The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-07-13

to it and paint some more. haven't
forgotten how by any means"
IT wish my niece Milly took to some
thin OF that sort instead Of carin' for
old dishes and furniture. Why, when
she was here last summer, she went
and offered Mis- Kingdom seventy five
cents for that old platter she use to dry
her cherries on, and I don't know how
many cracked and broken sugar bowls
and tea pots she picked up. But the
thing she made the most fuss about
was a claw-leg table she got up at the
Cornish auction. She paid two dollars
and a half for 1.-THE worst Iookin',
battered up thing you ever see. It's
up in my back chamber now. I ex
pect most any day she'll write me to
send it to her. She's a-goin' to be mar.
ried soon now. That's one of the rea
sons I'm in a kind of a furry to git at
my paintin'. I shought I could touch
up some of the worst places. I declare
I'd be ashamed to have it go lookin' as
it does"
"Speakin' about that Cornish fam
lily" said Mrs. Bsmis, did you know
that the Oldest son-the one who has
been out West-was comm back here
and goin' to build an Office of some
kind, and buy up potatoes and eggs
and everything to send to BuffaloG
Mis- R1ody says it's a sure thing. He's
a-agoin' to come down to his brothers.
tomorrow and see all about it. They
say he's a lookin' round for a lot to be
gin right away"
"You don't say So" said MI. Petit
bone, appearing greatly concerned.
But she did not seem inclined to talk
the matter over with her neighbor,
but reaching for her small, shiny, silk
parasol she took her departure.
"It it's true about that Giles Cor
nish a-comin' here" Mrs. Pettibone
said to herself as she walked along, 81
don't think there any doubt but that
he'll take a part of my front door yard
for that Office Of his. He talked so
tavorble like last ell about it. Said it
was handy to the cars and all. But
you wouldn't ketch me a-saying any
thing of the kind to Mis- Bemis. It
might put it into her head to try and
sell a part of her yard for the Office.
I must go right equare over to the
Cornishes to morrow afternoon and
see about it. I tell you there isn't any
woman at the Corners that en- make
that hundred dollars go farther than I
can. I declare, I just believe I'll go to
Milly's weddin'. 1t must be fully
twenty years since I've made a visit to
Sister Almiry's."
The prospect of the sale and the
trip she was planning put new zeal into
Mrs. Pettibone. She did her house,
work much quicker than usual the
next morning. Then after having an
early dinner she proceeded to the
small cobble stone building up the
street and came away with a pot of
dark brown paint.
There never lived a woman but that
thought she could paint" observed
Sam Perkins, as he striped a wagon
box.
That's true; or ever one that 'ud
waste a drop" continued the man who
was helping him.
Hire the buttery floor and two
kitchen chairs doneI" said Mrs. Petit
bone, contemptuously, as she put on an
old dress preparatory to beginning the
work. '"That's just like Mis- Bemis
you'd never ketch her maxim a slave
of herself. Why, if I'd done the way
she's done, I'd a been in the poor house
long ago."
The pantry was a small one, but,
nevertheless, Mrs. Pettibone did not
find it an easy piece of work getting
down with her rheumatic limbs.
She painted and painted, and there
was still paint left in the pot after the
tubs had had a coat. To use up the
balance she painted two palm leaf fans
that had become ~fy-specked, and the
frame of an old mahogany looking
glass.
81 declare! How this paint does hold
out. By putin in a little more tur
pentine there's enough left for the
clock shelf"
She found reaching up harder
than anything else, for it made her
dizzy. Once when she went to refill
her brush she fell over on to the floor.
She would have hurt herself. quite
badly, if she had not saved herself by
catching hold of the Boston rocker.
AS it was she had several small bruises.