The Penn's Grove record., 1899-11-24

family council to HE us IN o DOdy TO Q
country box among the hills, where
we had enjoyed four idylIic summers,
and there keep the hoary old fiesta as
Yankee pre- aphaelite aquarelles tell
as it should be observed.
Snow fell two days before the i'm
portant Thursday. All the betterl II
would have been oil the best had the
storm held off until we were actually
housed and could read "Snow-Bound'
over blazing logs answering roar for
roar, the grand old harper" shifting
and twanging the oaks and hickories
81 the grove.
We took the 9 o'clock train from the
city. 1t was crowded, mainly with
ona sort and condition of men. Each
of them was presumably going to the
Did homestead-gray, yellow or white,
backed by the invariable red barn
"for Thanksgiving" Some chewed
orange peel to tone down their breaths
to the decorous preindices Of the old
folks at home, others inhaled bad
cigars in the smoker" and brought
the evil incense into our ear, AT least
two-thirds munched peanuts and
strewed the floor with the shells. One
and all talked loudly and laughed
boisterously. Ared-hot stove at each
end Of the car brewed the reek of
whisky, tobacco, orange peel and
roasted peanuts into a ~nuisaneeS
1t was an accommodation sSraiy halt
ing Of every asturn-out" ,s5aset down
trippers q BIZ flial piety or farm
,aS9xe r6nance and poetry to maintain
~ traditions Of the day. At the end
of the fifteenth mile we camet to adead
standstill. A coal train had been
wrecked and must be cleared away be-
fore we could go on. We were stranded
in the exact centre OF an uncomely ex-
panse Of fields covered with sodden
snow and criss-crossed by blackish
stone fences. Now a farmstead was
visible for oven a mile on all sides Of
us; half a dozen meal huts knotted
into o sort OF settlement about some
railway coaling sheds. and twenty dis
reputable ~loafers lounged from them
to inspect the wreck and our train.
The one sort and condition Of men at
fliated right speedily with these, and
whereas paterfamilias made divers
abortive excursions in various direc-
tions in quest Of a draught of milk
and slices OF bread for his hungry chill
dren and a reasonably clean spot where
materfamilias might retire for awhile
from the growing strife of tongues
dashing against the becalmed train, it
was but too evident that mountain
dew and Jersey lightning were to be
had for goodfellowship andfor money.
All babbled, more or less tipsily, of
the day we were celebrating, drinking
to it with every imaginable form Of
e~xpletiye, aud some that, until that
unhappy hour were quite ~unimagin-
able by materfamilias and her terrified
younglings. The average Americans
one idea of o holiday is license. and
the one idea increased and prevailed
as the hours dragged by.
We were halted at 10. 80. At 5 the
rails were free and the celebrants Of
the honorable anniversary tumbled
tu~multously into their seats, the one
idea nppermost.
All over the broad and teeming
lind turkeys had offered their brown
breasts, reeking with richness, to the
caryer's blade; cranberries had bled
by the million; pumpkin pies
and plum buildings had sur asted the
tens OF thousands of sensible people
who had stayed at home and feasted
conventionally. Since our early break
fast we had eaten just one water cracker
apiece; we we're lame with long sit
ting, sickened in body by foul air and
in soul by foul language.
What was left OF spirit and hope re-
vived with each mile left behind US.
Materiamilias .old stories to the con-
fiding innocents of the sleigh drive
they would have from the station, the
dinner and fire and fun awaiting us at
home. We had managed to get off a
telegram to our caretaking gardener
at IL O'Clock, ordering HIM to send to
every train until we came and to keep
the dinner hot.
At 4.30 we alighted at the shabby
100 No sleigh was IN waiting. not
Z 1r;na crsatnya Vas in s;gbt and he
s|.s,;np was IocLsd 4 6;ttar wind
mnanaa M md down the valley and
AZ nnsvnnathati SIM was baralv n
yard above the hills. P~aterfamilias
shouldered the ~two-year-old baby and