University of Virginia Library

4. CHAPTER IV

That going to town of Mrs. Wetherbe, about which I told
you in my last chapter, was chiefly with a view to purchases
in reference to the proposed quilting party and wood-chopping.
Not only did we select calico for the border of the quilt, together
with cotton batting and spool-thread, but we also procured
sundry niceties in the edible way, among which I remember
a jug of Orleans molasses, half a pound of ground
ginger, three mackerels, five pounds of cheese, and two pounds
of raisins.

Mrs. Wetherbe had never made a “frolic” before, she said,
and now she wouldn't have the name of being near about it,
let it cost what it would.

And great excitement and talk ran through all the neighborhood
so soon as it was known that Mrs. Wetherbe had been to
town; and rumor speedily exaggerated the gallon of molasses
into a dozen gallons, the three mackerels into a keg, and so on.

Many thought it was not very creditable in a “professor”
to make such a “spree;” some wondered where she would
find any body good enough to ask; others supposed she would
have all her company from town, and all agreed that if she
was going to have her “big-bug” relations, and do her “great
gaul,” she might for all of them. The wonder was that she

didn't make a party of “whole cloth,” and not stick her quilt
in at all.

There was a great deal of surmising and debating as to the
quilt itself; some hoped it was a little nicer than any patchwork
they had seen of Mrs. Wetherbe's making.

But this unamiable disposition gradually gave way when it
was known that the frolic would embrace a wood-chopping
as well as quilting; for surely, they said, she don't expect
chaps from town to cut wood!

The gossip concerning the quilt began to lose interest; what
matter whether it were composed of stars or stripes, “rising
suns” or “crescents,” Mrs. Wetherbe knew her own business
of course, and those who had at first hoped they would not be
invited because they were sure they would not go if they were,
wavered visibly in their stout resolves.

From one or two families in which the greatest curiosity
reigned, spies were sent out in the shape of little girls and
boys, whose ostensible objects were the borrowing of a
darning-needle or a peck measure of the harmless family who
were become the centre of attraction, but whose real errands
were to see what they could see. So the feeling of asperity
was mollified, inasmuch as reports thus obtained circulation
favoring the neighborly and democratic disposition and character
hitherto borne by the Wetherbes.

At one time the good old lady was found with her sleeves
rolled back and mixing bread as she used to do; and invariably
she inquired of the little spies how affairs were going
forward at home. After all, the neighbors began to think the
quilting was not going to be any such great things more than
other quiltings. But I may as well report the rest from actual
observation.

One morning as I looked up from the window where I sat,

I saw Helphenstein Randall approaching, and at once divined
his errand, in which guess-work I was assisted by the method
of his coming, for he was mounted upon Mrs. Wetherbe's old
roan mare, and riding a side-saddle. The boy seemed in
spirits, as I judged from his having the ragged brim of his hat
turned up jauntily in front, as also from his goading forward
the beast with heels and bridle-rein: but not a whit cared she;
with her youth she had lost ambition and moved in slow and
graceless fashion, her neck drooping, and her nose greatly in
advance of her ears. Half an hour afterwards I was on the
way to assist in preparing for the approaching festivities. I,
however, was only a kind of secondary maid of honor, for first
and foremost upon all occasions of the kind was Ellen Blake,
and in this instance she had preceded me, and with her hair
in papers and her sleeves and skirt tucked up, came forth in a
kind of at-home-attire, mistress-of-the-house fashion, to welcome
me, a privilege she always assumed on occasions of the
kind.

In truth, Ellen really had a genius for managing the affairs
of other people, and for the time being felt the same interest
in whatever was being done as though it were her own.
She was also thought, in our neighborhood, to be “very good
company,” and therefore it is no wonder her services were
much in demand. Very ambitious about her work was Ellen,
and few persons could get more through in a day than she, in
fact there are few more faultless; nevertheless, there was one
objection which some of the most old-fashioned people urged
against her—she was dressy, and the rumor was just now
current that she had got a new “flat,” trimmed as full as it
could stick of blue ribbon and red artificial flowers, and also a
white dress flounced up to the very knees!

Already the quilt was in the frames and laid out, as the

marking was called; the chamber was all ready for the guests
and Ellen said she thought she had been pretty smart if she
did say it herself.

“I wanted to take the bed out of my front room and have
the quilting there,” Mrs. Wetherbe said, “but this headstrong
piece (pointing to Ellen) wouldn't hear of it.”

“No, indeed,” replied the girl, “it would have been the
greatest piece of presumption in the world; la, me! if we young
folks cut up as we do sometimes, we'd have that nice carpet
in doll-rags, and then the work of taking down and putting up
the bedstead, all for nothing as you may say.”

I fully agreed that Ellen had made the wisest arrangement;
and here I may as well briefly describe the room. It was
large, covering the space occupied by three rooms on the
ground floor, and next to the roof, so the quilt could be conveniently
attached to the rafters by ropes, and thus drawn up
out of the way in case it were not finished before nightfall.
The walls were unplastered, and the one on either side sloped
within a few feet of the floor, but the gable windows admitted
a sufficiency of light, and there was neither carpet nor furniture
in the way, except, indeed, the furnishing which Ellen
had contrived for the occasion, and which consisted chiefly of
divans, formed of boards and blocks, and cushioned with quilts
and the like. Besides these there were two or three barrels
covered over with table-cloths and designed to serve as hat-racks;
save these, there was no other furniture unless the
draperies formed of petticoats and trowsers here and there
suspended from pegs might be deemed such.

The rafters, too, were variously garnished with bags of
seeds, bunches of dried herbs, and hanks of yarn, together with
some fine specimens of extra large corn, having the husks
turned back from the yellow ears and twisted into braids, by

which it was hung for preservation and show. One more
finishing touch our combined ingenuity gave the room on the
morning of the day our guests were expected, consisting of
green boughs and decorations of flowers.

While we were busy with preparations in the kitchen the
day following my arrival, Mrs. Randall suddenly made her
appearance, wearing a faded dress, an old straw bonnet, and
bearing in one hand a satchel, and in the other an empty
basket.

“Hi O! what brought you, mother?” exclaimed Helph,
who was watching our progress in beating eggs, weighing
sugar, crushing spices, &c., which question was followed with
“Where is Jenny?” and “How did you come?”

We soon learned that she had come in a market wagon for
the sake of economy, that her basket was to carry home eggs,
butter, apples, and whatever she could get, and that, though
she proposed to assist us, she would in fact disconcert our
arrangements and mar our pleasure. Jenny was left at
home to attend the house, while she recruited and enjoyed
a little fun.

No sooner had she tied on one of Mrs. Wetherbe's checked
aprons, and turned back her sleeves, than our trouble began;
of course she knew a better way to do every thing than we,
and the supper would not do at all, unless prepared under her
direction.

Very glad we were when Mrs. Wetherbe said, “Too many
cooks spoil the broth, and I guess the girls better have it their
own way.” But she was not to be dissuaded; she had come
to help, and she was sure she would rather be doing a little
than not.

She gave us accounts of all the balls, dinners, suppers, &c.,
at which she had been, and tried to impress upon us the necessity

of having our country quilting as much in the style of
them as we could.

“We must graduate our ginger-cakes,” she said, “and so
form a pyramid for the central ornament of the table; the
butter must be transformed to pineapples, and we must either
have no meats and tea, or else call it a dinner, and after it was
eaten, serve round coffee on little salvers, for which purpose
we should have pretty china cups,” she said.

Alas, I knew right well how simply ludicrous it would be
to attempt the twisting of Aunt Wetherbe's quilting and
wood-chopping into a fashionable soirée, but I had little eloquence
or argument at command with which to combat her
positive assertions.

“Have you sent your notes of invitation yet?” she asked.

“No, nor I don't mean to send no notes nor nothing,” said the
aunt, a little indignant; “it ain't like as if the queen was going to
make a quilting, I reckon.” But without heeding the negation,
Mrs. Randall continued to say she had brought out some gilt-edged
paper and several specimen cards, among which she
thought perhaps the most elegant would be, “Mr. and Mrs.
Wetherbe at home,” specifying the time, and addressed to whom
ever was designed to be invited. But all in vain the lady urged
the point; the old-fashioned aunt said she would have no such
mess written, that Helph might get on his horse and ride
through the neighborhood and ask the young people to come
to the quilting and wood-chopping.

There was but one thing left to mar the general happiness;
a rumor that Mrs. Wetherbe had hired a “nigger waiter” for
a week.

Many there were who didn't and couldn't believe it, but
others testified to the fact of having seen her with their own
eyes.

What with all our combined forces, preparations went actively
forward, and before the appointed day all was in readiness—coffee
ground, tea ready for steeping, chickens prepared
to broil, cakes and puddings baked, and all the extra saucers
filled with preserves.

Ellen stoutly maintained her place as mistress of ceremonies,
Mrs. Randall took her place as assistant, so that mine
became quite a subordinate position, for which I was not
sorry, for I did not feel competent to grace the elevated position
at first assigned me.

Helph had once or twice been warned by his mother that
Jenny would not come, that he need not trouble himself to go
for her, but he persisted in the determination to bring her; in
fact his heart was set on it, and the aunt seconded his inclination;
it was chiefly for Helph and Jenny she designed the
merry-making, and now she could not be cheated of her darling
expectation.

“Well, have your own way and live the longer,” said the
mother; to which the son answered that such was his intention;
and accordingly, having procured the best buggy the
neighborhood afforded, and brushed coat and hat with extra
care, he set out for the city before sunrise of the long anticipated
day. Dinner was eaten earlier than usual, and at one
o'clock we were all prepared—Mrs. Wetherbe in the black
silk dress she had for twenty years; Ellen in her white
flounced dress, with a comb of enormous size, and a wreath of
flowers above her curls; but when “Emeline” made her appearance
our surprise burst forth in exclamations—she had
appropriated Jenny's new dress to herself.

“Now you needn't scold, Aunt Wetherbe,” she said; “it
was really too pretty a thing for that child, and besides, I intend
to get her another before long.”

“Humph!” said the old lady, “every bit and grain of my
comfort is gone,” and removing her spectacles she continued
silently rubbing them through her apron till Ellen, who was
standing at the window on tip-toe, announced that Jane Stilman
was coming with her “changeable silk on.”

And Jane Stilman had scarcely “taken off her things” when
Polly Harris was announced. Her dress was of thin white
muslin, and she wore a broad-brimmed Leghorn hat, set off
with a profusion of gay ribbons and flowers, notwithstanding
she had ridden on horseback; but in those times riding-dresses
were not in vogue.

Amid merry jesting and laughter we took our places at the
quilt, while Ellen kept watch at the window and brought up
the new-comers, sometimes two or three at once.

Mrs. Wetherbe had not been at all exclusive, and her invitations
included all, rich and poor, maid and mistress, as far
as her acquaintance went. So, while some came in calico
gowns, with handkerchiefs tied over their heads, and walking
across the fields, others were dressed in silks and satins, and
rode on horseback, or were brought in the market wagon by
their fathers or brothers.

Along the yard fence hung rows of side-saddles, and old
work horses and sleek fillies were here and there tied to the
branches of the trees, to enjoy the shade and nibble the grass,
while the long-legged colts responded to the calls of the mothers,
capering about as they would.

Nimbly ran the fingers up and down and across the quilt,
and tongues moved no less nimbly; and though now and then
glances strayed away from the work to the fields, and suppressed
titters broke into loud laughter as one after another
the young men were seen with axes over their shoulders
wending towards the woods, the work went on bravely, and

Polly Harris soon called out, clapping her hands in triumph,
“Our side is ready to `roll.' ”

Very busy and very happy was Ellen, now attending the
“rolling” of the quilt, now examining the stitching of some
young quilter, and now serving round cakes and cider, and
giving kind words and smiles to every one.

“O, Ellen,” called a young mischief-loving girl, “please let
me and Jane Stilman go out and play,” and forthwith they
ran down stairs, and it was not till they were presently seen
skipping across the field with a basket of cakes and a jug of
cider, that their motive was suspected, when for the first time
that day gossip found a vent.

“I'd be sorry,” said Mehitable Long, a tall, oldish girl, “to
be seen running after the boys, as some is.”

“La, me, Mehitable,” answered Ellen, who always had a
good word for everybody, “it ain't every one who is exemplary
like you, but they are just in fun, you know; young wild
girls, you know.”

“I don't know how young they be,” answered the lady
tartly, not much relishing any allusions to age, “but `birds of
a feather flock together,' and them that likes the boys can talk
in favor of others that likes them.”

“Why, don't you like them?” asked Hetty Day, looking up
archly.

“Yes, I like them out of my sight,” answered Mehitable,
stitching fast. Upon hearing this the dimples deepened in
Hetty's cheeks, and the smile was as visible in her black eyes
as on her lips.

“I suppose you wish you had gone along,” said Mehitable
maliciously, “but I can tell you the young doctor is not there,
he was called away to the country about twelve o'clock, to a
man that took sick yesterday.” Hetty's face crimsoned a

little, but otherwise she manifested no annoyance, but replied
laughingly that she hoped he would get back before night.

Mehitable was not thus to be baffled; her heart was overflowing
with bitterness, inasmuch as he whom she called the
young doctor was, in her estimation, old enough to be a more
fitting mate for herself than Hetty, her successful rival, and no
sooner was she foiled in one direction than she turned in another,
evidently “chewing the cud of sweet and bitter fancies.”
“I guess he is no great things of a doctor after all,” she said;
and then elevating her voice and addressing a maiden lady on
the opposite side of the quilt, she continued, “did you hear,
Elizabeth, about his going to visit Mrs. Mercer, and supposing
her attacked with cholera, when in a day or two the disease
fell in her arms!”

This splenetic effervescence was followed by a general burst
of laughter, during which Hetty went to the window, ostensibly
to disentangle her thread, but Ellen speedily relieved her by
inviting her to go with her below and see about the supper.

“I should think,” said Elizabeth, who cordially sympathized
with her friend, “the little upstart would be glad to get out of
sight;” and then came a long account of the miserable way
in which Hetty's family lived; every one knows, they said,
her father drinks up every thing, and for all she looks so fine
in her white dress, most likely her mother has earned it by
washing or sewing; they say she wants to marry off her young
beauty, but I guess it will be hard to do.

When Hetty returned to the garret, her eyes were not so
bright as they had previously been, but the sadly subdued
manner made her only the prettier, and all, save the two
maidens alluded to, were ready to say and do something for
her pleasure. They, however, were not yet satisfied, and tipping
their tongues with the unkindest venom of all, began to

talk of a wealthy and accomplished young lady somewhere,
whom it was rumored the doctor was shortly to marry, in
spite of the little flirtations at home, that some people thought
meant something. Very coolly they talked of the young
lady's superior position and advantages, as though no humble,
loving heart shook under their words as beneath a storm of
arrows.

Opportunely came back the young girls from the woods,
and hearing the reports they had to make, of the number of
choppers, how many trees were felled, &c., the broken mirthfulness
was restored, though Hetty laughed less joyously, and
her elderly rivals maintained a dignified reserve.

Aside from the little episode recorded, all went merry, and
from the west window the golden streak of sunshine stretched
further and further till it began to climb the opposite wall,
when the quilt was rolled to so narrow a width that but few
could work to advantage, and Ellen, selecting the most expeditious
to complete the task, took with her the rest to assist in
preparing the supper, which was done to the music of the
vigorous strokes echoing and re-echoing from among the
wooded hills.