 | Life and sayings of Mrs. Partington and others
of the family |  |
STOCK OF THE REVOLUTION.
“We have little left of the revolutionary stock, now,”
said the schoolmaster, as he seated himself in Mrs. Partington's
back-room, and wiped his brow. There was a
meaning in her spectacles, as they glanced upon him,
responsive to his remark, but she said not a word. Drawing
a chair towards her, she smilingly stepped upon it,
and, standing on tiptoe, reached away back into a closet
in which were kept the remnants of past service, — bottles
and paper bags, and a heterogeneous mass of odds and
ends that would have made the fortune of a showman, —
the blue stockings revealing themselves as she prosecuted
her search; but the schoolmaster did n't see them —
not he.
“Revolutionary stock!” said Mrs. Partington, and
her voice seemed choked by the dust raised in the old
cupboard, “here 's one of 'em!” and she reached out,
with a present-arms motion, an old musket-stock. “Here
is a relict of the revolution that has survived the time
that tired men's souls; and, poor souls! I should think
they would have been tired to death with the smell of
the powder and balls. I keep this up here away from
Isaac, for fear he should do some mischief with it, for I
don't want him to have nothing to do with fire-arms.
Is n't it a relict?”
Bless thee, Mrs. Partington! and thou art a relict,
thyself, more to be prized than stacks of arms; and, did
STOCK OF THE REVOLUTION.
[Description: 677EAF. Illustration page. Image of a man sitting in a chair looking at a woman. The woman is standing on her chair with a rifle in her hands. Behind her is an open cupboard over the fireplace.]
the scourge of the nations, and men would not know
fighting any more.
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of the family | |