Granny

“ Why, Granny, ’tis Dad’s wedding day to-morrow, and ’tis a white frock with lace to it as I’m going to wear, and beads what Miss Sims gived me, and the shoes what was new except for being worn to church three times. Shall I fetch them all and show to you, Granny?
Jane. Yes, run along and get them, Dorry; very likely ’twill give her thoughts a turn, looking at the things, seeing as she be in one of her nasty moods to-day when you can’t get a word what isn’t foolishness out of her. ”

“ Granny, I must tell you, was not the children's grandmother, but the great-aunt of their mother. She seemed, therefore, a kind of great-grandmother to Denis and his brothers and sisters, and to have called her 'Aunt,' or anything else but 'Granny,' would have been impossible. She was old; very old, I daresay she seemed to the children, but yet there was a delightful sort of youngness about her, which made them feel as if they could tell her anything, with a certainty of being understood. ”

“ And Denis, looking up, thought that Granny was the prettiest lady in the world, 'next to mother.' She was very pretty, at least in the sight of those who do not think beauty is only to be found in the bright eyes and fresh roses of youth. ”

“ But as Granny climbed in, Grannyfather took him from the running board of the car, and held him in his arms, while he watched the car disappear down the road among the trees and bushes.
“Now Ginkle, you must be a good boy; Granny is going away all day, and you must take good care of Grannyfather.” ”

“ Four, five, six,—sure, I must be more sparing of my pieces,—but bless the sweet Ellen, she can't eat any, and I'm not needing any myself,—but Grandad, and Granny, they must have a bit;—seven, eight, nine,—it's a trifle small, to be sure, but enough for a taste for the darlings. If Granny hadn't heard the boy, what a fine surprise I'd have for her; but she'll be wanting to know what the likes of me is getting for Christmas. She's that curious, she sleeps with her other eye open just to be seeing what she can hear. ”

“ You dear old Granny, how sweet your smile, and how soft your silvery hair! But all has moved on while you sate still in your cap and easy-chair. The torch of knowledge is lit for all, it flashes from hand to hand; The alien tongues of the earth converse, and whisper from strand to strand. The very churches are changed and boast new hymns, new rites, new truth; Men worship a wiser and greater God than the half-known God of your youth.
What! marry Connie and set up house, and dwell where my fathers dwelt, Giving the homely feasts they gave, and kneeling where they knelt? ”

“ Granny Marble, of The World, to the extreme left of the picture, clenches her fists over the pungent suds, and looks fight at Granny Jones of The Times. The beaming phiz of Granny Greeley of The Tribune looms up between the two, like the sun in a fog. But the real Sun in a fog is to be seen to the extreme right. There you behold Granny Dana of The Sun, shaking her brawny bunch of fives in the face of Granny Young of The Standard, whose manner of wringing out the linen, you will observe, is up to the highest Standard of that branch of art. ”

“ If you want granny, granny's not too old to travel; and if you don't want her, why she can look after the cottage, and have an English home ready for you whenever you turn back to the old country."
"Of course we shall need you, granny," John Huxford said, with a cheery laugh. "Fancy leaving granny behind! That would never do, Mary! ”

“ The first morning after breakfast I would lead Granny down the steps, and there would be waiting for her a beautiful little pony carriage painted blue with white velvet cushions, and two white Arab ponies with flowing manes and tails, and a little boy would get up on the seat behind and fold his arms and Granny would step in and take the reins in her hands and drive away miles into the most beautiful country she has ever seen. Granny likes driving herself. She always used to do that, when she was rich, didn't she, Aunt Alice? ”

“ And after she had told it every bit, she squeezed grandma’s hand very hard and said,
“And now, Granny dear, you will help me, won’t you? It is perfectly all right to ask him for all the girls do it. I want him to take me.”
“Well, well, dear,” said the grandmother, “if we find that it is all right, I shall be glad to find a way to help you. But we must see. We must see.”
“See what, grandmother?” asked the girl. “There is nothing to see.”
“Indeed there is, child,” said Granny. “In times of trouble one must always see the Truth. Then the way is easy. ”

“ Dear Granny, who has made toil heroic, and old age lovely, and out of whose simple, every-day existence have blossomed the roses that still render this old world bright and glorious,—Love, Labor, Faith! ”

“ Granny had found her voice at last. She told her lie with pride.
“Take Polly alive? How should they take her alive—my granddaughter! You think she would not hold herself too dear for that? Your wife, the mother of your son? She might well have gone with them unharmed; some women do, more shame to them! But not her. She fought them off, fought them like any wildcat. ‘Take your foul hands from me,’ she said, ‘for I belong to the one man only—my husband! ”

“ Granny says I can go to the party on Thursday night, and that I may go to Bath House every day and see you, Mrs. Morison! She likes you so much. The skies must be going to fall. You have bewitched her.”
“You are talking nonsense,” said Mrs. Winstone.
“Ask Granny. She was almost sweet. But who cares what’s come over her? You will teach me to dance, won’t you, Mr. Tay? I could learn in five minutes.”
“Charmed. Congratulate you—and ourselves. Is the carriage ready?”
“Oh, it is! I’ll go out with our guests. Don’t you bother, Julia. Aunt Maria, you must be tired out. ”

“ Granny, in her clean cap, white apron, and neat gown, sitting in a well-scrubbed room, reading the Bible with the help of a pair of horn spectacles, by the side of a not depressingly low fire, is all the idea of poverty with which many a high-born lady has any acquaintance. ”

“ Granny is a very old lady now, and my hair is becoming quite white. As for the little beggar himself, the ambition of his childhood is fulfilled, and he is one of the Queen's [Pg 282] soldiers, having just passed into Sandhurst, a fact in which Granny takes an overwhelming pride. ”

“ That-un's best of all the rest— Bestest one of any—, Where the mices scampers home Like we runs to Granny! Granny's come to our house, Ho! My lawzy-daisy! All the childern round the place Is ist a runnin' crazy! Fetched a cake fer little Jake, And fetched a pie fer Nanny, And fetched a pear fer all the pack That runs to kiss their Granny! ”

“ Hereafter, dear girls, we'll be comrades and friends,
Till, unclouded, our life at this pleasant school ends.
Granny. Kiss the Queen, dearies, and then eat your cake and cream. It is Flora's box. You see now the result of the dream. Instead of sending a box, the uncle, who is really at heart very kind, sent a liberal sum of money, and Flora directed this feast to be purchased.
[All the girls kiss Flora, who beams gratefully upon them.]
Granny (to the birds) . Sit right on the floor, you sweet birdies, and you shall have a share in the good things. I must go now. ”

“ Ah me, old Granny's legs are full of water, and aches and pains in every limb; a horrid witch they call her, ay—and a thieving woman too! But there must be some of both when an old worn woman has to feed two mouths; and you may be glad that Granny's the witch she is. None but she [Pg 55] cares for you—and lazy, no folks shall ever call her that. ”

“ It sounds like your wicked old granny to say that!"
"Do you know, Diamond," said Nanny, "I do not think my old granny is my real old granny at all. I don't think she was ever any one's granny or mother. That was why she was not good to me. Perhaps she never had any mother when she was little to be good to her. And somebody must first be good to you, don't you think, before you can learn how to be good to any body else? Isn't that so? But where [92] was I in my dream? Oh yes, the big yellow moon came down closer and closer to the grass in front of me. Then somehow, it seemed to be my ruby lady. ”

“ Said her own mother used to always carry a sprig of it to meeting when Granny was a mite of a child. She could see her mother’s face, just smelling it, she said. Fancy! Being the mother of a grandmother! Doesn’t that seem almost too old to be believed?
“My Cousin Margaret is almost as happy as your Granny. She says life is so simple up here, and it does her so much good to see anybody so glad as Mrs. ”

“ His mother would [93] not let Granny go up-stairs to show them their rooms as she wished to do.
'No, no, Granny,' she said, 'I know them all quite well. Take Granny back to the library, Edith,' she added to one of the young ladies staying in the house. ”

“ No, mother, you stay here," he said decidedly, as Granny rose with the evident intention of accompanying him. "You will only tire yourself for no purpose. If he is to be found in the garden, you may rest assured that I shall find him and bring him to you as soon as possible. Just stay here quietly with Miss Baggerley, and don't worry yourself." ”

“ I’m sure when I and Hugh and granny lived in the poor lodge, and had nothing to offer but persimmon beer and sour, knobby apples, we never treated our visitors so meanly. No, that we didn’t! Granny used to say, ‘Hospit—something or other—before everything’ which meant that it was a shame to treat well-behaved company meanly. And you treated the pleasant-spoken gentleman meanly. ’Deed, I thought he preached nice as the parson. But you treated him meanly—and I don’t want to have anything to do with you, and I won’t, either, have anything to do with you, godfather. I want my maid. ”

“ Here you behold Little Red Riding-Hood, a model of grand filial devotion, for she was so fond of her granny that she wandered through the forest to take the old lady's luncheon, and was eaten by the wolf for so doing, which is a warning to all children to be careful how they do much for their grandmothers, unless they are rich and can leave them something in their wills. ”

“ NANNY'S SEARCH. O NANNY, my dear little Nanny! and
where have you been to-day?
Y our little coat's old, and the wind blows cold,
and where have you been, I pray?"
"Dear Granny, I've been to the forest to look
for a Christmas-tree—
Santa Claus is so kind, I thought I would find
one growing there wild, maybe,
Full of cakes, with a doll, and candy, and all
for a wee little body like me."
GRANDMOTHER'S STORY. NOW hang up your sunbonnet, Marthy,
And get out your patchwork square,
And sit down here and sew for a while
In your little rocking-chair ”

“ He handles the planets and weighs their dust, he mounts on the comet's car, And he lifts the veil of the sun, and stares in the eyes of the uttermost star.
'Tis not the same world you knew, Granny; its fetters have fallen off; The lowliest now may rise and rule where the proud used to sit and scoff. No need to boast of a scutcheoned stock, claim rights for an ancient wrong; All are born with a silver spoon in their mouths whose gums are sound and strong. And I mean to be rich and great, Granny ”

“ It transpired that Granny Wood was there, circumstances having caused her to make her home with her daughter, and the dear old soul, now quite a prisoner through rheumatism to her chair by the fireside, was delighted to see one of the "little missies," of whom, as her daughter explained, she was never tired of talking.
"They was angels without wings to me, that day, ma'am," the old granny asserted; "little missy here, and her friend. ”

“ There was a paper pinned on it, "A Merry Christmas from Mrs. Kinsey."
A nice dark calico dress-pattern, at which Granny was so overcome that she dropped into the nearest chair.
Next a pair of gloves from Joe; a pretty, warm hood from Mrs. Howard, the clergyman's wife; a bowl of elegant cranberry sauce from another neighbor; a crocheted collar from Florence, and then with a big tug—
"Oh!" exclaimed Granny, "is it a comfortable, or what?"
A good thick plaid shawl. Just bright enough to be [62] handsome and not too gay, and as soft as the back of a lamb. ”

“ He said, "Your wish came more than true—-you saw the fairy Queen!"
III HOME
Granny
When Granny comes to stop with us she always loves to play;
She talks to every single doll and knows just what to say.
You haven't got to tell her why and lots of things explain,
She's been a little girl like me and wants to be again!
She knows Eliza's got a cough and only has one lung,
She knows Matilda's very bad and says, "Put out your tongue."
She always has a penny for the sweetshop in the lane,
She's been a little girl like me and wants to be again! ”

“ He had reached the door, when by a weak gesture she called him back again.
"If—if you should meet anybody—I'm expecting Granny all the time—I'm sure she wouldn't leave me altogether like this—you will come back all the same, won't you?" ”

“ She takes off her clothes, And into bed goes. Old wolf keeps the counterpane up to his nose, But the child sees with fear That, now she's so near, Her grandmother's looking remarkably queer. She trembles with fright, and in sad perturbation, Commences the following brief conversation:
Original Size -- Medium-Size "Oh, granny, I view your long ears with surprise!" "They 're to hear all you say to the letter." "Oh, granny, how fiery and big are your eyes!" "They 're to see you all the better." "Oh, granny, your teeth are tremendous in size!" "They 're to eat you!" ”

“ They were already sitting down to supper as the young people went into the dining-room. The grandmother, or Granny as she was called in the household, a very stout, plain old lady with bushy eyebrows and a little moustache, was talking loudly, and from her voice and manner of speaking it could be seen that she was the person of most importance in the house. She owned rows of shops in the market, and the old-fashioned house with columns and the garden, yet she prayed every morning that God might save her from ruin and shed tears as she did so. ”