Year: 1859

boasted being past forty, sure that the
Iavowal would always draw down on her
quite storm Of compliments on the lresh.
ness Of hersweet pea complexion, and the
brightness of her merry blue eyes. She
was well pleased to hear dawning girls
wondering why, with so many advantages,
she had never married


At such remarks, Miss Prissy always
laughed loudly, and declared that she had
always had such a string of engagements
with the women that she never found
half an hour to listen to what any man
living would say to her, supposing she
could stop to hear him. Besides, if |
were to get married nobody else could, !"
she would say. " What would become Of
all the wedding clothes for everybody
else?" But sometimes, when Miss Prissy
felt extremely gracious, she would draw
out Of her little chest just the faintest
tip-end of sigh, aud tell some young la
/ dy, in a confidential undertone, that one
of these days she would tell her some
thing, and then there would come d
wink of her blue eyes, and futtering of
/ the pink ribbons in her cap, quite stimu-
lating to youthful inquisitireuess, though
we have never been able to learn by any
Of our antiquarian researches, that the
1 expectations thus excited were ever graft
/ fed.


In her professional prowess, she felt a
/ pardonable pride What feats could she
relate of wonderful dresses got out of i'm
possibly small patterns Of silk what mar
yels Of silks turned, that could not be told
! from new what reclaimings of waists that
other dressmakers had hopelessly spoiled
Had not Mrs. General Wilcox oace been
! obliged to call in her aid on a dress sent
to her from Paris and did not Miss
Prissy work three days and nights on
that dress, and make every stitch Of that
trimming over with her own hand before
/ it was it to be seen? And when Mrs
Governor Dexter's best silver gray bro
cade was spoiled by Mrs. PimIico, and
there wasn't another scrap to pattern it
with, didn't she make a new waist out of
the cape, and piece one of the sleeves
twenty-nine times, and yet nobody would
ever have known that there was a joining
! in it?


In fact, though Miss Prissy enjoyed
the fair average plain sailing Of her work,
she might be sid to reUel in difficulties
\ full pattern with trimming, all ample
and ready, awoke a modern enjoyment /;
but the resurrection of anything half worn,
or impcrfectly made, the brilliant success,
when, after turning, twisting, piercing,
contriying, and unheard of inventions Of
trimming, dress faded and defaced was
restored to more than pristine splendor-
that was a triumph worth enjoying.


It was true, Miss Prissy, like most of
her nomadic compeers, was little given
to gossip but, after all, it was innocent
gossip-not bit of malice in it; it was
only all the particulars about Mrs. Thus
and-Sos wardrobe-all the statistics of
Mrs. That-and-T Z others china clo8et-all
the minute items of Miss Simpkin's wed
ding clothes-and how her mother cried
the morning Of the wedding, and said she
didn't know anything how she could spare
Louisa Jane, only that Edward was such
good boy that she felt she could love
him like her own Son-and what a Proyi-
deuce it seemed that the very ring that
was put into the bride loaf was the one
that he gave her when he first went to
sea, when she wouldn't be engaged to him
because she thought she loved Thomas
/ Strickland better, but that was only be-
cause she hadn't found him out, you know
and SO forth, and so forth.


Sometimes, too, her variations assumed
solemn east, and brought to mind the
hush of funerals, and told of words spoken
/ in faint whispers, when hands were clasp
ed for the first time-and of utterances
crushed out from hearts, when the ham
mer Of great sorrow strikes out sparks
Of the divine, even from common stone
and there would be real tears in the little
blue eyes, and the pink bows would fut-
ter tremulously, like the last three leaves
on bare scarlet maple in Autumn. In
fact, dear reader, gossip like romance, has
its noble side to it. How can you love
your neighbor as yourself and not feel a
little curious as to how he takes the great
life tragi-comedy at which you are both
more than spectators Show me per
son who lives in country village, abso-
lutely without curiosity or intereston these
subjects, and | will show you cold, fat
oyster, to whom the tide-mud of proprie-
ty is the whole of existence.