The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1909-08-19

E1-E
pathetic Dear mev' and sorrowful
shake of her gray head III
Mrs. Pickett and her granddaughter,
Dorothy, were left alone. Dorothy was
the daughter of Mr.. and Mrs. Pickett's
snly child, who, with his wife, had
died when Dorothy was but five years
old, and since that time she had been
the light and JOY Of the fine old farm.
house
"And I've taken such comfort in
thinkiu' that your gran'pa an me
would leave you so nicely provided for
and in home of your own when we
We're gone. Dear me, dear me!'
ut doesn't matter about me, grand
ma Dorothy said. ~ am sorry only
on your account. can teach or sew
or work in store or do sometime
else, and we can be very coy and
comfortable in our two snug little
rooms. There will be some money left
for you after the note and the mort
gage are paid"
It was decided that there should
be public sale or vendue of the eff
fects not needed for the new home to
which they were to go. A ''vandoo''
was usually attended by everybody in
the neighborhood, and the occasion
was semiholiday. So there was gen
eral interest when the posters appear
ed announcing that Mahala ]. Pickett,
executrix Of the estate Of Ira w. Pick
EFT, would on Oct. 10 offer for sale
such and such carefully described
articles.
Mrs. Pickett had a sorrowful duty
in indicating the things she consented
to SELL
"They shan't have my mahogany
chist of drawers, nor my haircloth
sofy, nor my Powered carpet, nor my
two big rockin' cheers that my father
and mother begun housekeepin' with.
And they shan't have-oh, dear, dear,
There's nothin' 1 do want 'em to have!:
Poor old lady! She found that even
the simplest and most ordinary of her
belongings were dear to her.
There's that green cupboard with
the glass door, Dotty," she said. 81
s'pose it'll have to go. We've got the
red one, and s'pose we shan't want
two. And there's that old oak chist
up in the attic-it might as we'll go,
and reckon Rachel Day III bid it in.
She wanted to buy it Of me once,
thirty years ago. can't bear to think
of her havin' any of my things, and
I'll warrant she'll come and bid in the
very ones I hate to part with most"
Perhaps she won't come to the sale
at all, grandma" said Dorothy.
eyes, she will!'' replied Mrs. Pickett
positively. II know Rachel Day. She'll
be here to glory over my trouble. It'll
be twenty years this fall since she
and 1 spoke, and she never come to
your grandpa's funeral, and I know
from that that we shall never speak
ag'in. I'd an idee she'd come then
Such good friends as we used to be-
girls together and so intimate that we
had our dresses and bonnets just alike
And for twenty years we amt spoke,
| though we've met hundreds of times
Lear ue, GEAR me-!
Sweet of face and gentle Of manner
as Mrs. Pickett was, she was woman
| of strong prejudices and great firm
ness. She never sought a quarrel and
never continued one long if forced in
| to it. She simply and for all the time
dismissed her enemies from her friend
| ship and affection.
"When I'm done with anybody" she
said, Pm done with 'emy'
| Acting on this unkindly and un-C Chris
tianlilSe principle, she had dropped" i
friend of her girlhood and early wo,
manhood twenty years before the
death of her husband.
! Her son had quarreled with the only
son Of her dearest friend, Mrs. Rachel
Day. The mothers had unwisely taken
up the matter, and not even the com
mon sorrow that came upon them in the
deaths of the sons in after years had
served to bring them together. Each
had waited for the other to speak, and
both had kept silence.
Mrs. Day came to the vendue, as
Mrs. Pickett had predicted.
Mrs. Pickett sat in the big rocking
| chair on the little porch and watched
the progress Of the sale through a
mist of tears.
Other friends came and spoke words
Of cheer and sympathy, but Rache
Day, prosperous and happy, kept aloof
Occasionally she glanced toward hel
old friend as she sat on the porch, q
pathetic figure in her widows weeds
her gray head bowed and her handker
chief often at her eyes, but if Mrs
Day felt sorry for Mrs Pickett she die
not say so.
"Going, going, going, gentlemen ani
ladies'! Four and a half has been Of
fered for this solid oak chest, as goo6
as it was the day it was made. Foul
and half I'm offered. Who'll make Il
five? Five, five, fve-who says it
Are you all done, ladies and gentle
men? Third and last call and-soli
for four and a half to the lady will
the brown silk dress and black lace
shawl!'
The lady with the brown silk dres!
and black lace shawl was Rachel Day