180 



COTTAGES AND COTTAGE LIFE. 



and forks from duty, and to dispose them more 

 peacefully — to reform and rin;lit matters generally. 

 As a young housekeeper, she was startled at this 

 unlooked-for result, but determined to carry the war 

 into the enemy's country, — to laugh first — when 

 Ned, putting his head into the door, inquired, with 

 much gravity, 



" Is your breakfast nearly ready, Miss Ellison?'' 



At his appearance, Jemima darted away as if he 

 were a dragon. She plainly had strange ideas 

 about young men. 



" If you will return to bed," Grace replied, " we 

 will serve it to you there in oriental magnificence." 



Having again recovered the skittish girl, she 

 explained that her wish was to have had the tail of 

 the fish brought to its head, so that it would lie in 

 the dish. 



" Law, you don't say ?" 



That the parsley was not to have been boiled. 



" Well, now, who'd have thought ?" 



Upon inquiring for the mustard, .Temiraa said 

 that the " nasty stuff" had been washed away. 

 But Grace having announced to the gentlemen, 

 that they must make it a dejune.r instead of a din- 

 ner, it passed along, and furnished food for laugh- 

 ter as well as conversation. Uncle John took oc- 

 casion to mention a little supper, to which he had 

 been invited, with half a dozen others, by the paint- 

 er. Wall. Upon opening the folding doors, Wall 

 held up his hands, exclaiming — 



"This is dreadful. I ordered my ducks to be 

 roasted and my lobster boiled, and it is just the 

 other way !" 



" Oh, that I had known that." said the cook, an 

 Irish woman ; " for I had the divil's own work to 

 keep the ugly thing before the fire." 



Jack, the black Newfoundland, sat by Grace's 

 side. Dinner, even at that early hour, was no joke 

 to him. At every pause in the conversation, he 

 touched her arm with his rough hand, and looked 

 away, as innocent as if he had been some other 

 dog. Jack alwaj-s dined well ; to his mind, it was 

 of consequence. Not so, however, to Mr. Ellery, 

 who helped himself freely to the parsley, that being 

 most convenient to him. • » « * • 



The conversation, as well as the dinner, had an 

 end, if nothing more ; and when Mr. Scranton and 

 Mr. Ellery had given, the one his hearty, the other 

 his merited adieus. Uncle Tom insinuated himself 

 into the soft heart of the sofa ; while, during the 

 warm hours, the others addressed themselves to 

 various occupations; Grace, strange as it may 

 seem, to a history — a pictorial history of England. 



She was old enough to find as much there as in 

 poor stories. She loved Hampden, admired Crom- 

 well, disliked Mary, with her lovers and cups, and 

 detested Henry, his cruelties and his amours. Un- 

 cle John, after some time having passed, was start- 

 led from his drowse by Grace, asking — 



" Why have you never married ? Every jack has 

 hisjill?" 



" I could'nt do it." 



" But seiiously, Uncle John." 



" Seriously. I had the usual experience, and be- 

 lieved tiiat this or that one was necessary to my 

 happiness ; but my caution always interfered in 



time, and my conscience would not permit me to 

 marry a poor girl." 



Grace laughed out. 



" Seriously, Grace, the girls whom I knew were 

 brought up to expect the best position, and the 

 like — would have been unhappy without them. I 

 should have been miserable, as the drudge who was 

 to toil for these — as the father of children, who 

 must go through the same dissatisfied youth which 

 fell to my lot. I could not and would not do it ; 

 nor will I advise any one else to do it." 



" What do you think of that, Ned ?" asked Grace; 

 ■' are you ready to join this association of single 

 ble-sed ones ?" 



'' I shall do what the rest of you do," he replied, 

 quite busy at his work — perhaps to hide a little 

 added colour. 



" Not, Grace," continued Uncle John, "that I 

 have doubts of marriage. It is essential to the 

 highest form of manhood and womanhood ; but I 

 think that, as to the numbers in each state, more 

 true manliness and womanliness exist out of it than 

 in it! These ill judged connections are wicked, 

 and unfortunate to all concerned ; and their results 

 fill the world with weakness. A man has no more 

 right to bring to suffering and degradation a wife 

 and children than he has to lie." 



"What shall we all do. Uncle John?" asked 

 Grace. " Why have you not joined the Shakers ?" 



" You women are much to blame — you are too 

 willing. Somewhere I have heard of a minister 

 who, about to marry two persons in church, said — 

 ' Those who wish to be married will rise ;' when 

 half the women got up in their places. And it is 

 because they have nothing else to do, and are fit for 

 nothing else — if for that." 



For some time past they had heard the voice of 

 Jemima, in anything but dulcet strains, singing out 

 the stirring hymn, which, commencing with — 



■' Where now is good old Moses ?" 



comes down, through saints and heroes, even to our 

 time. 



Uncle Tom was now growing restive ; but, as 

 the song increased in energy, he waked, when it 

 burst upon him — 



" He went out through tribulation, 



Safe to ihe promised land. 

 By-and-by we'll go and meet him, 

 By-aud-by will go — " 



" Zounds," said Uncle Tom, " go at once — go to 

 the devil ; anywhere but here!" 



He was almost taken in the act ; for the girl soon 

 entered, and seated herself, knitting-work in hand, 

 dressed in her best clothes. 'Twas the way they 

 did where she came from. 



" Is John coming too ?" asked Ned Lee. 



" I rather guess not," she replied. But this was 

 the first day of Jemima Jane. 



There are ten, neatly lithographed de- 

 signs for pleasant rural cottages, showing 

 elevations of the principal fronts and plans 

 of the living-room floors. A page of ex- 



