The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-07-13
A Pot of Paint.
By

with your house cIeanin', you
must be all run down." said Mrs. Be
mis-, as she rolled out a water, lily leaf
for the bunch of wax flowers she was
constructing.
"Hire the buttery floor and two
kitchen chairs doneI" exclaimed Mrs.
Pettibone in disgust. mot by a Jug
full. Why that Sam Perkins wouldn't
charge me less than four shillin's to do
it, and he'd mix up enough paint for
eighteen pence to do the whole of it
and have some left for the bottom of
the wash tubs"
But you've been complainin' of
rheumatic all the Spring." continued
her neighbor, land you'll find it won't
be no easy job for you. I hired Sam
Perkins to do my chiny cubbard last
Spring and he didn't charge me much"
"Well, folks that can afford to hire
things done can, but as for me, times
are too hard" said Mrs. Pettibone, sit
ting up very straight and speaking
with emphasis.
She had a very thin face and there
vas a pinched expression on it, as If
she had thought all her life of how to
make each dollar go as far as far as
possible.
Her dress, too, showed the same econ
omy by the way she chung to old,
threadbare garments. But mixed with
it all there was apparent a love for
finery-a passion which Mrs. Petit
bone had in her younger days to in
dulged a considerable extent and now
refused to be rooted out.
She wore a large-fgured delaine,
which the neighbors remembered long
before Mr.. Pettibone died, a dozen years
or more back. Over this was a rusty
black gauze shawl with the fringe all
worm off. Her bonnet, shaped like a
haring tin basin, was a fashion not
within the memory of the village mil
liner. It was not without it's decora-
ton, being trimmed with some very
square purple satin bows and many
Dugles and beads. But more noticeable
than the trimmings was the row of
brown hair curls sewed in the rim.
They curled up as a child's hair would
curl and looked strangely out of place,
browning the pinched, thin, wrinkled
face.
Mrs. Bemis did not make any reply,
but went on rolling out the petals Of a
yellow tulip. She knew the remark
was meant to hit her. She followed
out Mrs. Bifin's advice of Let's be
comfortable" and the people in the
neighborhood frequently had their
comments to make t~hereupon. That
she had taken life easy, and seldom
worried, was written on her round,
full, chiIdIike face. The brown curls
would have been quite in keeping above
her forehead.
I'm a maxim these wax flowers to
send to my brothers wife out in Mich,
igan," Mrs. Remis said, changing the
s~ucject. She did think they was so
pretty when she was here, that I said
I'd make her some sometime. And
now Mis- Rhody is goin' right out to
the same place for a visit, and so I've
left everything to make this bunch to
send by her."
Are these some of your works" en-
CURED Mrs. Pettibone, moving up noar
err to the table and looking admiringly
at a bunch under a glass globe.
There were purple roses and blue
fuchias and other anomalies in the
floral kingdom. And as for the leaves,
it showed very plainly that the maker
of them was not versed in botany, for
they we're strangely mixed up.
YES" answered Mrs. Bemis with
pride, 81 car make any flower. I'm
goin' to try this Crown 'PeriaI I picked
out in the garden. Have that right in
the centre, it stands up 30 straight.
Then these Bleedin' Hearts a droopin'
over. I wish I had some more red
wax to make the hearts of. I'll have
to use blue. You don't have to be real
particular though with wax f1Wers."
sit must be quite a chore to make a
big bunch like yours" observed Mrs.
Pettibone, as she saw how slowly the
work progressed.
"Ohl I like it. I could sit up all
night to do it. I love to paint, too.
Why, 1 paid a nan that came round
five dollars once to learn. But, I tell
you, he was way up. There's some of
my work." said Mrs. Bemis, pointing
A. - S,A,,ao a.. - aooo R-a~oA ~ n -o~-
cadaverous looking individual whose