الفصل الفصل 26 · "OVER THE TEACUPS"

. "OVER THE TEACUPS"

"OVER THE TEACUPS"

The summer term at Wareham had ended, and Huldah Meserve, Dick Carter,

and Living Perkins had finished school, leaving Rebecca and Emma Jane

to represent Riverboro in the year to come. Delia Weeks was at home

from Lewiston on a brief visit, and Mrs. Robinson was celebrating the

occasion by a small and select party, the particular day having been

set because strawberries were ripe and there was a rooster that wanted

killing. Mrs. Robinson explained this to her husband, and requested

that he eat his dinner on the carpenter's bench in the shed, as the

party was to be a ladies' affair.

"All right; it won't be any loss to me," said Mr. Robinson. "Give me

beans, that's all I ask. When a rooster wants to be killed, I want

somebody else to eat him, not me!"

Mrs. Robinson had company only once or twice a year, and was generally

much prostrated for several days afterward, the struggle between pride

and parsimony being quite too great a strain upon her. It was

necessary, in order to maintain her standing in the community, to

furnish a good "set out," yet the extravagance of the proceeding goaded

her from the first moment she began to stir the marble cake to the

moment when the feast appeared upon the table.

The rooster had been boiling steadily over a slow fire since morning,

but such was his power of resistance that his shape was as firm and

handsome in the pot as on the first moment when he was lowered into it.

"He ain't goin' to give up!" said Alice, peering nervously under the

cover, "and he looks like a scarecrow."

"We'll see whether he gives up or not when I take a sharp knife to

him," her mother answered; "and as to his looks, a platter full o'

gravy makes a sight o' difference with old roosters, and I'll put

dumplings round the aidge; they're turrible fillin', though they don't

belong with boiled chicken."

The rooster did indeed make an impressive showing, lying in his border

of dumplings, and the dish was much complimented when it was borne in

by Alice. This was fortunate, as the chorus of admiration ceased

abruptly when the ladies began to eat the fowl.

"I was glad you could git over to Huldy's graduation, Delia," said Mrs.

Meserve, who sat at the foot of the table and helped the chicken while

Mrs. Robinson poured coffee at the other end. She was a fit mother for

Huldah, being much the most stylish person in Riverboro; ill health and

dress were, indeed, her two chief enjoyments in life. It was rumored

that her elaborately curled "front piece" had cost five dollars, and

that it was sent into Portland twice a year to be dressed and frizzed;

but it is extremely difficult to discover the precise facts in such

cases, and a conscientious historian always prefers to warn a too

credulous reader against imbibing as gospel truth something that might

be the basest perversion of it. As to Mrs. Meserve's appearance, have

you ever, in earlier years, sought the comforting society of the cook

and hung over the kitchen table while she rolled out sugar gingerbread?

Perhaps then, in some unaccustomed moment of amiability, she made you a

dough lady, cutting the outline deftly with her pastry knife, and then,

at last, placing the human stamp upon it by sticking in two black

currants for eyes. Just call to mind the face of that sugar gingerbread

lady and you will have an exact portrait of Huldah's mother,--Mis'

Peter Meserve, she was generally called, there being several others.

"How'd you like Huldy's dress, Delia?" she asked, snapping the elastic

in her black jet bracelets after an irritating fashion she had.

"I thought it was about the handsomest of any," answered Delia; "and

her composition was first rate. It was the only real amusin' one there

was, and she read it so loud and clear we didn't miss any of it; most

o' the girls spoke as if they had hasty pudtin' in their mouths."

"That was the composition she wrote for Adam Ladd's prize," explained

Mrs. Meserve, "and they do say she'd 'a' come out first, 'stead o'

fourth, if her subject had been dif'rent. There was three ministers and

three deacons on the committee, and it was only natural they should

choose a serious piece; hers was too lively to suit 'em."

Huldah's inspiring theme had been Boys, and she certainly had a fund of

knowledge and experience that fitted her to write most intelligently

upon it. It was vastly popular with the audience, who enjoyed the

rather cheap jokes and allusions with which it coruscated; but judged

from a purely literary standpoint, it left much to be desired.

"Rebecca's piece wan't read out loud, but the one that took the boy's

prize was; why was that?" asked Mrs. Robinson.

"Because she wan't graduatin'," explained Mrs. Cobb, "and couldn't take

part in the exercises; it'll be printed, with Herbert Dunn's, in the

school paper."

"I'm glad o' that, for I'll never believe it was better 'n Huldy's till

I read it with my own eyes; it seems as if the prize ought to 'a' gone

to one of the seniors."

"Well, no, Marthy, not if Ladd offered it to any of the two upper

classes that wanted to try for it," argued Mrs. Robinson. "They say

they asked him to give out the prizes, and he refused, up and down. It

seems odd, his bein' so rich and travelin' about all over the country,

that he was too modest to git up on that platform."

"My Huldy could 'a' done it, and not winked an eyelash," observed Mrs.

Meserve complacently; a remark which there seemed no disposition on the

part of any of the company to controvert.

"It was complete, though, the governor happening to be there to see his

niece graduate," said Delia Weeks. "Land! he looked elegant! They say

he's only six feet, but he might 'a' been sixteen, and he certainly did

make a fine speech."

"Did you notice Rebecca, how white she was, and how she trembled when

she and Herbert Dunn stood there while the governor was praisin' 'em?

He'd read her composition, too, for he wrote the Sawyer girls a letter

about it." This remark was from the sympathetic Mrs. Cobb.

"I thought 't was kind o' foolish, his makin' so much of her when it

wan't her graduation," objected Mrs. Meserve; "layin' his hand on her

head 'n' all that, as if he was a Pope pronouncin' benediction. But

there! I'm glad the prize come to Riverboro 't any rate, and a

han'somer one never was give out from the Wareham platform. I guess

there ain't no end to Adam Ladd's money. The fifty dollars would 'a'

been good enough, but he must needs go and put it into those elegant

purses."

"I set so fur back I couldn't see 'em fairly," complained Delia, "and

now Rebecca has taken hers home to show her mother."

"It was kind of a gold net bag with a chain," said Mrs. Perkins, "and

there was five ten-dollar gold pieces in it. Herbert Dunn's was put in

a fine leather wallet."

"How long is Rebecca goin' to stay at the farm?" asked Delia.

"Till they get over Hannah's bein' married, and get the house to

runnin' without her," answered Mrs. Perkins. "It seems as if Hannah

might 'a' waited a little longer. Aurelia was set against her goin'

away while Rebecca was at school, but she's obstinate as a mule, Hannah

is, and she just took her own way in spite of her mother. She's been

doin' her sewin' for a year; the awfullest coarse cotton cloth she had,

but she's nearly blinded herself with fine stitchin' and rufflin' and

tuckin'. Did you hear about the quilt she made? It's white, and has a

big bunch o' grapes in the centre, quilted by a thimble top. Then

there's a row of circle-borderin' round the grapes, and she done them

the size of a spool. The next border was done with a sherry glass, and

the last with a port glass, an' all outside o' that was solid stitchin'

done in straight rows; she's goin' to exhibit it at the county fair."

"She'd better 'a' been takin' in sewin' and earnin' money, 'stead o'

blindin' her eyes on such foolishness as quilted counterpanes," said

Mrs. Cobb. "The next thing you know that mortgage will be foreclosed on

Mis' Randall, and she and the children won't have a roof over their

heads."

"Don't they say there's a good chance of the railroad goin' through her

place?" asked Mrs. Robinson. "If it does, she'll git as much as the

farm is worth and more. Adam Ladd 's one of the stockholders, and

everything is a success he takes holt of. They're fightin' it in

Augusty, but I'd back Ladd agin any o' them legislaters if he thought

he was in the right."

"Rebecca'll have some new clothes now," said Delia, "and the land knows

she needs 'em. Seems to me the Sawyer girls are gittin' turrible near!"

"Rebecca won't have any new clothes out o' the prize money," remarked

Mrs. Perkins, "for she sent it away the next day to pay the interest on

that mortgage."

"Poor little girl!" exclaimed Delia Weeks.

"She might as well help along her folks as spend it on foolishness,"

affirmed Mrs. Robinson. "I think she was mighty lucky to git it to pay

the interest with, but she's probably like all the Randalls; it was

easy come, easy go, with them."

"That's more than could be said of the Sawyer stock," retorted Mrs.

Perkins; "seems like they enjoyed savin' more'n anything in the world,

and it's gainin' on Mirandy sence her shock."

"I don't believe it was a shock; it stands to reason she'd never 'a'

got up after it and been so smart as she is now; we had three o' the

worst shocks in our family that there ever was on this river, and I

know every symptom of 'em better'n the doctors." And Mrs. Peter Meserve

shook her head wisely.

"Mirandy 's smart enough," said Mrs. Cobb, "but you notice she stays

right to home, and she's more close-mouthed than ever she was; never

took a mite o' pride in the prize, as I could see, though it pretty

nigh drove Jeremiah out o' his senses. I thought I should 'a' died o'

shame when he cried 'Hooray!' and swung his straw hat when the governor

shook hands with Rebecca. It's lucky he couldn't get fur into the

church and had to stand back by the door, for as it was, he made a

spectacle of himself. My suspicion is"--and here every lady stopped

eating and sat up straight--"that the Sawyer girls have lost money.

They don't know a thing about business 'n' never did, and Mirandy's too

secretive and contrairy to ask advice."

"The most o' what they've got is in gov'ment bonds, I always heard, and

you can't lose money on them. Jane had the timber land left her, an'

Mirandy had the brick house. She probably took it awful hard that

Rebecca's fifty dollars had to be swallowed up in a mortgage, 'stead of

goin' towards school expenses. The more I think of it, the more I think

Adam Ladd intended Rebecca should have that prize when he gave it." The

mind of Huldah's mother ran towards the idea that her daughter's rights

had been assailed.

"Land, Marthy, what foolishness you talk!" exclaimed Mrs. Perkins; "you

don't suppose he could tell what composition the committee was going to

choose; and why should he offer another fifty dollars for a boy's

prize, if he wan't interested in helpin' along the school? He's give

Emma Jane about the same present as Rebecca every Christmas for five

years; that's the way he does."

"Some time he'll forget one of 'em and give to the other, or drop 'em

both and give to some new girl!" said Delia Weeks, with an experience

born of fifty years of spinsterhood.

"Like as not," assented Mrs. Peter Meserve, "though it's easy to see he

ain't the marryin' kind. There's men that would marry once a year if

their wives would die fast enough, and there's men that seems to want

to live alone."

"If Ladd was a Mormon, I guess he could have every woman in North

Riverboro that's a suitable age, accordin' to what my cousins say,"

remarked Mrs. Perkins.

"'T ain't likely he could be ketched by any North Riverboro girl,"

demurred Mrs. Robinson; "not when he prob'bly has had the pick o'

Boston. I guess Marthy hit it when she said there's men that ain't the

marryin' kind."

"I wouldn't trust any of 'em when Miss Right comes along!" laughed Mrs.

Cobb genially. "You never can tell what 'n' who 's goin' to please 'em.

You know Jeremiah's contrairy horse, Buster? He won't let anybody put

the bit into his mouth if he can help it. He'll fight Jerry, and fight

me, till he has to give in. Rebecca didn't know nothin' about his

tricks, and the other day she went int' the barn to hitch up. I

followed right along, knowing she'd have trouble with the headstall,

and I declare if she wan't pattin' Buster's nose and talkin' to him,

and when she put her little fingers into his mouth he opened it so fur

I thought he'd swaller her, for sure. He jest smacked his lips over the

bit as if 't was a lump o' sugar. 'Land, Rebecca,' I says, 'how'd you

persuade him to take the bit?' 'I didn't,' she says, 'he seemed to want

it; perhaps he's tired of his stall and wants to get out in the fresh

air.'"