Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1903-04-30
CHAPTER III.

iOhS illls
CHAPTER II.
Thanksgiving! How many reminis-
cences Of the olden time does that word
call up, when sons and daughters, they
who had wandered far and wide, whose
locks, once brown and shining with the
sunlight of youth, now give tokens that
the autumnal frosts of life are falling
slowly upon them return once more to
the old hearth stone, and, for n brief
space, grow young again amid the fes-
tive scenes of Thanksgiving day.
! shall not speak of our feelings MS we
missed our baby brother, for they who
have lost from their fircside an active
playful child, understand far better than
| can describe, the loneliness, the long
ing for something gone, which becomes
almost a part of their being, although
at times they may seem to forget. Chill
dren's grief is seldom as lasting as that
of mature years; and hence it is not
strange if | sometimes forget my sorrow
in the joyous anticipation of 'rhanksgiv-
ing day, which was then to me but an
other name for plum buildings, chicken
pies, meeting dresses, morocco shoes, city
cousins, fire in the parlor, and last,
though not least, the privilege of sitting
at the first table, and using grandma's
six tiny silver spoons, with the initials
of her maiden name marked upon Them.
On such occasions my thoughts inva-
riably took leap backward, and looking
Mt grandma's wrinRed face and VIII. te,
shining hair, l would wonder if she ever
were young like me; and if, being young,
she swung on gates or climbed trees, and
walked the great beams, as | did Then
with another bound, my thoughts would
penetrate the future when |, q dignificd
grandmother should recline III my arm
chair, stately and stiff, In my heavy satin
and silver gray, while my oldest son, n
man just my fathers size, should render
me all the homage and respect due to enc
of my age. BY myself, too, had several
times tried on grandma's clothes, specta-
| cles, cap and ALL and then, seated in her
| chair, with the big Bible in my lap l
had expounded Scripture to the imag-
| mary children around me, frequently iep-
rimanding Rosa for her inattention. ask
ing her what 'she thought would become
of her if she didn't stop wriggling so in
her chair, and learn the chief end Of
man."
The Thanksgiving succeeding Jamit's
death and my own recovery from sick
ness great preparations were made, it
being confidently expected that my faith
er's brother, who lived in Boston, would
be with us. together with his wife, lady
whose reputation for socinbility and suav-
ity of manners was, with us. rather be-
low par. She was my uncle's second
wife, and rumor said that neither
himself nor his home was as comforta-
bit as they once had been. From the
same reliable source, too, we learned that
she breakfasted in her own room at ten,
dined at three, made or received calls I'M
til six, went to parties, soirees, or the
theater in the evening, and seldom got
to bed until two o'clock in the morning
a mode of living which was pronounced
little better than heathensh by grandma
Mother, who was more discreet. very
wisely advised her not to interfere with
the arranfements of her daughter-in-
law. 1T would do no good" she said,
land might possibly make matters
worse" Unlike most old people, grand
ma was not very much set in her own
way, and to mothers suggestion she re-
piled that "Mebby she shouldn't say any
thing; 'twould depend ON how many airs
Charlotte put on"
To me the expected visit was sore
trial; for, Notwithstanding my cheeks
and neck were rounder and fuller than
they had ever been, my head. with its
young crop of short, stiff hair, was II ter-
rible annoyance. and more than once |
lad cried rs | saw in fancy the dcrsive
smile with which my dreaded aunt Char
lotte was sure to greet me. At last sister
Anna, who possessed n great deal of
taste in such matters, and who ought to
have been a milliner, contrivcd for the
picked chicken" as she called me, n
black lace cap, which fitted me so well,
and was so vastly becoming. that | lost
all my fears, and. child-like, began to
count the days which must elapse before
l could wear 1t.
Meantime, in the kitchen there was n
loud rafting of dishes, n beating Of eggs,
| and calling for wood, with which to heat
the great brick oven, grandma having
pronounced the stove unfit for baking q
| Thanksgiving dinner. From the corndeld
behind the barn a golden pumpkin, four
times larger than my head and about the
same color, was gathered, and after he-
| ing brought To the house, was pared
| cut open scraped and sliced into a lit
tie tin kettle with copper bottom, where
for hours it stewed and sputtcred, filling
the atmosphere with faint, sickly odor
which | think was the main cause of tn,
severe headache took to bed with me
Mother. on the contrary, differed from
me, she associated it in some way Will
the rapid disappearance of the rasns
cinnamon, sugar ana so forth, which, IN
sundry brown papers, lay open upon the
table
The next morning, just as the frst
gray streaks of daylight were appear!n2
in the east, | awoke, finding, 10 my great
joy, that my headache was gone. Rising
Cpon my elbow and leaning far out OF
led. ! pushed as,,s the striped -=rt--