Transcriber's notes: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed. New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain. THE COHANSEY TEA-FIGHT BY _Lucy Ellen Guernsey_ THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY VOLUME XXXIII.—NUMBER 198 APRIL, 1874 _CONTENTS_ THE COHANSEY TEA-FIGHT. _Lucy Ellen Guernsey_ BOSTON H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY 219 WASHINGTON STREET NEW YORK: HURD AND HOUGHTON 13 ASTOR PLACE The Riverside Press, Cambridge TERMS—SINGLE NUMBERS, 35 CENTS YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION, $4.00 THE COHANSEY TEA-FIGHT. "IT is pouring cats and dogs!" said Violet, looking out of the window at the storm. "There is n't a bit of use in thinking of it, is there, aunt?" "I should say not!" answered Aunt Elisabeth. "To be sure it may clear up before five o'clock, but unless the weather improves, I think you had better give it up." "Give up what?" asked Grandmother Howell. "Going to Annabella Floyd's tea-fight, grandmother," I answered. "My dear!" said Aunt Elisabeth. She had a horror of slang, and she had never heard this particular phrase, which had just begun to come into use twenty years ago. "A tea-fight! And what is a tea-fight?" asked grandmother. "Oh, a little sociable tea-party all of girls, you know," I explained. "Annabella Floyd, across the creek, has one this afternoon, but I am afraid we can't go." "Umph!" said grandmother. "I remember a tea-fight on Cohansey Creek worth going to,—but it was a man's tea-fight, not a girl's, though a girl helped get it up, after all." "Oh, please do tell us about it, grandma!" said Violet and I together; and Aunt Elisabeth added: "Yes, do, grandmother; it will help to make the time pass pleasantly." Violet and myself were making our annual visitation to Aunt Elisabeth in Greenwich, New Jersey. We had been there so often that it was like another home to us, and we knew every house and store and tree in the broad, quiet street, and every face in the meeting-home, for Aunt Elisabeth was a Friend, and we always went to meeting with her. These visits were among the happiest times of my life. I loved Aunt Elisabeth dearly, and all but adored my great-grandmother Howell. I liked the place and the people and the quiet friendly ways,—yes, and the meetings, too, even when there was no preaching and we had a silent season. Violet sometimes found it rather dull, but I never did.