Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-07-16

| say III 10 everyone, thaC IL ain . h0rQlN
fair that, jest because was left alon,
this way, shouldn't have none OF tn,
pleasant things / might have had j
I'd had all the rest. An SO, Elviry
I've made up my mind that there aim
any earthly reason why 1 shouldn'
have silver weddin', an I'm a-goin' tt
have one."
Whatever misgivings Elvira might
have felt when the project was frs
disclosed had melted away in the
warmth of her aunt's feeling; and
knowing that the slowly matured re.
solves of placid nature are hard tc
shake, and trusting to the real regard
of the neighborhood for the kindly
helpful widow, whose social and pleas.
ure-Ioving temperament had before now
exposed her to the criticism of her
friends without really affecting their
liking, she offered no objection, and,
yielding q ready assent to the plar,
/ was soon in the midst of q delightful
discussion of details. in which Aunt
Hannah's too often repressed love of
social functions found full express
sion.
Early on the following afternoon
Aunt Hannah started out to give her
Invitations with faint flush on her
cheeks, by way of tribute to the con-
ventional usage she might be trans
crossing, but with little formula
prepared, which included no explana-
ton and permitted no comment. The
invitation to be present at the 25th
anniversary of her marriage with Mr..
Jedidiah Rounds was as carefully word
ed as if she had studied it in the pages
of the 'Home Manual" as she prob
| ably had; and only waiting to add that
she should be dreadful disappointed
if they didn't all come" she hurried
from house to house. This unwonted
haste on the part of leisurely Mrs.
Rounds might have made her neighbors
suspect that she was little uneasy
herself as to the impression her invita-
tions might produce, but she gave no
other grounds for such a suspicion;
and, indeed, when she reached home,
after having made the circuit of the
neighborhood, the pleasant stir of action
had taken possession, of her, and she
set about her preparations for the great
event with as untroubled a mind as
if she were planning for church
sugar party" The momentous ques-
ton now was whether the "entertain-
ment" should be confined to the ele-
giant but unsatisfying ice-cream and
sweet cake, or should boldly cater to
the tastes of the stronger sex by adj
hitting the golden doughnut and the
fiaky pie.
The next day was Saturday, the day
when the Corners" went to the village
to do it's trading" 1t was well that
Mrs. Rounds invitation had been al
ready given-that is, it was well for
those who did not wish to go empty
handed to Il silver wedding. Who shall
say that she had foreseen this diff
Guilty, and provided for it?
1t was also the day on which the sew
ing society met; and to-day, for the
first time in many years, Mrs. Rounds
was absent.
'Gittin' baked up for the silver we'd
din, I suppose?' said thin little Miss
Prindle, the village dressmaker, with
a snort of disapproval. 'Most ridiculous
thing 1 ever heerd of; why, might as
well set up to have a silvcr-I mean a
wooden weddin' myself"
''Well, why not? Amt you expect
in to, some timc?" asked Mrs. Bas-
com, the minister's wife, in her most
conciliatory tones.
At this Miss Prindle preened her
ruffled feathers, smoothed her black
troubling for the moment, in view of
future possibilities.
what do you s'pose Deacon Whitell
gay to it?" asked Widow Jenkins,
giving a careless air to her question
by stopping in the midst of it to shake
out the garment she had just COM
pleted.
"Es Hannah Rounds amt troubled
herself about what Deacon Whites said
all these years he's been a-runnin'
after her, faint likely she'll begin
now!" responded Mrs. Abijah Rounds,
who, though she was severe enough IN
private, on Hannah's easy-going ways,
pink roses and pink cheeks, yet in
public never forgot that she had been
Abijah's brothers wife.
Mrs. Jenkins pursed her lips and
was about to make retort, when Mrs.
Bascom bethought herself of asking
who was Mrs. Rounds grandmother on
her mothers side, and in less than five
minutes the company, led by two or
three of the older women, was launched
on a sea of "Reminiscences and gen.
ealogical discussion, in which Aunt
Hannah and her party were soon lost
sight of.
The men at "the store had their
Say, too, but they were accustomed
to let their women folks" settle mat
ters of etiquette; so the question passed
with joke or two, mostly leveled at
Deacon White, who, balanced on a
bench on the little stoop that ran across
the front of the store, his shoulders
propped against the wall and his hat
pulled well down over his eyes, received
them in silence, as one who could af-
ford to let others laugh.
Wednesday morning Aunt Hannah