Miss Magdalena Peanuts

“ DID I hear the bell ring? ” said my sister. “I hope not, for I hate to be interrupted at my work. — just, too, as I had commenced my second sleeve.”

Now I have never known the hour or minute that my sister did not hate being interrupted, or the moment that she was not beginning, or rounding off, or finishing some part of a knitted garment. As far back as I can remember, there rested a hank of loosely circled yarn upon her lap, a pair of knitting-needles in her hands, and some article composed of a succession of loops in process of incubation or development into different shapes. There were mysterious incantations attending the development of these woolen forms, — a low muttering, and, when listening intently, one could catch the numeral abracadabra of one, two, three, add six, reverse ten, and knot; and any question asked at that time would pass unnoticed, or be treated with utter contempt. At intervals the work would cease suddenly, and the great magician of the steels would seize an end, and, drawing out increasing lengths of yarn with a rippling sound, leave whole rows of defenseless little loops, apparently turning up their eyes, imploring for pardon for some sin of omission. How much vitality was daily, weekly, and yearly knit into those fabrics, I cannot compute. We are all subject to fancies that control us eventually; for when they become passions they bear down everything before them.

But the gate had really swung back to admit a visitor. Not a fashionable silk-and-velvet caller, as my sister feared, for no pasteboard announcement appeared; but first came a decided tap at the sitting-room door, and, hardly awaiting any answer, a very pretty figure walked in, —a perfect shepherdess; not the Watteau style, but the familiar figure presented to our eyes fifty years ago, when our fathers and mothers took just such a model for their first efforts; and when you went to pay your respects to their fathers and mothers, you were proudly shown, hanging upon the wall, the counterpart of this dainty figure, surrounded with sheep, white as they never are, and a crooked tree behind, a little taller than the sheep. A young girl of sixteen stood before me, attired in a pale blue calico dress, of entire simplicity and Grecian scantiness, with a real shepherdess hat adorned with flowing pink ribbons, floating almost to her feet. Her eyes were blue as her dress, her cheeks as pink as her ribbons. As pretty as a peach gives a better description of her than any other combination of words. Extreme delicacy of skin; little white teeth, even as young corn; and the happiest, sweetest of smiles seemed the habitual expression of her dainty lips. She was round and lithe and strong. Her golden hair hung unconfined far below her waist; and her limpid eyes and lovely complexion combined to chase away the few evidences of a life of hard work that her rough, but well-formed hands and arms disclosed.

She had opened the door, and commenced instantly to make known the object of her visit, my sister’s knittingneedles clashing a soft accompaniment to her running talk, like a pair of small castanets.

“ How do you do, Mizz Dudley, and how are Mizz Janey’s headaches and Mizz Josephine’s back? I believe they warn’t quite well when I last was here, and I hope they are better. And how is this lady?” turning to me. “I never saw her before, but suppose from the likeness to the family as how she is your sister, particularly as you were expecting her when I was last here, — yes ma’am, yes, that was the day I brought the sour cream. I hope she came all right, and you were not disappointed. I’ve brought you another quart, yes, ma’am, and you must n’t pay more nor half price for what you got last. Yes, Mizz Dudley, —yes, ma’am. I gave the cook a pair of young turkeys, as I stopped at the gate, and a pair of ducks. The turkeys are three dollars a pair, and the ducks, being as how you don’t eat ducks, are only a dollar and a half ” —

This was said in such a rapid way, without pause, or even the drawing of one single breath, that no interruption appeared possible; but ducks were an abomination in the nostrils of my sister, and this was too much for her patience to stand.

“ Why, Magdalena, did n’t I warn you never to bring me ducks? I do not want any poultry now. The kitchen is supplied with everything needed for some days, and the weather is so very warm ” —

“ Yes, ma’am, —yes, Mizz Dudley. I know it’s warm, and so I told the cook to roast them ducks right off, for they would n’t keep a day. If you could try to fancy them, I assure you they have been cooped up for a week, and fed on rice, and they are real nice. Perhaps this lady likes them,” she added, with sudden inspiration, — “this stranger lady. I forget her name; please tell it to me. Yes, ma’am,—thank you, ma’am.”

I could see that “ Mizz Dudley ” was getting impatient over the base of a triangle she was setting up, so I came to the rescue, and asked the fair vender how she came by such a fine name.

“ My father gave it to me,” she said. “His name was Franzy Peanuts, and he was born of good people, — yes, ma’am; and as he had a good name himself, he wanted me to have one, too, that sounded well.”

“ Where are the things you have brought?” said my sister. “ Have you walked all the way from your house loaded with cream and poultry? ”

“ Oh, no, ma’am. I gave the things to the butler, and I brought them in on the wagon. I wanted to give mother the fresh air and a little exercise, so I drove her in. There is the wagon at the garden gate. I have turned it round across the street, so that mother can see the flowers and have a bit of the sunshine. She is very bad to-day.”

I glanced over the window-sill, and there was the small covered Tennessee wagon, to which was attached a rather well-fed horse, but in the last stage of decrepitude, and apparently without one well-conditioned leg. Lying at the bottom of the wagon, on a bed of clean, sweet straw, was a middle-aged, delicatefeatured woman, who seemed to be dying of consumption. At the head of the horse stood an older and haler woman feeding him with bunches of grass she picked from the side of the walk, while between times she worked away at a thread glove she was knitting into shape with a broad bone instrument ending in a hook. There was evidently displayed before me the whole family, three generations of the Peanut race. However, Magdalena was taking leave, and my attention, which had wandered away from her voluble communications, caught her last words: —

“Thank you, ma’am. Never mind paying me now. The money is quite safe; yes, ma’am. And, please, we don’t want any more sugar at present; so if you don’t object, I will tell Sam to take it out of the package you had ready put up for me, and to change it for some more wine. Madeira, ma’am, if you please. Mother does like wine in what she takes, and Mr. Rosen says madeira is the best kind; and if you can give me half a lemon and a nutmeg, — yes, Mizz Dudley, yes, ma’am. And I brought back the calico dress you were so kind as to send me, please, ma’am, as I want you to change it ” —

“ I think you are very hard to please,”said my sister, with a slight inflection of anger.

“ Oh, no, ma’am. Yes, ma’am. It ain’t that. Indeed, I had a hard cry to give it up, it is such a lovely blue. But it is just like what this was, and this is hardly three years old, if you ’ll believe me; and them light colors take so much soap and starch; they have to be washed so often to keep clean. When I used to come to town every Sunday, it was just what I wanted; but mother is too sick now for me to leave her, and you know it is too pretty for me to wear at home, where I have to curry the horse, and drive up and milk the cows, and churn the butter, and feed the poultry, and hoe the garden, and scour the house, and clean up, and cook, and everything else, too, Mizz Dudley. No, ma’am, I want a brown one.”

She hardly ever drew breath, or paused a moment to collect material for conversation. Her volubility was wonderful, and the carmine tints of her cheeks had gradually deepened, till her lovely eyes shone like blue forget-me-nots. A slight cough from the wagon startled her, and, making a deep and unconsciously stagey courtesy, she was gone.

I watched her stop at the opening at the bottom of the wagon, to smooth and kiss her mother; then she helped her old grandmother in with a strength of arm that hardly accorded with its delicate molding; at last she mounted into her seat and assumed the reins, the oval top framing as pretty a picture of health, strength, beauty, and helpfulness as I had ever seen.

“Well,” I said, “she seems a very well-balanced and composed young lady. Does she often come with wares that she sells you against your consent, and is she in the habit of ordering your butler to give her what she wishes from your pantry? I had no idea that you would allow such high-handed proceedings on the part of your poor! ”

“ You don’t understand,” said my sister, placidly. “ She is one of the best girls in the world. Works like a man. Is devoted to her grandmother and mother, supports the whole family, and never asks for or takes the smallest comfort in clothes or food that they can do without. What her sick mother does not need she returns. You will find it a pleasure to help them when you know them better.”

“ But what a name! Where did she get it? ”

“ Her father was a Frenchman, named Francois Pinotte, and as you may suppose, the country people abjured such a foreign appellation, and called him by the most familiar sound that would assimilate with his French cognomen. So in time he became Franzy Peanuts, then French Peanuts, and at last Fresh Peanuts. Maggie clings to the first name. He died many years ago, and then when the widow became so ill the grandmother came to stay a while with her. They have farmed about five acres of land, out on the creek road, for many years, saving and putting up a little each year to build a more decent house than they live in now. I believe Maggie does all the work.”

Just at this moment the door opened again, and Maggie reappeared, breathless: —

“ Please, Mizz Dudley, yes, ma’am, if you don’t want them ducks, at least both of them, I have found a lady,— Mizz Montgomery, ma’am, — round in the lane, who will take them, at least one of them. I stopped in the kitchen and made the cook take one off the fire. It ain’t, warmed through yet ” —

But my sister had commenced a square collar, which at the moment absorbed her energies, and she ordered her visitor to let the ducks alone and to go, with but scant ceremony.

We followed our usual occupations for over a week, hearing nothing further from Miss Peanuts, when one morning the wagon, the white horse, the grandmother, the mother, and Miss Peanuts all stopped again at the garden gate. In a few moments the fair Maggie had made her usual abrupt entrance, and without waiting for any salutation immediately started the conversation: —

“ How are you, this morning, Mizz Dudley, and Mizz Janey, and Mizz Josephine, and this strange lady? I hope quite well. I’ve brought chickens instead of ducks this time, and some cream which I don’t want any pay for. It’s a present. And we are in trouble, yes, ma’am, please. The rail-car ran over our red cow last week, and killed it; and I walked six miles yesterday to see the superintendent about it, and he allowed that we ought to have fifteen dollars for it, but he can’t give it unless I get an order from the president of the road. I don’t know the president, or where to find him, and I thought that you might get it for me.”

“I cannot do that,” said my sister, “ I am in deep mourning, and do not see anybody out of my own family.”

“ Then, perhaps, this lady here,” turning to me, — “I forget her name, yes, ma’am, please, —will get it for me. You see we have built a little house, and have paid for it all, but we have no more money to get a chimney; and the builder says that this fifteen dollars, yes, ma’am, that this lady will get for me, will just be enough. I don’t think mother could stand the weather when the cold comes on without a chimney; and I know this lady can get it if she will.”

I had felt for some time that my hour was coming, so I succumbed at once, and then and there pledged myself to secure the equivalent for the cow. And then Maggie requested that a stove which had lain in the cellar for some months, and of the whereabouts of which she had gained much occult information, should be lent to her ad interim. It was forthwith placed in the wagon, in the space that had been occupied by the grandmother, who walked home in consequence as briskly as Maggie might have done herself.

In the course of a couple of weeks I secured the fifteen dollars. And one fine morning my sister proposed that I should drive out to the new house to carry Mrs. Pinotte some flannel, some brandy, and the much-needed money. The place was only four miles from the city, and as I drew near the first object that attracted my eyes was the fair shepherdess, — blue dress, pink ribbons, and all. She was armed with a weighty hammer, bad a box of tremendous nails near at hand, and had nearly finished a picket fence she was building around her cattle. The cows gazed at her with melancholy interest, rubbing their heads at intervals against her back. The old horse, tied to a tree, stood on three feet, with his head turned completely round, and also watched the business going on. Two sows had their noses poked under the board that supported the fence, while from the grocery shop across the road a substantial Dutchman, mounted on a barrel of beer at his door, smoked the pipe of peace, and gazed with appreciative eyes at the attractive picture opposite. The mother was lying on a mattress on the floor of the little veranda in the full rays of the sun, while on the edge of the woods that skirted the garden fence the grandmother was busy at the wash-tub. The two houses stood quite alone, opposite each other, with shady forest glades extending for miles behind them, and the broad, white, sandy road separating them and stretching either way.

I did not receive very exuberant thanks for the money. The fair Magdalena evidently thought I had done my duty, and nothing more. The possibility of failure in trying to collect it had never formed part of her calculations. The grandmother had wiped her arms upon her apron and come forward, as I descended from the carriage. One of the sows, the most intelligent of the two, cantered to the scene, followed by her interesting family; the horse made as close a connection as the length of his halter would permit; and the Dutchman, after a little pause of consideration, added the presence of his pipe and himself. They all had an opinion, I could see, about the chimney (the subject of discussion), but only Maggie expressed the general views. She was the house of representatives, the speaker, the chairman of the committee on internal imments, the vox populi.

The position, altitude, and cost of the chimney having been settled, the sick mother claimed my attention; so we all adjourned to her bed. She was evidently a better educated and more refined woman than either daughter or mother-in-law (the latter being the mother of Mrs. Pinnotte’s first husband, and therefore no relation to Maggie), or perhaps long illness had thrown a veil of delicacy over her air and manner. She spoke sadly of her approaching end and her dread of leaving Maggie unprotected (at this stage I really thought I detected some expression in the Dutchman’s lack-lustre eyes), as her motherin-law was obliged to return very soon to the up-country, to her old home and her idiot son, and Maggie had determined not to go with her. She had appointed a guardian for Maggie, with the girl’s consent, “ one of the best of men,” and as she felt her end near she would like the comfort of a minister of religion to talk with her. She also said that she had requested one of the charitable ladies who came out to see her to attend to this, but that she had not done so. I promised to go immediately for her pastor, and expressed my surprise that any one should neglect so sacred a duty. After bidding her good-by I was followed by Maggie to the carriage door, who then made some explanations:—

“ You see, Mizz, — I really forget your name; yes, ma’am, yes, thank you, ma’am, — I did not tell the lady when mother asked me to do so to send a parson, for I was afeard that he might frighten her. She was n't so low then, and the doctor told me to keep up her spirits; but now, if you will send him out, I think mother will be better satisfied. It don’t make any difference what kind he is, for father, he never went to church, and mother was always too delicate, and when father died I was too little to go anywhere alone; since then, too, I have had so much to do that I am just glad to have Sunday to fix and straighten up things.”

I had been thinking so intently over the peculiarities of Maggie’s life, and puzzling my mind so deeply to fathom some points of her character, that I hardly listened to her, or remembered her remarks as I drove away.

On reaching the city, my first desire, however, was to seek some reverend gentleman, and acquaint him with Mrs. Pinotte’s request. It was not necessary to go far, as my neighbor across the street, Mrs. Knox, was a strict Presbyterian; and as she was then visible working in her garden, I stepped over to her, told my story, and begged her to send her pastor, whom she was in the habit of seeing every day, to the sick woman.

“Is Mrs. Pinotte so very ill? ” she asked. “ Why, Maggie was at the house yesterday to know if I would speak to the butcher to induce him to buy the calf she expects to have on her hands next week, and to ask him at what age he would take it. Yes, certainly, I will attend to the matter, and send Mr. Goddard out early to-morrow morning. I am glad you came to me.”

“It is too far for a walk,” I said, — “more than four miles. Has he any conveyance? ”

“ No; but I can supply him with a buggy,” she answered. “ I had no idea that they were Presbyterians.”

I did not think it necessary to inform her as to the extent of the family’s latitudinarianism on religious matters, but continued on my way down the street to the principal drug store, to buy some cough mixture for the invalid, and to make inquiry of the druggist (by desire of my sister) in regard to the immediate disposition of Maggie in case of her mother’s sudden death. Some remarks dropped by Mrs. Pinotte had led us to suppose that his unvarying kindness and charity to the poor family had emboldened them to make him the guardian of the desolate girl. My sister had empowered me to say to him that if this were the case she was quite willing to give Maggie a home until he could provide a proper place for her. She could take her meals with our children, and have a bed in one of their rooms. On my way I met a friend, whom I joined, — a young married woman, — and among many subjects of conversation I mentioned my pleasant drive that morning, and Mrs. Pinotte’s illness, trusting she would feel interested. She had known and assisted the family for some time back, and after we had discussed Maggie’s future and my sister’s arrangements for her safety I spoke of the mother’s wish for a clergyman, and my requesting the sacred offices of Mr. Goddard.

“ You certainly took a great responsibility upon yourself,” said my friend, rather sharply. “ I have known all about these people for years, and I can assure you they always were Episcopalians. I shall go immediately and request our pastor, Mr. Bentham, to attend Mrs. Pinotte in her last moments. I am quite sure it is he she wants to see.”

“ Perhaps so,” I replied, peaceably. “ She can take her choice.”

“ I do not think,” said my Episcopal friend, warmly, “that your manner of speaking of such an important matter is in very good taste. Had you been brought up in the blessed privileges of a church like ours, you would not speak lightly of its sacred ministerings.”

“ I meant no offense,” I said meekly, determined not to get involved in any ecclesiastical discussion, such arguments generally making disastrous chasms in private society. “ I apologize. If my remark was disagreeable, it was unintentionally made.”

But she left me in hot haste, making a straight line for Mr. Bentham’s house, while I continued my walk towards the druggist. The prescription was filled, and the remuneration was refused when I stated for whom the medicine was intended; but for the first time since I had known him I saw that Mr. Rosen was very much fretted, and that he listened to me with less than his usual courtesy concerning Maggie’s future.

“Are your family quite well?” I asked. “ Pray excuse the liberty I am taking, but has any misfortune happened to you ? ”

“Nothing has happened,” he answered, more pleasantly, “ and all are quite well, but I am much worried about these Pinottes. The mother cannot live, I hear, many weeks, and she has left me guardian to that pretty girl. It places me in a very awkward position, as my family are all at the North; so how can I dispose of her in case of any sudden call upon me ? Besides, my household is large, and the responsibility heavy, for she has a decided will of her own. If all these complications could be removed, there are still other annoyances, for I would not know where to place her; she is not a servant, and not a lady. I told her mother all this and more. I laid before her the difficulty of taking her to a home where I and my family are all Israelites,— keep a different Sabbath and observe different laws.”

“ What did she answer to this ? ”

“ Well, she said that if her daughter kept good and straight, she did not care what religion she professed, and that she would rather trust her with me than any one else, for she had never heard of a Jewess going astray. The truth is the poor women is almost wild at the necessity of leaving so lovely a girl unprotected.”

Here he was called away, and I waited while he talked long and seriously with a very angry man, who came in hastily, and whose gesticulations showed the excitement he was laboring under. His voice grew louder as the conversation continued, till I could not help hearing Mr. Rosen’s last remarks before leaving him and joining me again: —

“Do as you please, Mr. Frankland. Mrs. Pinotte is entirely conscious and sensible, although she thinks she is dying. I did not seek this trust, and will he willing to give it up to you, if the mother consents, most gladly. But I must keep faith with her. If the girl, as you say, belongs to your people, satisfy them all, and whatever conclusion they arrive at will suit me. If I eventually have the charge of her, I will take good care of her and the little she inherits. Her form of belief I have no interest in, and shall not interfere with. The Jewish church desires no proselytes. Our faith is in our birth and our blood, and I could not, even if I wished, make her a Jewess any more than I could make her a Scandinavian.”

After Mr. Frankland had left, I inquired what was the nature of the discussion,

“ Why,” said Mr. Rosen, “ Mr. Frankland is the Baptist minister, and Mrs. Pinotte’s mother-in-law belonged at one time to his church. Some one met him and told him you were seeking a clergyman to go and see her dying daughter. He wishes me to meet him there to aid him in influencing Maggie to go with her grandmother to the upper part of the State, where the old woman owns half a dozen acres of corn land; but I shall not harass the poor mother by any more discussions on the subject. She has been a correct, hard-working, grateful woman, and I will serve her and carry out her views, if possible, Mr. Frankland intends to drive out to-morrow morning, and give the dying woman the consolations of his church; so make your mind easy upon that score.”

I silently took the package of cough mixture, and left, a wiser and sadder woman than when I had risen that morning. I certainly had only fulfilled a humane duty, and yet, as matters had arranged themselves, I was likely to meet, when I delivered the medicine to the invalid the next morning, the Presbyterian, the Episcopal, and the Baptist minister, all apparently dispatched to her house by my agency, — I at least having been the innocent bearer of the message so zealously and so liberally distributed through so many channels. I had but little doubt that Mr. Rosen might feel it his charitable duty to be there also, to lighten the poor mother’s anxiety about her child’s future, or perhaps in the hope of surrendering her to a fitter guardian. So, rather oppressed by the turn events wore taking, I turned homewards.

I reached the house in time for the pleasant reunion at tea. Miss Janey was entirely free from her headaches, and Miss Josephine equally well, so the circle was in its normal state of brightness. I recounted, half dolefully and half jestingly, my comedy of errors, and thereby ran the gauntlet of the clever attacks usually incurred by the unlucky members of witty families.

We had just settled ourselves in the parlor, and commenced our usual occupations, when visitors were announced; and very unusual ones they were, — husband ami wife, who seldom left the shelter of their own vine and fig-tree. The lady’s air was alert and business-like; the gentleman, evidently, was only an auxiliary power. He immediately came over to our side of the table, — by courtesy I will say the young side, although I have no right to the full meaning of the term, — and the conversation opposite between my sister and the wife became so voluble, at least on the visitor’s part (for my sister said but little), that my curiosity was strongly excited as to what could be the cause for this visit at such an unaccustomed hour. Now and then I could just catch a mere fragment of the subject under discussion, but not enough to give me any clue.

My sister had, as usual, her knitting in her hands, but the needles were careering wildly in the near vicinity of her visitor’s nose. That lady had her face in close proximity to them, not heeding her danger in her excitement. Her concentrated whispers hissed sharply and continuously, and her fan, spread to its fullest extent, was held aloft as a screen between her busy lips and our intrusive ears. She was the very head and front of the Presbyterian church! Was that fan the banner of the church militant, and could she have come on business connected with it? My spirit, after the day’s events, was sorely troubled.

There are some natures that are given (not for a reward, but a punishment) a sixth sense, something more than instinct and less than reason, that makes them feel, without good cause for so feeling, occult disturbances that affect them personally. And so, thus gifted, I knew — and I quailed under the knowledge, although I proudly kept up the light strain of conversation going on at our side— that Mrs. Pinotte and my unhappy self, and the right man to smooth her path to another world, had everything to do with this visit.

At last, words of my sister’s more audible voice in answer did reach me. She had evidently been on the defensive from the first. “ I do not think it makes much difference,” she said, placidly. Then a pause to listen to further argument, and then another sentence, just as placid: “ What object could they have? ” And then, “ Well, suppose they do; I am sure I have no objection. They will take excellent care of her, and that is, after all, the most important duty.”

The lady arose at last and pronounced her valedictory. “I am rather astonished and disappointed,” she said, “ at hearing your views on the subject. I shall do what I consider my duty, and call to-morrow, after dinner, for your neighbor, Mrs. Knox, to drive out with me and see Mrs. Pinotte ourselves. She quite agrees with me as to the propriety of our course of action. The proper place for Maggie is in our home, should her mother die.”

So, after all, I was not uncomfortable without reason. The ball had been set in motion by me, and in justice I was more or less responsible for all the damage it might do. The door had hardly closed upon the callers, when we all eagerly and instantly assailed my sister.

“What is the matter?” came with one simultaneous burst.

But she was not to be hurried by our anxiety into any unusual excitement. There had been claims upon her that had been disregarded during the time the important communications had been progressing. The many recalcitrant loops that had dropped had to be taken up one by one, and restored to regimental order; but at last, without giving a single glance in our direction, she merely said, —

“ Mrs. Pinotte.”

“Certainly, Mrs. Pinotte!” I cried; “ but what about her? ”

“ Well, they are all in a great state of excitement. Such nonsense! ” ejaculated my sister. “ The Dutchman told Mr. Goddard something she repeated, and which I could not hear. She whispered it in such a horror-struck tone, I was really afraid to ask her to tell me again what she said. Why should she come and worry me about such trifles? ”

“ But you must know the drift of her conversation. Why must she call for Mrs. Knox to-morrow afternoon, and where are they going?”

“ To Mrs. Pinotte’s, I tell you. They are afraid the Catholics will get her.”

“ The Catholics! ” I shouted, in astonishment at this new phase. “ What should the Catholics know about her? ”

Then, as we reviewed the situation, we all began to laugh. Poor Mrs. Pinotte! And here let me anticipate the dénoûment of my story, even if its interest, be broken, by declaring that if Mrs. Pinotte were not alive and tolerably well at this moment I certainly could not amuse my readers with her death - bed experiences.

The next morning I attempted to bribe that much overestimated, faithful individual, the old family coachman, to get the carriage ready earlier than he was in the habit of doing, thereby hoping to execute a flank movement, and get through my promised visit to Mrs. Pinotte before other people arrived. He assented to my request quite eagerly, I thought; received very amiably the plate of breakfast I carried him from our own table, hoping thereby to facilitate operations ; pocketed the added bribe, and was just an hour and five minutes later than the usual time. The reason for this delay I heard from my maid that afternoon. “ If Miss Lizzie [meaning me] had choose to tell me what de debbil she mean by a-hurrying me to git de carriage ready so early, I might hab inconwenience myself,” he said, sententiously; “ but if she hab her ways, and keeps tings to herself, why, I has mine! ”

However, about twelve o’clock I came in sight of the new chimney, which the proceeds of the dead cow had erected. The next turn of the road and my heart gave a great leap, and then threatened to stop. The only human figure visible was the Dutchman, leaning against the side of the house; but oh, hitched to Maggie’s new fence, were absolutely four buggies! I have never stormed intrenchments, because I am only a woman, but the female sex are capable of great heroism under exceptional dangers. I felt my peril as then and there I descended from the fifth vehicle standing before that humble door, and entered the house.

An apparent masterly inactivity prevailed on all sides, except on the grandmother’s, who seemed to hold more of the position of an armed neutrality. The Episcopal and Presbyterian clergymen were seated amicably, side by side, on an improvised settee arranged by Maggie, — a smooth board, with either end resting on a half-barrel. The Baptist minister was farther off, but not alone, as the old mother-in-law held a supporting position near him. Standing up, with folded arms and harassed expression, was Mr. Rosen, holding a legal document in his hand. The sick woman, clean and quiet, lay on her bed. What was the meaning of this fraternization among the Protestant element, where I had expected strife? Lo, the cause stood revealed, for by the side of the bed, with placid face and folded hands, representing the wolf of Rome, sat a Catholic sister of charity. I looked round for Maggie to relieve the awkwardness that attended my entrance. There she stood, alert, vigilant, lovely as a cherub in appearance, commonplace and unimaginative as a peanut in soul, skimming her milk-pans on the back piazza, and passing the results to the Dutchman to sell at market, before she came forward to welcome me.

Whatever had been the nature of the discussion, the results appeared satisfactory, for the gentlemen arose with marked serenity of manner, as I entered, to take leave. One of them said something about the bad influence of Rome, but in a very low voice, glancing at the sister. A pale pink flush stole into her cheeks, and flickered there a moment, but she only meekly crossed her hands and took up her beads. It was the intrepid Maggie who came to the rescue.

“ We never did like Rome,”she said. “ Father told mother, when I was born, that it was a poor place, very damp and cold; so we moved away to Lagrange, in the middle of the State, and then to Opelika before we came here.”

Then the Baptist clergyman came forward and shook hands with the old lady, and said a few words in a sonorous voice about total immersion being necessary if Mrs. Pinotte desired to renew her affiliation with his church; and again the alert Maggie decided the matter.

“ It would be the death of mother,” she said, “ to dip her in water in her present health; and besides, Mr. Frankland, she never did belong to your church. So with many thanks for your trouble, gentlemen, I think you had all better go, for mother is tired, and we can settle who she wants another time, unless you will stay a moment and witness Mr. Rosen’s papers as my guardine [so she pronounced guardian]. You see yourselves that mother is all right in her mind, and I only want you to see her sign.”

No objection was made to this, and the document was read and witnessed. The sister said something in a low voice in Maggie’s ear, which appeared to have no effect upon that young lady. “ I am very glad they have all gone,” she remarked, irreverently, as the buggies started homewards; “ and what is more, I don’t think that mother is so very bad, after all. Many thanks, Mr. Rosen, for the medicine. I am sure we could not have got on but for your kindness. I am going to put a couple of quarts of cream in your buggy for you. We sell it cheaper than we did last month, for the grass is coming up, and we don’t have to feed the cows so much. Yes, sir, please, we ’ll take it out in cod-liver oil for mother.”

There were a few words exchanged in an undertone between Mr. Rosen and the invalid. The little sister, with castdown eyes, kept telling her beads, but I am quite sure she heard every word spoken. I made a few kind remarks to her about her charity in nursing a stranger, but they seemed to make no impression; then I offered my humble little eulogium on the liberality of her church in allowing her to give her services, and that time the pretty little flush mounted again to her cheeks, and then I left, seeing that all had gone before.

That afternoon at four o’clock, a handsome open carriage drove up to Mrs. Knox’s door, and receiving another occupant, the two Presbyterian ladies, side by side, started off on their pious mission. I called to Miss Janey and Miss Josephine to see them go, and we indulged in our harmless laugh at the zeal which prompted them to hurry away from their dinner, when, whirling into sight came the carriage, already returned, anger stamped upon the features of the occupants. They stepped out, dismissed it, and seemed, from our point of vantage, to be organizing a small indignation meeting on the sidewalk.

I lost no time in joining the irate pair, and begged for information, which I received in full; and then, as they entered the house together, to discuss the points in all their bearings, I suppose, I returned to my own curious group, who were waiting for me. My nieces, who hardly knew what the word curiosity meant, were standing almost breathless, like statues of Expectation, and my sister’s knitting had fallen from her lap, while her forgetful fingers only grasped a long, raveled strand of yarn, that meandered away across the carpet, terminating in a ball under the fender. She had unconsciously struck the attitude and expression of a fisherman awaiting a bite, and alert to take advantage of it.

I was mistress of the situation, and I felt my power; so I began to retail my information with slow circumspection, taking advantage of an attention so seldom accorded to my rhetorical powers.

“ Ahem! Well, they drove to the forks of the road, and crossed the stream murmuring over the white pebbles, where the late Cherokee roses mingle their snows with the clustering bunches ” —

“ Oh, come! ” exclaimed a voice, “ we don’t intend to stand that sort of thing; that ’s a little too much!”

“ Don’t interrupt me,” I retorted, “or I will tell you nothing. Well, when they crossed the pebbly brook, — stop, don’t go! — they met them! Met all of them! ” I paused; composedly.

“ Which all? What all? ” were the ungrammatical exclamations that assailed my ears.

“ They met a procession. First came the Tennessee wagon and horse, with Miss Peanuts holding the reins, and her mother laid upon her mattress at the bottom of the wagon. Then came the grandmother leading the two milking cows; then the Dutchman driving the other cows, and his boy driving the hogs; then a buggy, with two sisters oE charily, and, following, another buggy, with a Catholic priest; then Mr. Rosen in his buggy; and lastly a wagon loaded with the Lares and Penates of the Peanut household. In the memorable words of our irate friend ‘ the Catholics have got her ’! ”

And then and there my sister, for whom I blush, enunciated the first, the last, the only expression she ever gave of her opinion on this subject. “ I am glad of it,” she said, and the accent was more vicious than the words.

A few days after these events I went to the Catholic asylum, to revive my interest in the ultimate fate of the Pinotte family, and to learn the reason of their unexpected arrangements. I found Mrs. Pinotte comfortably domiciled in a large, airy, scrupulously clean room, improved much in health, and Maggie as fair as dawn, was learning from a sister the first rudiments of embroidery. The grandmother had gone home. I sat down by the invalid, and asked her openly why she had concealed her intention of joining the Catholic church and claiming its care.

“ Because I had no positive idea of taking such step,” she replied. “The ladies of the different churches came to see me, and kindly gave me food and clothing, indeed, everything I needed. They came in their carriages, and sat with me in their beautiful silks; but Mrs. Delande brought the Catholic sister to relieve Maggie, and she stayed all day and night with me, and washed and dressed me, all the time whispering comforting words. I got to depend upon her and love her. Mother, being a Baptist, was against my coming here; but at last even she gave in, and said she would be better satisfied in leaving me in such hands; And so I made up my mind all of a sudden, and told the sister to take me; and here I am, — oh, so comfortable and happy! ”

But here Maggie struck in with her incisive, determined intonation: —

“ Besides, it makes a great difference to me. Your sister was very good to offer to take me, if necessary; but what would she do with me, yes, ma’am, yes, and those ladies who promised to put me in the Protestant home? I am much obliged to them, but they could only have me taught housework and washing there, so that I could go out to service. Even if mother dies — and I don’t think now she will — I have thirteen cows and our little place out there, and I would rather not be a servant. The sisters say they will teach me to embroider and preserve, and I can stay with them as long as I make myself useful; and I can learn any trade I please, and altogether I am very glad I came, yes, ma’am, yes, and Mr. Rosen he is still my gardine.”

I bade them all adieu, and, going home made my report. At different times I met the representatives of the churches who had struggled so unsuccessfully for Mrs. Pinotte’s soul. They had naturally combined against the powers which had secured her. I listened to the conflicting charges made without coming to any definite conclusion in my own mind.

“ What object can these people have, save a charitable one? ” I said. “ The Pinottes are a poor, obscure family; so what is to be gained? ”

“ The thirteen cows and the house and lot,” said the narrowest-minded.

“ No,” I answered, as temperately as the circumstances would admit. “ Mr. Rosen has entire control of all, as guardian for Maggie, on whom the property is settled.”

“ Well, they want to make a nun of her, or a sister of charity.”

“ Suppose they do; there is no wrong done her, if she desires such a life. You all intended to make a lady’s-maid, or a hair-dresser, or something in that line of life, of her. The office of a sister of charity is a noble career.”

I said this, but I really doubted if Maggie had one grain of the sentiment or sensibility that would be the moving spring for a life of self-abnegation.

Time passed on. The spring melted into summer, and I took my flight northward. At intervals, when I looked into the heart of a lovely half-blown pink rose, or on the soft tinge of a sea-shell, the fresh beauty of Miss Peanuts would rise before me. Insensibly, the flower-like beauty of her face would often appear framed in my imagination by a sister’s spotless white head-gear, the dimpled wrists concealing themselves shyly in the folds of the wide sleeves, till I never thought of her in any other guise.

Three years passed away, and again I sought my Southern home. Newer subjects of interest bad effectually driven the Pinotte family from my mind. Coming out of a side door to a fruit shop, one day, I found my sister listening to a loud, voluble talker, — a very stout woman gaudily dressed, very pink and very comfortable looking, and with some claims to rather full-blown beauty. Dim recollections came struggling into my mind, as I scanned her face, but before my tardy thoughts took shape she accosted me: —

Oh, you are Mizz Dudley’s sister, who was with her when we thought mother was dying. Yes, ma’am, yes, I remember you, although I forget your name. I am real glad to see you. Mother is not dead yet, but grandmother is, and has left us a nice little place up the country, that I sold. To be sure, I have to take care of the idiot, but I don’t mind that, and I make him useful, for I have no children. I suppose Mizz Dudley told you I had married the Dutchman who lived opposite. Me and mother did not trouble either the sisters or Mr. Rosen long. His name is Hans Droust, and he said if I would marry him he would take mother too, and he had a nice lot, yes, ma’am, yes, of turkeys and chickens and other things, and he has made us right comfortable. I am glad that I married him. Indeed, I am. Yes, ma’am.”

“ I am pleased to hear that you are so satisfied, Mrs. Droust,” I said. “ What church do you attend now? ” I confess I was very curious to know.

“ Well, ma’am, they were all so kind to me that I did not know which to choose, but the sisters they thought it awful that I should be so indifferent-like, and they tried to explain; but indeed, ma’am, yes, Mizz Dudley, — I always forget this lady’s name,—while I was with them I tried to listen and make up my mind; and then I married, and what with the mother and the house and the cattle and the poultry and the idiot, and more than all, Hans’s beer, that he likes me to attend to myself, I have n’t time to think it over. Thank Heaven,” continued Maggie, touched with the first gleam I had ever seen of the existence of a soul in her body, “ that I have a nice home for mother, and that she is getting well again after so much suffering. Me and Hans are going to join the Thomasites. Hans likes their ways, and saw a great deal of them in the upper part of the State; and it was about them that the minister was talking that time we thought mother was dying, for they live around Rome, just above the railroad. They are a poor lot, yes, ma’am, but they don’t expect you to learn a great deal of religion, and their adviser comes once a year, and stays with us, and makes everything right, and we don’t trouble ourselves about all that other talk, and we get on well enough without it.”

Mrs. Droust would have continued talking until Ascension Day, if we would have waited to hear her, but, satisfied that all is well that ends well, we left her; and the only reason I do not tell you more about her is that I have never seen her, or heard of her, from that day to this.

Phœbe Yates Pember.