The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-04-28

that Aunt Jane always smiled when she
spoke of the people whom the world
calls dead or the things it calls lost
or past These words seemed 10 have
for her higher and tenderer meanings
than are placed on them by the sor-
rowful heart Of humanity.
But the moments were passing, and one
could not dwell too long on any quilt,
however we'll beloved Aunt Jane rose
briskly, folded up the one that lay
across her knees. and whisked out an
other from the huge pile in an old splint-
bottomed chair
Here's a piece o. one o. Sally AIMS
purple caliEer dresses. Sally Ann always
thought a heap o. purple caliker. Here
one O Milly Amos ginghams-that pink
and-white one. And that piece o white
with the Tosebuds in il, that's Miss Pencil
ope's. She give il 10 me the summer
before she died. Bless her soul, That
dress jest matched her face exactly.
Somehow her and her clothes always
looked alike. and her voice matched her
face. too one o the tnings I'm lookin'
forward to. child, is seem Miss Pencil
ope agin and hearin' her sing. Voices
and faces is alike; there's some that you
can't remember; and there's some you
can't f0Tgit I've seen a heap o. people
and heard a heap o. voices. but Miss
Penelope's face was different from all
the rest. and so was her voice. Why, II
she said Good mOrnin' TO you. you'd
hear that Good mornin' all day; and her
singin'-l know there never was anything
like II In this world Ny grandchildren
all laugh at me for thinkin so much o.
Miss PenelOpes singin but then they
never heard her, and / have; that's the
difference Ny grandchild Henrietta was
down here three or four years ago. and
says she Grandma, don't you want 70
so up 10 Louisville with me and hear
Patti sing2' And says I. Patty who.
child? Says l. If it was to hear Miss
Penelope sing. I'd carry these old bones
o. mine clear from here to New York. But
there amt anybody else 1 want TO hear
sing bad enough 10 go up 10 Louisville or
anywhere else And some o. these days.
says /, IA goin to hear Miss Pencil
ape sing
Aunt Jane laughed blithely, and it was
impossible not To laugh with her.
Honey she said, in the next breath
lowering her voice and laying her finger
on the rosebud piece. honey. there's one
thing l can't git over. Here's a piece o.
Miss Penelope's dress. but where's Miss
Penelope? Amt it strange that "a piece
o. calkerlI outlast you and me2 Don't
it look like folks ought o hold on TO
their bodies as long as other folks holds
on 10 piece O. the dresses they used To
wear?"
Questions as old as the human heart
and its human grief Here is the glove.
but where is the hand it held bat yes
terday? Here the jewel that she wore
but where IS she?
Where is the Pompadour uowg
Tins the fOmIadluT fant
Strange that such things as gloves.
jewels fans, and dresses can outlast a
womans form.
Behold. ! show you a mystery the
mystery of mortality. And an eery feel
ing came over me as I entered into the
old woman's mood and thought of the
strong. vital bodies that had clothed
themselves in those fabrics of purple and
pink and white. and that now were dust
and ashes lying In sad, neglected graves
on farm and lonely roadside. There lay
the quilt on our knees, and the gay
scraps Of calico seemed to mock Us with
their vivid colors. Aunt James cheerful
voice called me back from the t0mbs.
Here's piece O. one o. my dresses. "
she said brown ground with a red ring
in it. Abram picked it out And here's
another one, that light yeller ground
had so many caIiker dresses that L didn't
want one more, for in my day folks used
TO think caliker dress was good enough
to wear anywhere Abram knew my
failin'. and two or three times a year he d
bring me a dress when he come from
town. And the dresses he'd pick out al
ways suited me bctteru the ones / picked
Il rlcollect I finished this quilt the
summer before Mary Frances was born.
and Sally Ann and Milly Amos and Ma
ria Petty come over and give me "a
lift on the quiltin' Here's Alilly's work.
here's Sally AIMS. and here's Maria S. %
1 looked. but my inexperienced eye
could see no difference in the handiwOrk
of the three women. Aunt Jane saw my
look of incredulity.
Now, child, she said. earnestly. "v0u
think I'm foolin' you, but In, there's jest
as much difference in folks SEWN as
there's in their handwritin Milly made
a fine stitch. but she couldn't keep on the
line to save her life; Maria never could
make d regular stitch. somed be long
and some short. and Sally AIMS was
reg lar, but an Of EN- coarse. can see
EN- now stOOpin' over the quiltin frames
-Milly talkiu as hard Us she scwed sal
Is Ann THROWN in a word now and then.
and Maria never Openin' her mouth except
TO ask for the thread or the chalk. /
ricollect they come over after dinner,
and We got the quilt out o. the frames
long before shutdown, and the next day I
begun bindin' it, and l got the premium
on it that year at the fair.
Il hardly ever showed a quilt al the
fair that I didn't take the premium, but
here's one quilt that Sarah Jane Mitchell
beat me on"
And Aunt Jane dragged out a ponder
Gus, red-lined affair. the very antithesis
of the siiken, down-filled comfortable
that rests so lightly on the couch of the
modern dame
1t makes me laugh jest to think o.
that time. and how happy Sarah Jane
was. 1t was way back yonder in the ff-
ties. / ricollect we had a mighty fine
fair that year. The crops was all fine
that season, and such apples and pears
and Craps YOU never did see The Floral
Hall was full O things, and the whole
county TUNED out 80 go TO the fair.
Abram and me got there the first day
bright and early. and we was walkin'
around the ampitheater and lookin at
;he towns0lks and the sights. and we met
Sally Ann. She stopped us. and says she.
Sarah Jane Mitchells got d quilt in the
Floral Hail in competition with yours
and MIly Amos. Says I. Is that al
the competition there tsp And Sally
Ann says. All that amounts to any
thing. There's one more, but its about
as bad q piece o SEWN as Sarah James,
and that looks Ike it'd hardly hold to-
gether till the fairs over, And. says she,
! don't believe there'n be any more.
II looks like this was an of year on rilat
particular kind O quilt. [ didn't get
mine done says she, and neither did
Maria Petty, and maybe it's good thing
after ali
Well 7 Saw in a minute what Sally
Ann was Amin at. And I SAYS to Abram.