United States -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Fiction; Villages -- Fiction
"Well, now that I've had my say I'll tell you that I really came to
invite you to your daughter's wedding supper to-night. Tommy Winston's
married your Alice sure enough, but he's a good boy even if he is
motherless and fatherless and has sort of shifted for himself in odd
ways. He brought Alice to me last night all properly married and she's
been with me ever since, so everything is all right and respectable,
for which you may thank the dear Lord on bended knees. Tommy's been
and rented the little Bently place over on the hill and is getting it
into shape with a few pieces of furniture. It's such a doll house it
won't take much to furnish it. I've found half a dozen things up attic
and, Milly, if you look around, you'll find plenty here to help start
the little new home in fair shape. Thank heavens, life in Green Valley
is still simple enough so's people can every now and then marry for
love and not much of anything else. Though Tommy's got a little
besides his horse and wagon. He's already bought Alice a new hat and
fixings and he's going down to Tony's hardware store this afternoon to
order up a good cook stove. So you see--"
But at this point Sears woke up and hoarsely, defiantly and a little
tremulously announced:
"He'll do no such thing. I'm going down right now to buy that there
cook stove."
So that was settled and a new home peaceably, respectably started as
every home should be. And it would have been hard to say who was the
busiest and happiest of all the people who helped make a wedding that
day.
By three o'clock, however, everything was about done and there were
only the final touches to be put on. Grandma engineered everything
over the telephone and Green Valley responded whole-heartedly, as it
always did to all her work.
Fanny Foster had found time to run down to Jessup's and buy the bride a
first-class tablecloth and some towels. Fanny was always buying the
most appropriate, tasty and serviceable things for other people and the
most outlandish, cheap and second-hand stuff for herself. The
tablecloth was extravagantly good, as Grandma sternly told her.
But, "La--what of it! I was saving the money to buy myself a silk
petticoat," Fanny defended herself. "I wanted to know just once before
I died what and how it felt like to rustle up the church aisle instead
of slinking down it on a Sunday morning. But I just think a silk
petticoat isn't worth thinking about when a thing like this happens."
So Grandma smiled and as she laid out her best black silk she made a
mental note of the fact that Fanny Foster was to have, sometime or
other, a silk petticoat, made up to her for this day's work and
self-sacrifice. For Grandma was one of those rare practical people who
yet believed in respecting the foolish dreams of impractical humans.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account