One was Dolly's regular letter from South America, but it conveyed the
joyful news that the end of probation was at hand and it was about time
to begin ordering the trousseau for an early wedding. The other letter
was from Aunt Maria, and said that her sister was ill and she should
not return in the autumn, and the family was to have whatever they could
take home from the garden. These things naturally made the breaking up
of the little home very exciting.
"We will take all the potatoes," said Mary as they looked over the
outdoor supplies still uneaten. "We will have those put in two barrels,
and have one apiece for you and ourselves. The squashes we will take
too, and the onions and turnips and beets, and all those things. The
parsley we will plant in boxes for the kitchen windows, and the apples
we will take every one."
"And may a mere man inquire where on earth you are going to store all
these things in our flat?" asked her husband. "The barrel of potatoes
can stand in the dining-room, to be sure, and the apples in the parlor,
but the squashes and turnips will have to go in your dress-boxes under
the beds."
"No, they won't. We will take everything to town that we can and divide
them up. The janitor can keep our barrels in the basement and bring up
one at a time, and I will put the other things in baskets and pile those
one on top of the other in the corner by the refrigerator, or some other
place."
"Some other place will be better," said Dick.
"Well, of course I realize that they will not keep forever, Dick Thorne,
but I shall take every single thing I can find, for all that, and we
will eat them up as soon as possible. Still, it is maddening not to have
more room to store things in a city apartment. Now in the country we
should have a root cellar, Dolly, and put lots of them out there, and
have them come in all winter when we needed them. And of course potatoes
and apples and squashes we could put down cellar and they would be all
right there. Isn't it too provoking we can't do that way in town? I
declare it is enough to make me determine to stay on here till spring."
"Do," said her husband encouragingly. "Shovelling snow is said to be the
finest exercise in the world, and you can do it at odd moments when you
are not stoking the kitchen fire. I should have to catch the early train
in the morning, and it would be dark when I came back, so I could not
help you, unfortunately, much as I should regret the fact. But I am sure
it would do you all the good in the world."
"Some other winter," laughed his wife. "The next thing is to get Dolly
married, and we must go back to get that over. Father and mother will be
home soon, too, and that is another reason for our leaving. But it has
been a lovely summer; we shall always remember it, I am sure."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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