Aunt Abby

“ There is a half-remembered story of Aunt Abby’s spirit, which no one dares to talk of openly; but it is believed that a certain gentleman, now high in civic honors, received, when a youth of twenty, a severe caning from the lady, in consequence of some impertinence, offered when under the influence of a deep potation. ”

“ They would glance at the qualities of Nig, which promised so much if rightly directed. "I wish you would take her, James, when you are well, home with YOU," said Aunt Abby, in one of these seasons.
"Just what I am longing to do, Aunt Abby. Susan is just of my mind, and we intend to take her; I have been wishing to do so for years."
"She seems much affected by what she hears at the evening meetings, and asks me many questions on serious things; seems to love to read the Bible; I feel hopes of her."
"I hope she IS thoughtful; no one has a kinder heart, one capable of loving more devotedly. ”

“ Bellmont and Anut Abby, hearing the noise, rushed in, just in time to see the last of the performance. Nig jumped up, and rushed from the house, out of sight.
Aunt Abby returned to her apartment, followed by John, who was muttering to himself.
"What were you saying?" asked Aunt Abby.
"I said I hoped the child never would come into the house again."
"What would become of her? You cannot mean that," continued his sister.
"I do mean it. The child does as much work as a woman ought to; and just see how she is kicked about!" "Why do you have it so, John?" asked his sister. ”

“ B. was away, the brother and sister could freely sympathize, and she sought him in this fresh sorrow, to communicate such solace as she could, and to learn particulars of Mary's untimely death, and assist him in his journey thither.
It seemed a thanksgiving to Frado. Every hour or two she would pop in into Aunt Abby's room with some strange query:
"She got into the RIVER again, Aunt Abby, didn't she; the Jordan is a big one to tumble into, any how. S'posen she goes to hell, she'll be as black as I am. Wouldn't mistress be mad to see her a nigger!" ”

“ She was a gentlewoman; and though she accepted with simple dignity the necessity of earning her bread, it was bitterly disagreeable to her to sit as a hired sewer in other people's houses. She liked to come to our house better than to any other. We also were poor. My Aunt Abby was a woman of great simplicity, and a quiet, stately humility, like Miss Penstock's own; and they enjoyed sitting side by side whole days, sewing in silence. Miss Penstock had always spoken with a certain sort of tender reverence to Nat, and I remembered that he liked to be in the room where she sewed. ”

“ She knew her husband should be the man of her own selecting, one she was conscious of preferring before all others. She could not say this of Henry.
In this dilemma, a visitor came to Aunt Abby's; one of her boy-favorites, George Means, from an adjoining State. Sensible, plain looking, agreeable, talented, he could not long be a stranger to any one who wished to know him. Jane was accustomed to sit much with Aunt Abby always ”

“ But Aunt Abby’s forgiveness was not slow in coming. The past ten days of sorrow had left her heart very tender. In spite of being “book-larned,” she was very humane. Chip’s sad life and misfortunes appealed to her, as they had to Uncle Jud, and true Christian woman that she was, her heart opened to Chip.
“I hope we shall never be parted while I live,” she said, as the tears came again. “I have no children, and no one to live for but my sister. I am so wonted to Christmas Cove, I could not feel at home anywhere else. ”

“ Savage commented abstractedly.
"Be quiet, Walter. Aunt Abby's passionately fond of two things--cards and what she calls 'interesting people.' Neither would matter much but for the other. She gambles for sheer love of it, and doesn't care a rap whether she wins or loses. And her notion of an interesting person is anybody fortunate or misfortunate enough to be noticed by the newspapers. A bit of a scandal is sure bait for her regard . . ."
Pausing, Mrs. Standish smiled coolly. "Take me, for example. Until I found it necessary to get unmarried, my aunt never could find time to waste on me. ”

“ Your aunt is going to be worse, Miss Allison, and I doubt if we can pull her through. You’ll want somebody for night work.”
Mrs. Smith, the village nurse, is the dreariest of her kind, and brings an atmosphere of melancholy with her. My services were needed as cheerer-up from this time on, for poor Aunt Abby grew visibly weaker, and finally one stormy night the end seemed near, so I did not go home. Dr. Richmond came in about nine o’clock and found me in the cold, lofty parlor with its straight backed furniture and grim family portraits. ”

“ She spoke her mind out to Luella, too. She told her that she'd killed her husband and everybody that had anythin' to do with her, and she'd thank her to leave her mother alone. Luella went into hysterics, and Aunt Abby was so frightened that she called me after her daughter went. Mrs. Sam Abbot she went away fairly cryin' out loud in the buggy, the neighbours heard her, and well she might, for she never saw her mother again alive. I went in that night when Aunt Abby called for me, standin' in the door with her little green-checked shawl over her head. ”

“ Mixter,' says I, 'you look worse than she does. You ain't fit to be up out of your bed.'
"'Oh, there ain't anythin' the matter with me,' says she. Then she went on talkin' to Luella. 'There, there, don't, don't, poor little lamb,' says she. 'Aunt Abby is here. She ain't goin' away and leave you. Don't, poor little lamb.'
"'Do leave her with me, Mrs. Mixter, and you get back to bed,' says I, for Aunt Abby had been layin' down considerable lately, though somehow she contrived to do the work. ”

“ With a hearty kiss on Eunice’s red lips, and a gay wave of his hand to Aunt Abby, Embury went away and Ferdinand closed the door behind him.
“I can’t stand it, Aunt Abby,” Eunice exclaimed, as the butler disappeared into the pantry; “if Sanford were a poor man it would be different. But he’s made more money this year than ever before, and yet, he won’t give me an allowance or even a little bit of ready money.”
“But you have accounts,” Aunt Abby said, absently, for she-was scanning the paper now.
“Accounts! Of course, I have! But there are a thousand things one wants cash for! ”

“ Now, I know for certain that I did do it, and how it came about.”
“Dear Aunt Abby,” and Elliott spoke very gently, “don’t you talk about it any more. Your vagaries are tolerated by us, who love you, but Mr. Stone is bored by them—”
“Not at all,” said Fleming Stone; “on the contrary, I’m deeply interested. Tell me all about it, Miss Ames. Where have you been?”
Thus encouraged, Aunt Abby told all.
She described the séance truthfully, Fibsy’s bright eyes—not lack-luster now—darting glances at her and at Stone as the tale proceeded. ”

“ The front breadth of her black dress looked rusty and old in the sunshine that slanted across it, and the aunt's sharp eyes saw this and saw the careful darns. Abby was as neat as wax, but she looked as if the frost had struck her. "I declare, she's gittin' along in years," thought Aunt Cynthia compassionately. "She begins to look sort o' set and dried up, Abby does. She ought n't to live all alone; she's one that needs company." ”

“ She shook her head.
“There’s a mistake,” she said faintly. “There ain’t no fun’ral. Aunt Abby’s better.”
The man stared, then he whistled softly.
“Gorry!” he muttered, as he turned away.
If Jim and Ella had supposed that they could keep their aunt from attending her own “funeral”--as Herrick persisted in calling it--they soon found their mistake. Mrs. Darling heard the bells of the first arrival.
“I guess mebbe I’ll git up an’ set up a spell,” she announced calmly to Ella. “I’ll have my wrapper an’ my slippers, an’ I’ll set in the big chair out in the settin’-room. ”

“ When I was sixteen, my Aunt Abby, papa's sister, told me that mamma was said to be the most beautiful girl in the whole State, and that papa fell so in love with her when he was just out of college, that he came very near dying because his father did not wish them to be married. ”

“ I should think you would be ashamed, Aunt Sally."
Abby looked horrified at this bold speech. She hardly dared to glance at her aunt, but sat in silent terror, expecting some violent outburst. But Mrs. Bertie seemed rather amused than otherwise.
"Well done, Miss Fire-cracker! I like your spirit. But you must not go off so," she continued, seeing that Ethel continued to make preparations for departure. "You know nobody minds my speeches. I am an old woman, and always say just what I think. Come, come, kiss and be friends, and don't quarrel with your old auntie." ”

“ The girls stood by to pick the bows apart, and fuzz up the ruffles where they were smashed in; and Billy’s father and Uncle Jacob, they sat and laughed.
Grandmother couldn’t help herself, but she kept saying, “Now, Phebe! now, girls! now, Billy!”
“And now, grandmother!” says Aunt Phebe. “There! fold your hands together. Don’t lean back hard, ’t will jam easy. Now see, girls! Isn’t she a beauty?” And, Maggie, I do believe she’s the prettiest grandmother there is going. Her face is just as round and smiling!
“Now sit still, Grandmother,” said Aunt Phebe. ”

“ Aunt Laura said she approved of laying by for a rainy day; and Adeline said that was just what she was doing,—laying up ideas against the day when her health might not be so good, or her family so small. ‘The question [84] is, Aunt Laura,’ said she, ‘who wastes time and money,—you, or I?’ Uncle David and Aunt Laura have always worked like slaves, and do now; but every dollar saved is put into the bank or into land. There’s hardly a pretty thing in their house. They work and save, work and save, denying themselves almost every enjoyment, except that of eating. They will live well. ”

“ But I stayed, for daddy's mind was made up beforehand, and daddy always has his will, though it is in a gentle way.
Elinor was a little girl then. She sat down with me in the window-seat, and showed me her new primer, and whispered softly that Aunt Bethiah would like me, if I wiped my feet.
Poor mammy! How long she has been sick! She sits in the same chair and in the same corner that she did the night I was brought. Some women wouldn't think of anybody but themselves; but she has a care over the whole neighborhood. She's always steeping up herbs or spreading plasters for somebody. ”

“ I don't know but I shall soon be gittin' too old to live alone." And she turned to her niece with an expectant, lovely look, and Abby smiled back.
"I often wish I could run in an' see you every day, aunt," she answered. "I have been sayin' so to Mrs. Hand."
"There, how anybody does relish company when they don't have but a little of it!" exclaimed Aunt Cynthia. "I am all alone to-day; there is going to be a shootin'-match somewhere the other side o' the mountain, an' Johnny Foss, that does my chores, begged off to go when he brought the milk unusual early this mornin'. ”

“ I shall always love Aunt Bethiah, she is so kind to him and to us all. She loved Frederic dearly, in her way. I have noticed that she never sets on the table, at meal-times, the things he used to like best.
June 9.—All my anxiety about Elinor is gone. The color and the smiles are coming back to her face, and the light to her eye. She is almost her old self again. Only, when people have suffered a great deal, some sign of it will always remain.
June 12.—Yesterday, I brought in to her a bunch of wild-roses. She put them in a tumbler, and carried them into mammy's room. ”

“ Georgiana, take this pattern in to your Aunt Phebe, and tell her I forgot to see if I could match it; but I don’t believe the man had any like it.” [Pg 8]
Georgiana was a nice little girl that just then came running across the garden,—William Henry’s sister, as I learned afterwards.
Just then Aunt Phebe stepped to the door again.
“Here are two hungry travellers,” said Uncle Jacob, “and one of us is bashful.”
“Well,” said Aunt Phebe, very cheerily, “if anybody is hungry, this is just the right place. How do you do, sir? Come right in. We live so out of the way we ’re always glad of company. ”

“ O, I don’t believe any other woman can make things as good as Aunt Phebe’s! Georgianna had a frosted plum-cake baked in a saucer; and, every time she moved her seat, Uncle Jacob would go too, and sit close up to her, and say how much he liked Georgie, she was the best little girl that ever was,—a great deal better than Aunt Phebe’s girls. Then Georgianna would say, “O, I know you! you want my frosted cake!” Then Uncle Jacob would pucker his lips together, and shut up his eyes, and shake his head so solemn! He keeps every [Pg 93] body a-laughing, even Billy’s grandmother. ”

“ O dear! when we think of everything that might happen to boys, ’t is a wonder one of them ever lives to grow up. Isn’t there a pond near by?”
“O yes,” said Lucy Maria, “Crooked Pond. That’s what gives the name to the school,—Crooked Pond School.”
“I hope he won’t be whipped,” said his little sister.
“Whipped!” cried Aunt Phebe, “I should like to see anybody whipping our Billy!”
“O mother, I shouldn’t,” said Matilda.
“’T isn’t an impossible thing,” said grandmother. “He’s quick. Billy’s good-hearted, but he’s quick. He might speak up. I gave him a charge how to behave. ”

“ I love all my rag-babies. I love Snip, but not so much as I do Rover. I love dear little baby-brother. I love the Jimmies, both of them. I love Effie, and [Pg 48] I love my mother, and my father, and grandma Plummer. I don’t love aunt Bethiah. Aunt Bethiah does not love little girls. When little girls have a pudding-pan, aunt Bethiah says it is all nonsense for them to have them. My mother said I might have raisins in my pudding. ”