New Ulm review., 1921-03-16
1.-THE QUILT LEGACY[
BY DORA LEFAvoUR.
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Josiah Prism lacked the business
acumen Of his ancestors, and when he
died the home which had passed down
his line for generations was his only
legacy to his two daughters.
The city came. Massive buildings
lowered menacingly above Miss Es-
theirs wee shop, and homes of modern
architecture grew around their wealth
er-beaten home, TIL the sisters felt
showed aside-elbowed into their re-
spective, old-fashioned corners by the
busy, self-seeking, hustling throng |;
and her little shop became Miss Es-
thers life, and home an oasis in will
derness of people, most Of them with
foreign accent in their speech and for
elgn methods in their ways; while
Miss Lucretia rarely ventured beyond
her well-kept garden.
Miss Esther patriotically, conscien-
t1ously, sold her prewar stock at pre-
war prices, and the alarming postwar
replenishments bit into her narrow
margin so keenly that one evening,
when she locked her store, she thought
that upon the twenty-fifth day Of this
bleak November there'd be little to
make her and her sister thankful.
AS she walked the two city blocks
to her home, her step was as daiberat-
ly sedate, her poise as perfect as If
the world were at her feet; yet, her
heart was SO unanimously timorous
that she closed the door with it's shin
Ing brass knocker quickly, almost with
a bang-as if to shut out the grasping,
gtddy, up-tO-date six o'clock thrOng !;
and the nosome grievances of her day
dtmmed to the soft frOufrOu Of her
sisters black silk as Miss Lucretia
came down the hall to meet her, and
announce dinner, just as she had done
every evening of every business day
for the twenty years which Miss Es-
ther had been the breadwinner.
After they'd eaten their toast, Miss
Lucretia carried the tea things to the
drawing room, while Miss Esther
turned the oil lamps economically low.
Esther" confided Miss Lucretia, be-
fore blazing wood fire in the open
CRATE, "this is the last Of the tea. The
buffers gone, and there's only one
more rising of bread flour in the bar
rel, and all is sold that can be sold
without everything going under the
hammer"
Miss Esther's sigh sWelled her fat
bosom. Business is dull-extremely
dull, Lucretia,'' she confded in her
turn. ''People advise advertising, but
shrink from Haunting my store news
through the blatant newspapers, and
fear it's rent will use all my capital
this month.
Miss Doyney was in today-she's
opening a tea room, and if I could
match this chintz she would commits
sion me to decorate her place.
1T would put US quite On Easy
street." she continued, lingering the
bright-hued sample she took from her
skirt pocket.
'Let me see that, Esther" Miss Lu-
cretia held out her hand. Seems to
me I've seen some just like it some
where"
Probably when you were child"
Miss Esther replied vaguely. .If I
could match it anywhere it would be
at Wallis in Boston, but it's price would
be exorbitant-quite prohibitive. No.,
it's no use-the game is not worth the
candle"
II think I'll retire, sister," Miss Els
thor sold II, oVJx ;v,+ +Io
ming. Miss Lucretia opined she, too,
would go to bed.
Each took a small lamp and silently
climbed the shadowy, creaking stairs.
Miss Lucretia's brow wrinkled in
memory-searching frown.
"Where in the world have I seen
chintz like that?" she kept asking her.
self.
Esther" she f1uttered, "don't you
remember Aunt Anstice Dolbear's leg
acy?"
Straight to an old BRASS studded
hair trunk they sped, simultaneously
opened the creaking lid and dragged
a bulky quilt from the place where it
had lain untouched for twenty-five
years.
Down in her room, Miss Esther, the
reserved, the self-contained, lighted a
lamp with eager, trembling fingers,
and compared the sample flutteringly.
Miss Lucretia also held it far off and
near to her dim vision.
They agreed-it matched.
'I've just got to get scissors and
rip it off now," said Miss Esther, "and
measure it before can sleep a wink"
The sharp-pointed scissors soon gave
vent; she slipped her fingers through
the opening to hold her work the bet
ter. They touched something crisp;
she ripped faster, her faded blue eyes
protruding as the crispiness proved to
be dollar bill. She gasped, and slip
ped her hand in Furthermore crisp.
ness.
With trembling haste they clipped
them off, and placed them in neat piles
--one thousand Of them.
Neither spoke; the moment was too
tense, too freighted for speech. Sim
ultaneously they dropped to their
knees beside Miss Esther's bed in rev.
erent thanksgiving.
Presently practical Miss Lucretia
arose and, putting on her slippers and