two al tho old bop,e-
"
stead, w men haN beth the epode OIL lhe
Thompsons for generations. And instead
of Iounginp i'm elegant .tudioa. or gliding
-. :,
uo"h stored IN eIs III P.e' uieSque so''uo-
las, she made butter ana cheese, and rals-
cd monthly and cooked dinners in the
49,. ,,,,. ,,iIa4 l-;+,..,,,,, f,r ,h,ae or to,,,
4oHs' ~" ''i'N n II, - - ''i' % 00'
great, broWn-hanoea, raVehous men,
Quite a contrast you will admit.
Ifsha could have had things a little diff
-. - -, a..
lereht' she "ouioh nave lhlhueu tiie
work so much. II she could have had
soft carpets and tasteful furniture, and
books, and pictures, and flowers. 10 be
sure she had little strip under he sout h
windows, where sweet briar grew, and
pinks, and sweet Williams, and marlgolds
blossomed in their season. But they
We're so old-fas hioned; and she pinned for
the rare and elegant plants that she had
seen in conservatories and public gardens.
But Robert Thompson would as soon
have thought of buying the moon, as
such useless things as flowers. And
though his wife earned them dozen
times over, 1t never entered his head that
she did. Indeed, he considered ii very
liberal thing when he gave her twenty
five dollars fall and spring, to buy her
clothing, and wondered vaguely where it
all went to, and if she had not some
boarded away somewhere.
As to books, there was the family bible,
with the record of all the Thompsons for
three generations. There was Fox's book
of Martyrs, and Pilgrims Progress, and
an English reader, which her Thompson
had when he was a boy and went to
school in the little red school house up on
the "Pine Barrens." Besides, there was
the report of the Board of Education,
Laws and Resolves, Patent Office Report,
and pile of Farmers Almanacs for twen-
ty-tve years, besides any number of doc
uments upon the best and most improved
breed of cattle, he theory of under drain
ing, rotation Of crops, grass and forage
culture, ETC., etc.
What could any reasonable person ask
for more than that? And as for pictures,
there was From the Cradle to the Grave,''
an aliegorlal picture painted in colors,
with descriptive couplet attending each
particular stage OF the journey sampler
which his mother had worked at eleven
years OF age" and very effective scene
illustrative OF 1.-The Lovers Parting"
wherein very red-cheeked dansel in
puned sleeves, short waist and very low
neck, dissolved IN the arms OF the depart