THE RURAL NBW.YORKEK 
755 
“Jimmie’s Decoration Day” 
By Harry Ayres 
“Well, sir, Mr. Holcomb, I’m real glad 
that Harold is gettin’ better. I was 
awful sorry lie couldn’t go to Decoration 
with me. Paw ’lowed lie was goin’ to 
let us take old Nell and the new buggy 
and go by ourselves. You tell him I 
missed him most ev’r.v minute. Got your 
Spring’s work all done? 
“We ain't, neither. W-e-1-1, we most 
had a family jar to start with. Gramper 
was to make the speech, and him and 
Grammer come down the day before and 
stayed all night. He was out to the barn, 
walkin’ up and down, with his hands be¬ 
hind him, a practicin’ what he was goin' 
to say. Paw had just finished cleanin’ 
the harness and was goin’ to put it on 
the team; Henry was washin' the spring- 
wagon ; I was out on the side porch, 
cleanin’ my shoes and Maw’s; she was 
upstairs, performin' her twilight, as Hen¬ 
ry sez; and Emily was gatherin’ lilacs; 
when, lo and behold ; here comes Sheldon 
and Edith a sailin’ inter the yard with a 
big toorin’-car. He whirls her around mid 
stops right by the doorstep, same as if 
he’d been drivin’ ortennobiles all his life. 
“I was so susprised I forgot all about 
my other shoe, and I opened my mouth 
and forgot to shet Unit. Paw dropped 
his clean harness down in the dirt and 
grabbed a holt o’ the halters. I don't 
know which was the startlelest, him or 
the team. They all stood there, with 
their ears pointed forrard, and Paw open¬ 
ed his mouth and forgot to shet it. Hen¬ 
ry sez, ‘Land o’ Goshen!’ and flung the 
last pail o’ water on hisself, ’stead of on 
the wagon. 
“Edith, she was dressed awful pretty, 
and had a ortermobile veil on. She 
Stepped out and rung the bell. Maw 
come hustlin’ down and opened the door. 
Edie made her a curtsey and sez, ‘Hod- 
da-do, Madame. Does Missis Harlow 
live here?’ 
“Maw, she screwed up her mouth and 
sez, ‘She does when she’s to home. Whom 
have I the honor of spookin' to?’ 
“ ‘Missus Sheldon Whitaker,’ sez Edie. 
‘Permit me to interduce my husband. Mr. 
Sheldon Whitaker. We have come to re- 
(piest the honor of talcin' for an ortermo¬ 
bile ride this beautiful mornin’. Mister 
and Missis Ezra Harlow, Mr. and Mrs. 
Henry Barlow, and Master James Martin 
Barlow,’ and she made- another curtsey 
to me. 
“Maw screwed her mouth some more, 
and then she sez, “And where did Mr. 
and Mrs. Sheldon Whitaker think of 
talcin’ us?’ 
"Edie tried to tell her, but she was so 
full o’ giggles she dassent open her mouth 
for fear she’d bile over, so she looked at 
Sheldon. He sez, ‘We thought o' run- 
nin’ down to Itiverton to see the mornin’ 
parade 1 , then to Blankenburg for the noon 
parade. We’ll lunch at the Blnnken- 
burg House and spin out to the 
park in time to see the game 
ntween the Hlankenburgs and the New- 
burys—it’ll be a hot one—and then 
come home by way of Belfort. I 
wouldn’t be susprised if Mrs. Henry 
Harlow’s father and mother were so 
glad to see her they’d invite us in to 
supper—Mrs. Hubbell’s most as good a 
cook as you, Maw.’ 
“ ‘I see,’ sez Maw ; ‘what with the fire¬ 
men and the Booster’s Club, they’ll have 
a fine parade at Riverton, and them 
feather-bed soldiers at Blankenburg, with 
their big band, ’ll be worth goin’ twice 
that distance to see; but I don’t seem to 
remember bearin’ about any exercises— 
maybe. I’m gettin’ a little hard of hear- 
iu’.’ 
“ ‘Oh, there won’t be time for any ex¬ 
ercises,’ sez Sheldon. 
“ ‘Urn—so I thought,’ sez Maw. 
‘About how long do you cal’ate to stay 
at that ball game?’ 
“ ‘Till it’s finished—maybe two hours, 
maybe three.’ 
“ ‘Well,’ sez Maw, ‘maybe Mrs. Shel¬ 
don Whitaker could sit three hours at a 
ball game, while her Gramper and Gram- 
mer shifted for themselves—but I doubt 
it! I wunt! No, children, Mr. Ezry 
Harlow and his tribe—I know Ezry from 
stem to gudgeon, and I can speak for 
him—are goin’ to the village. With only 
a passel o’ school-children and a home¬ 
made band, and less’n a dozen vet’rans 
that can walk and about the same num¬ 
ber that can’t, our parade’ll look like a 
pumpkin patch after a hard frost com¬ 
pared to Riverton and Blankenburg; but 
it'll be ourn. Besides, we’re goin’ to lis¬ 
ten to what may be the last public ad¬ 
dress of the Hon. James Martin. Then 
we aim to bring the Hon. James and the 
twice Hon. Mrs. James back here and 
give ’em the best dinner Mrs. Harlow can 
prepare, and afterwards take ’em up to the 
old homestead, where we'll all jiue with 
Jim and Lizzie in decoratin’ the grave 
of a wife who willingly offered up her 
husband on the altar of her country and 
wish we could do the same for a hus¬ 
band who gave his life for his wife’s 
country—of course, this ain’t got nothin’ 
to do with Mrs. Sheldon Whitaker! We 
thank you for your kind offer, and ap¬ 
preciate the motive behind it; but we’ll 
hear that speech. And even if Gramper 
wa’n’t goin’ to speak, we’d stick to our 
own boys that went out o’ these hills and 
valleys to fight for God and country 
when both needed ’em.’ 
“Well, sir, Mr. Holcomb, Edie didn’t 
have a giggle left when Maw got 
through. She was most a cryin’ when 
she went and laid her hand on Sheldon’s 
arm and sez, ‘Maw’s right, Sheldon. I’m 
ashamed of myself. Let’s give it up.’ 
“Sheldon didn’t say nothin’—he just 
looked sot. Mrs. Lamar sez the Whitak¬ 
er’s is the sottest fam’ly she ever see, 
and Edith made a mistake when she mar¬ 
ried into it. I told Paw about it, and 
he said, “That woman’s a walkin’ cyclo¬ 
pedia of what ain’t so.’ 
“Him and Henry was all hitched up 
by then, and they come over. Paw sez, 
‘Well, Sheldon! Been tradin’ horses? 
That’s a fine geldin’ you’ve got there— 
when did you learn to drive it? Come, 
give an account of your stewardship.’ 
“It seems Mr. Gardner, down to the 
village, had been tryin’ to buy Sheldon’s 
mare for a year, but they couldn’t get to¬ 
gether on the price. You know how that 
mare can go, and she’ll eat right out of 
a orterjnobile. Well, seein’s he couldn’t 
git the mare, Mr. Gardner bought that 
car and tried to learn to drive it without 
knockin’ down all the telephone poles in 
the country. When he’d come to the 
’elusion that the on'y way he could do 
it was to have 'em all changed over to 
the middle Of the road, lie thought it’d 
be cheaper to git the mare, so he offered 
to trade for ,$200 to boot. Sheldon took 
him up. and learned to drive on the sly, 
and siuing a susprise on us. Decoration 
Day—Edie and all. 
“ ‘Well,’ Maw sez, ‘you’re a dear, good 
boy, to plan such a susprise for us, but 
I wonder you could think Paw ’u me 
would go to a ball game on Decoration 
Day—I’d as soon think of goin’ on Sun¬ 
day.’ 
“‘Ball game!’ sez Paw. ‘You wa’n’t 
cal’atin’ to take us to a ball game, Shel¬ 
don ?’ 
“ ‘Well-er-you see, it’s atween the 
Hlankenburgs and the Newburys,’ Shel¬ 
don sez. ‘It’s goin’ to be a crackerjack 
of a game, and seein’s you’re such a fan, 
I thought you’d be as tickled as a dog 
full of fleas—’ 
“ ‘On any other day,’ sez Paw. ‘Hut 
not today, Sheldon, my boy. As mother 
says, it’d be a sacrilege.’ 
“Sheldon was put out. and started to 
say so; but just then Em’ly come round 
the corner of the house, her arms all full 
of lilacs. She put ’em in the car and 
sez, ‘I’ve heard every word you people 
have been sayiu’. Edith, I’d like to 
borry yor husband for a few minutes— 
may I?’ 
“ ‘I guess I can spare him that long,’ 
sez'Edie, ‘but you look so pretty, this 
mornin’, that I ’preciftte the fact that 
I’m runnin’ a serious risk.’ 
“She took him off to one side, and 
when they come back, she sez, ‘Sheldon 
invites you to ride to the village with 
him—there’s room for you all—and after 
dinner he will take you up to Grandpa 
Martin’s. Henry and I are going to take 
the team.’ 
“Y os, sir. Paw sez she and Henry 
atween ’em could coax old Rover and the 
cat into eatin’ out the same dish. Well, 
after some fuss about leavin’ Henry and 
Em’ly out, that’s the way it was set¬ 
tled. When they was all washed and 
dressed—Maw made me wash up again, 
too—they begun to climb in. Maw see 
Gramper and Grammer settled, then sin- 
got in aside o’ me. She sez, ‘You did a 
splendid job on my shoes, Jimmie—for 
the land sakes! if that boy ain’t blacked 
one of his own shoes and left the other 
dirty.’ Whilst I was shinin’ the other 
they sat there and give it to me. When 
I git as big as Henry I'm goin’ to wear 
tail shoes. 
“Ain't it funny? Maw’s allers fussy 
when we’re out with the team, and Paw’s 
allers tell in’ her to be ca’m. She never 
said boo, all the way inter the village, 
and Paw was as nervous as a sett in’ hen. 
We got there in plenty time for the par¬ 
ade, and they put us in amongst tin- 
vet’runs. First, there was tin- band, then 
come the vet’rans as could walk and then 
them as couldn’t—ridin’ in ortennobiles. 
We was with them. Behind us was the pu¬ 
pils of the Union School—all the girls 
dressed in white, with red, white and 
blue ribbons, and enrryiu’ flags. Tin- 
boys didn’t have nothin’ on but just 
clothes, and no flags, neither—except the 
littlest ones. I bet them girls thought 
they was all they was to it! 
“We marched down Main Street, and 
when we got to Mr. Somers’s, he was 
sittin’ in a rockin’ chair on the front 
porch—’cause lie's too feeble to go in 
tin- parade—and he waved a flag at his 
cumrnds and they all saluted him. When 
we got to tin- cimmetary. the band split 
in two and we went in atween ’em. They 
fullered us in and played a toon, and 
then the exercises begun. The preacher 
made a speech with his eyes shet, Per- 
fesser Smith recited Lincoln’s Address at 
Gettysburg, the school sung a hymn about 
the ‘Hoys in Blue,’ the band played an¬ 
other toon, and then Gramper give the 
ad-dress. lie told ’em how this day had 
been set apart to honor the memory of 
them as had laid down their lives that 
we might live in a undivided country that 
was free in fact as well as in name, and 
to remove from Old Glory the one stain 
that had disfigured it for nearly a cen¬ 
tury. lie told us children to always hold 
that day sacred and not to profane it 
with baseball and sich—you ought to 
see Sheldon flush up! 
“Ev’rybody helped the vet’rans decor¬ 
ate the graves, then Fayette Brodie 
blowed ‘taps’ on his B-flat, and we 
marched back to town—the band playin’ 
all the way. 
“We finely <iid git Gramper away from 
them eumrades. If Maw hadn’t put her 
dinner in her new fireless cooker, I bet 
it’d a got burnt, for sure. 
“After dinner, Paw begun to worry 
about gittin’ started. He got Henry and 
Em’ly off and fed old Nell and the chick¬ 
ens. Gramper and Grammer was takin’ 
a nap. and the rest of us made Maw go 
and lie down whilst we did up the dish¬ 
es. Paw looked in about ev’ry five min¬ 
utes, and finely he sez, ‘We’ll never make 
it in time to decorate there up on the 
hill.’ Sheldon told him there was plen¬ 
ty of time, and he went out and looked 
at the pigs. When he couldn’t stand it 
no longer he come in and sez, ‘I ain’t 
sayin’ nothin’ agin that critter ’o yours. 
Shelclon, but if we don’t meet Jim and 
(Concluded on pa fie 7<i.‘U 
