Grandma was sitting before a quaint old cabinet, the doors of
which stood wide open, showing glimpses of the faded relics
treasured there. On a stool, at the old lady’s feet, sat Polly, looking
up with intent face and eager eyes, quite absorbed in the history of
a high-heeled brocade shoe which lay in her lap.
“Well, my dear,” grandma was saying, “she had it on the very day
that Uncle Joe came in as she sat at work, and said, ‘Dolly, we
must be married at once.’ ‘Very well, Joe,’ says Aunt Dolly, and
down she went to the parlor, where the minister was waiting, never
stopping to change the dimity dress she wore, and was actually
married with her scissors and pin-ball at her side, and her thimble
on. That was in war times, 1812, my dear, and Uncle Joe was in
the army, so he had to go, and he took that very little pin-ball with
him. Here it is with the mark of a bullet through it, for he always
said his Dolly’s cushion saved his life.”
“How interesting that is!” cried Polly, as she examined the faded
cushion with the hole in it.
“Why, grandma, you never told me that story,” said Fanny,
hurrying in, finding the prospect was a pleasant one for a stormy
afternoon.
“You never asked me to tell you anything, my dear, so I kept my
old stories to myself,” answered grandma, quietly.
“Tell some now, please. May we stay and see the funny things?”
said Fan and Maud, eyeing the open cabinet with interest.
“If Polly likes; she is my company, and I am trying to entertain her,
for I love to have her come,” said grandma, with her old-time
politeness.
“Oh, yes! do let them stay and hear the stories. I ‘ve often told them
what good times we have up here, and teased them to come, but
they think it ‘s too quiet. Now, sit down, girls, and let grandma go
on. You see I pick out something in the cabinet that looks
interesting, and then she tells me about it,” said Polly, eager to
include the girls in her pleasures, and glad to get them interested in
grandma’s reminiscences, for Polly knew how happy it made the
lonely old lady to live over her past, and to have the children round
her.
“Here are three drawers that have not been opened yet; each take
one, and choose something from it for me to tell about,” said
Madam, quite excited at the unusual interest in her treasures.
So the girls each opened a drawer and turned over the contents till
they found something they wanted to know about. Maud was ready
first, and holding up an oddly shaped linen bag, with a big blue F
embroidered on it, demanded her story. Grandma smiled as she
smoothed the old thing tenderly, and began her story with evident
pleasure.
“My sister Nelly and I went to visit an aunt of ours, when we were
little girls, but we did n’t have a very good time, for she was
extremely strict. One afternoon, when she had gone out to tea, and
old Debby, the maid, was asleep in her room, we sat on the
door-step, feeling homesick, and ready for any thing to amuse us.
” ‘What shall we do?’ said Nelly.
“Just as she spoke, a ripe plum dropped bounce on the grass before
us, as if answering her question. It was all the plum’s fault, for if it
had n’t fallen at that minute, I never should have had the thought
which popped into my mischievous mind.
” ‘Let ‘s have as many as we want, and plague Aunt Betsey, to pay
her for being so cross,’ I said, giving Nelly half the great purple
plum.
” ‘It would be dreadful naughty,’ began Nelly, ‘but I guess we will,’
she added, as the sweet mouthful slipped down her throat.
” ‘Debby ‘s asleep. Come on, then, and help me shake,’ I said,
getting up, eager for the fun.
“We shook and shook till we got red in the face, but not one
dropped, for the tree was large, and our little arms were not strong