Put blossoms on the mantle-piece,
Throw sand upon the floor,
A guest is coming to the house,
That never came before.
Sarah Jones had been absent several months, when a rumor got abroad
in the village, that the school-girl had made a proud conquest in
Manhattan. It was said that Squire Jones had received letters from a
wealthy merchant of that place, and that he was going down the river to
conduct his daughter home, when a wedding would soon follow, and Sarah
Jones be made a lady.
This report gained much of its probability from the demeanor of Mrs.
Jones. Her port became more lofty when she appeared in the street, and
she was continually throwing out insinuations and half-uttered hints,
as if her heart were panting to unburden itself of some proud secret,
which she was not yet at liberty to reveal.
When Jones actually started for Manhattan, and it was whispered about
that his wife had taken a dress-pattern of rich chintz from the store,
for herself, and had bought each of the boys a new wool hat, conjecture
became almost certainty; and it was asserted boldly, that Sarah Jones
was coming home to be married to a man as rich as all out-doors, and
that her mother was beginning to hold her head above common folks on
the strength of it.
About three weeks after this report was known, Mrs. Jones, whose
motions were watched with true village scrutiny, gave demonstrations of
a thorough house-cleaning. An old woman, who went out to days' work,
was called in to help, and there were symptoms of slaughter observable
in the barn-yard one night after the turkeys and chickens had gone
to roost; all of which kept the public mind in a state of pleasant
excitement. Early the next morning, after the barn-yard massacre, Mrs.
Jones was certainly a very busy woman. All the morning was occupied
in sprinkling white sand on the nicely-scoured floor of the out-room,
or parlor, which she swept very expertly into a series of angular
figures called herring-bones, with a new splint broom. After this,
she filled the fire-place with branches of hemlock and white pine,
wreathed a garland of asparagus, crimson with berries, around the
little looking-glass, and, dropping on one knee, was filling a large
pitcher on the hearth from an armful of wild-flowers, which the boys
had brought her from the woods, when the youngest son came hurrying up
from the Point, to inform her that a sloop had just hove in sight and
was making full sail up the river.
"Oh, dear, I shan't be half ready!" exclaimed the alarmed housekeeper,
snatching up a handful of meadow-lilies, mottled so heavily with
dark-crimson spots, that the golden bells seemed drooping beneath
a weight of rubies and small garnet stones, and crowding them down
into the pitcher amid the rosy spray of wild honeysuckle-blossom, and
branches of flowering dogwood.
"Here, Ned, give me the broom, quick! and don't shuffle over the sand
so. There, now," she continued, gathering up the fragments of leaves
and flowers from the hearth, and glancing hastily around the room, "I
wonder if any thing else is wanting?"
Every thing seemed in order, even to her critical eye. The tea-table
stood in one corner, its round top turned down and its polished surface
reflecting the herring-bones drawn in the sand, with the distinctness
of a mirror. The chairs were in their exact places, and the new crimson
moreen cushions and valance decorated the settee, in all the brilliancy
of their first gloss. Yes nothing more was to be done, still the good
woman passed her apron over the speckless table and flirted it across a
chair or two, before she went out, quite determined that no stray speck
of dust should disgrace her child on coming home.
Mrs. Jones closed the door, and hurried up to the square bedroom, to
be certain that all was right there also. A patchwork quilt, pieced in
what old ladies call "a rising sun," radiated in tints of red, green,
and yellow, from the center of the bed down to the snow-white valances.
A portion of the spotless homespun sheet was carefully turned over the
upper edge of the quilt, and the whole was surmounted by a pair of
pillows, white as a pile of newly-drifted snow-flakes. A pot of roses,
on the window-sill, shed a delicate reflection over the muslin curtains
looped up on either side of the sash; and the fresh wind, as it swept
through, scattered their fragrant breath deliciously through the little
room.
Mrs. Jones gave a satisfied look and then hurried to the chamber
prepared for her daughter, and began to array her comely person in the
chintz dress, which had created such a sensation in the village. She
had just encased her arms in the sleeves, when the door partly opened,
and the old woman, who had been hired for a few days as "help," put her
head through the opening. "I say, Miss Jones, I can't find nothin' to
make the stuffin' out on."
"My goodness! isn't that turkey in the oven yet? I do believe, if I
could be cut into a hundred pieces, it wouldn't be enough for this
house. What do you come to me for?--don't you know enough to make a
little stuffing without my help?"
"Only give me enough to do it with, and if I don't, why, there
don't nobody, that's all; but I've been a looking all over for some
sausengers, and can't find none, nowhere."
"Sausages? Why, Mrs. Bates, you don't think that I would allow that
fine turkey to be stuffed with sausages?"
"I don't know nothin' about it, but I tell you just what it is, Miss
Jones, if you are a-growing so mighty partic'lar about your victuals,
just cause your darter's a-coming home with a rich beau, you'd better
cook 'em yourself; nobody craves the job," retorted the old woman, in
her shrillest voice, shutting the door with a jar that shook the whole
apartment.
"Now the cross old thing will go off just to spite me," muttered Mrs.
Jones, trying to smother her vexation, and, opening the door, she
called to the angry "help:"
"Why, Mrs. Bates, do come back, you did not stay to hear me out. Save
the chickens' liver and chop them up with bread and butter; season it
nicely, and I dare say, you will be as well pleased with it as can be."
"Well, and if I du, what shall I season with--sage or summer-savory?
I'm sure I'm willing to du my best," answered the partially mollified
old woman.
"A little of both, Mrs. Bates--oh, dear! won't you come back and see if
you can make my gown meet? There--do I look fit to be seen?"
"Now, what do you ask that for Miss Jones? you know you look as neat as
a new pin. This is a mighty purty calerco, ain't it, though?"
The squire's lady had not forgotten all the feelings of her younger
days. And the old woman's compliment had its effect.
"I will send down to the store for some tea and molasses for you to
take home to-night, Mrs. Bates, and--"
"Mother! mother!" shouted young Ned, bolting into the room, "the sloop
has tacked, and is making for the creek. I see three people on the
deck, and I'm almost sure father was one of them--they will be here in
no time."
"Gracious me!" muttered the old woman, hurrying away to the kitchen.
Mrs. Jones smoothed down the folds of her new dress with both hands,
as she ran down to the "out-room." She took her station in a stiff,
high-backed chair by the window, with a look of consequential
gentility, as if she had done nothing but sit still and receive company
all her life.
After a few minutes' anxious watching, she saw her husband and daughter
coming up from the creek, accompanied by a slight, dark, and remarkably
graceful young man, elaborately, but not gayly dressed, for the fashion
of the time, and betraying even in his air and walk peculiar traits of
high-breeding and refinement. His head was slightly bent, and he seemed
to be addressing the young lady who leaned on his arm.
The mother's heart beat high with mingled pride and affection, as she
gazed on her beautiful daughter thus proudly escorted home. There was
triumph in the thought, that almost every person in the village might
witness the air of gallantry and homage with which she was regarded
by the handsomest and richest merchant of Manhattan. She saw that
her child looked eagerly toward the house as they approached, and
that her step was rapid, as if impatient of the quiet progress of her
companions. Pride was lost in the sweet thrill of maternal affection
which shot through the mother's heart. She forgot all her plans, in the
dear wish to hold her first-born once more to her bosom; and ran to the
door, her face beaming with joy, her arms outstretched, and her lips
trembling with the warmth of their own welcome.
The next moment her child was clinging about her, lavishing kisses on
her handsome mouth, and checking her caresses to gaze up through the
mist of tears and smiles which deluged her own sweet face, to the glad
eyes that looked down so fondly upon her.
"Oh, mother! dear, dear mother, how glad I am to get home! Where are
the boys? where is little Ned?" inquired the happy girl, rising from
her mother's arms, and looking eagerly round for other objects of
affectionate regard.
"Sarah, don't you intend to let me speak to your mother?" inquired the
father, in a voice which told how truly his heart was in the scene.
Sarah withdrew from her mother's arms, blushing and smiling through
her tears; the husband and wife shook hands half a dozen times over;
Mrs. Jones asked him how he had been, what kind of a voyage he had
made, how he liked Manhattan, and a dozen other questions, all in a
breath: and then the stranger was introduced. Mrs. Jones forgot the
dignified courtesy which she had intended to perpetrate on the entrance
of her guest, and shook him heartily by the hand, as if she had been
acquainted with him from his cradle.
When the happy group entered the parlor, they found Arthur, who had
been raised to the dignity of storekeeper in the father's absence,
ready to greet his parent and sister; and the younger children huddled
together at the door which led to the kitchen, brimful of joy at the
father's return, and yet too much afraid of the stranger to enter the
room.
Altogether, it was as cordial, warm-hearted a reception as a man could
reasonably wish on his return home; and, fortunately for Mrs. Jones,
the warmth of her own natural feeling saved her the ridicule of trying
to get up a genteel scene, for the edification of her future son-in-law.
About half an hour after the arrival of her friends, Mrs. Jones was
passing from the kitchen, where she had seen the turkey placed in the
oven, with its portly bosom rising above the rim of a dripping-pan, his
legs tied together, and his wings tucked snugly over his back, when she
met her husband in the passage.
"Well," said the wife, in a cautious voice, "has every thing turned out
well--is he so awful rich as your letter said?"
"There can be no doubt about that; he is as rich as a Jew, and is proud
as a lord. I can tell you what, Sarah's made the best match in America,
let the other be what it will," replied the squire, imitating the low
tone of his questioner.
"What an eye he's got, hasn't he; I never saw any thing so black and
piercing in my life. He's very handsome, too, only a little darkish--I
don't wonder the girl took a fancy to him. I say, has any thing been
said about the wedding?"
"It must be next week, for he wants to go back to Manhattan in a few
days; he and Sarah will manage that without our help, I dare say." Here
Mr. and Mrs. Jones looked at each other and smiled.
"I say, squire, I want to ask you one question," interrupted Mrs.
Bates, coming through the kitchen door and sidling up to the couple,
"is that watch which the gentleman carries rale genuine gold, or on'y
pinchbeck? I'd give any thing on 'arth to find out."
"I believe it's gold, Mrs. Bates."
"Now, du tell! What, rale Guinea gold? Now, if that don't beat all
natur. I ruther guess Miss Sarah's feathered her nest this time, any
how. Now, squire, du tell a body, when is the wedding to be? I won't
tell a single 'arthly critter, if you'll on'y jest give me a hint."
"You must ask Sarah," replied Mr. Jones, following his wife into the
parlor; "I never meddle with young folks' affairs."
"Now, did you ever?" muttered the old woman, when she found herself
alone in the passage. "Never mind; if I don't find out afore I go home
to-night, I lose my guess, that's all. I should just like to know what
they're a talking about this minute."
Here the old woman crouched down and put her ear to the crevices under
the parlor door; in a few moments she scrambled up and hurried off into
the kitchen again, just in time to save herself from being pushed over
by the opening door.
Sarah Jones returned home the same warm-hearted, intelligent girl as
ever. She was a little more delicate in person, more quiet and graceful
in her movements; and love had given depth of expression to her large
blue eyes, a richer tone to her sweet voice, and had mellowed down the
buoyant spirit of the girl to the softness and grace of womanhood.
Thoroughly and trustfully had she given her young affections, and her
person seemed imbued with gentleness from the fount of love, that
gushed up so purely in her heart. She knew that she was loved in
return--not as she loved, fervently, and in silence, but with a fire of
a passionate nature; with the keen, intense feeling which mingles pain
even with happiness, and makes sorrow sharp as the tooth of a serpent.
Proud, fastidious, and passionate was the object of her regard; his
prejudices had been strengthened and his faults matured, in the lap of
luxury and indulgence. He was high spirited and generous to a fault, a
true friend and a bitter enemy--one of those men who have lofty virtues
and strong counterbalancing faults. But with all his heart and soul he
loved the gentle girl to whom he was betrothed. In that he had been
thoroughly unselfish and more than generous; but not the less proud.
The prejudices of birth and station had been instilled into his nature,
till they had become a part of it; yet he had unhesitatingly offered
hand and fortune to the daughter of a plain country farmer.
In truth, his predominating pride might be seen in this, mingled
with the powerful love which urged him to the proposal. He preferred
bestowing wealth and station on the object of his choice, rather than
receiving any worldly advantage from her. It gratified him that his
love would be looked up to by its object, as the source from which all
benefits must be derived. It was a feeling of refined selfishness; he
would have been startled had any one told him so; and yet, a generous
pride was at the bottom of all. He gloried in exalting his chosen one;
while his affianced wife, and her family, were convinced that nothing
could be more noble than his conduct, in thus selecting a humble and
comparatively portionless girl to share his fortune.
On the afternoon of the second day after her return home, Sarah entered
the parlor with her bonnet on and shawl flung over her arm, prepared
for a walk. Her lover was lying on the crimson cushions of the settee,
with his fine eyes half closed, and a book nearly falling from his
listless hand.
"Come," said Sarah, taking the volume playfully from his hand, "I have
come to persuade you to a long walk. Mother has introduced all her
friends, now you must go and see mine--the dearest and best."
"Spare me," said the young man, half-rising, and brushing the raven
hair from his forehead with a graceful motion of the hand; "I will go
with _you_ anywhere, but _do_ excuse me these horrid introductions--I
am overwhelmed with the hospitality of your neighborhood." He smiled,
and attempted to regain the book as he spoke.
"Oh, but this is quite another kind of person; you never saw any thing
at all like her--there is something picturesque and romantic about her.
You like romance?"
"What is she, Dutch or English? I can't speak Dutch and your own sweet
English is enough for me. Come, take off that bonnet and let me read to
you."
"No no; _I_ must visit the wigwam, if _you_ will not."
"The wigwam, Miss Jones?" exclaimed the youth, starting up, his face
changing its expression, and his large black eyes flashing on her with
the glance of an eagle. "Am I to understand that your friend is an
Indian?"
"Certainly, she _is_ an Indian, but not a common one I assure you."
"She _is_ an Indian. Enough, _I_ will _not_ go; and I can only express
my surprise at a request so extraordinary. I have no ambition to
cultivate the copper-colored race, or to find my future wife seeking
her friends in the woods."
The finely cut lip of the speaker curved with a smile of haughty
contempt, and his manner was disturbed and irritable, beyond anything
the young girl had ever witnessed in him before. She turned pale at
his violent burst of feeling, and it was more than a minute before she
addressed him again.
"This seems violence unreasonable--why should my wish to visit a
harmless, solitary fellow-being create so much opposition," she said,
at last.
"Forgive me, if I have spoken harshly, dear Sarah," he answered,
striving to subdue his irritation, but spite of his effort it blazed
out again, the next instant. "It is useless to strive against the
feeling; I hate the whole race! If there is a thing I abhor on earth,
it is a savage--a fierce, blood-thirsty wild beast in human form!"
There was something in the stern expression of his face, which pained
and startled the young girl who gazed on it; a brilliancy of the eye,
and an expansion of the thin nostrils, which bespoke terrible passions
when once excited to the full.
"This is a strange prejudice," she murmured, unconsciously, while her
eyes sank from their gaze on his face.
"It is no prejudice, but a part of my nature," he retorted, sternly,
pacing up and down the room. "An antipathy rooted in the cradle, which
grew stronger and deeper with my manhood. I loved my grandfather, and
from him I imbibed this early hate. His soul loathed the very name of
Indian. When he met one of the prowling creatures in the highway, I
have seen his lips writhe, his chest heave, and his face grow white,
as if a wild beast had started up in his path. There was one in our
family, an affectionate, timid creature, as the sun ever shone upon.
I can remember loving her very dearly when I was a mere child, but
my grandfather recoiled at the very sound of her name, and seemed to
regard her presence as a curse, which for some reason he was compelled
to endure. I could never imagine why he kept her. She was very kind
to me, and I tried to find her out after my return from Europe, but
you remember that my grandparents died suddenly during my absence, and
no one could give me any information about her. Save that one being,
there is not a savage, male or female, whom I should not rejoice to
see exterminated from the face of the earth. Do not, I pray you, look
so terribly shocked, my sweet girl; I acknowledge the feeling to be a
prejudice too violent for adequate foundation, but it was grounded in
my nature by one whom I respected and loved as my own life, and it will
cling to my heart as long as there is a pulse left in it."
"I have no predeliction for savages as a race," said Sarah, after a
few moments' silence, gratified to find some shadow of reason for
her lover's violence; "but you make one exception, may I not also be
allowed a favorite? especially as she is a white in education, feeling
everything but color? You would not have me neglect one of the kindest,
best friends I ever had on earth, because the tint of her skin is a
shade darker than my own?"
Her voice was sweet and persuasive, a smile trembled on her lips, and
she laid a hand gently on his arm as she spoke. He must have been a
savage indeed, had he resisted her winning ways.
"I would have you forgive my violence and follow your own sweet
impulses," he said, putting back the curls from her uplifted forehead,
and drawing her to his bosom; "say you have forgiven me, dear, and then
go where you will."
These words could hardly be called a lovers' quarrel, and yet they
parted with all the sweet feelings of reconciliation, warm at the heart
of each.