The Expedition of the Donner Party and its Tragic FateHoughton, Eliza Poor Donner
History
The Expedition of the Donner Party and its Tragic Fate
Houghton, Eliza Poor Donner
Donner Party; Overland journeys to the Pacific
Later, Georgia found a small tin box in which mother had kept important
papers. Recently, when referring to that circumstance, Georgia said:
"Grandma for a long time had used it for a white-sugar box, and kept it
on a shelf so high that we could see it only when she lifted it down;
and I don't think we took our eyes from it until it was put back. We
felt that it was too valuable for us ever to own. One day, I found it
thrown away. One side had become unsoldered from the ends and the
bottom also was hanging loose. With a full heart, I grasped the
treasure and put it where we could often see it. Long afterwards, Harry
Huff kindly offered to repair it; and the solder that still holds it
together is also regarded as a keepsake from a dear friend."
[Footnote 15: Mrs. Andrew J. Grayson, wife of the well-known
ornithologist, frequently referred to as the "Audubon of the West."]
CHAPTER XXI
MORAL DISCIPLINE--THE HISTORICAL PUEBLO OF SONOMA--SUGAR PLUMS.
Grandma often declared that she loved me, and did not want to be too
severe; but, for fear that I had learned much wickedness from the
little Indians with whom I had played after I left her at the Fort, she
should watch me very closely herself, and also have Georgia tell her
whenever she should see me do wrong. Consequently, for a while after I
reached Sonoma, I was frequently on the penitential bench, and was as
often punished for fancied misdoings as for real ones. Yet, I grant
that grandma was warranted in being severe the day that she got back
from town before I was ready for her.
She had left us with the promise that she would bring us something nice
if we would be good children and do certain work that she had planned.
After we had finished the task, we both became restless, wondered how
soon she would come back, and what we could do next to keep from being
lonesome. Then I espied on the upper shelf the cream-colored sugar
bowl, with the old-fashioned red roses and black foliage on its cover
and sides. Grandma had occasionally given us lumps of sugar out of it;
and I now asked Georgia if I hadn't better get it down, so that we
could each have a lump of sugar. Hesitatingly, she said, "No, I am
afraid you will break it." I assured her that I would be very careful,
and at once set a chair in place and climbed up. It was quite a strain
to reach the bowl, so I lifted it down and rested it on the lower
shelf, expecting to turn and put it into Georgia's hands. But, somehow,
before I could do this, the lid slipped off and lay in two pieces upon
the floor. Georgia cried out reproachfully,
"There, you know I didn't want you to do it, and now you will get a
good whipping for breaking grandma's best sugar bowl!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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