Even the negroes said:
“Miss Ro’m’ry is mo’ like Miss Sukey’s own chile dan Miss Dolly’s darter, anyways.”
They had now been staying “Up in the Forest” ever since harvest, and their manner of life was quaint enough, especially in the evenings.
When the day was nearly spent, and the family supper was over, and Uncle Billy had gone out to see that barn and stable and sheepfold were well secured, and all else right outside, and when Aunt Molly had gone her rounds in poultry yard and dairy, and was putting her children to bed, then Aunt Sukey, Rosemary and the negro girl, Henny, would retire into Aunt Sukey’s room, to utilize the lingering light of the short winter day by working at whatever tasks were on hand, for never did holiday begin until the candle should be lighted.
It was some homely, country work always. And Aunt Sukey would probably be knitting. Rosemary sewing together scraps for a patchwork quilt and the negro girl, Henny, seated on a stool, would be engaged in winding off the yarn from a “jack” into balls.
It was usually little Rosemary who would give the signal for stopping work, by saying, in pleading tones:
“Aunt Sukey, ain’t it most time to let down the blinds and light the candle?”
Whereupon the negro girl would set her reel jack in the corner, and untie and drop the paper blinds before the two windows, and light the tallow dip on the mantelpiece.
Rosemary would roll up her “pieces,” and put away her work in a little homemade chip basket, which she would hang upon its own nail.
Last of all, Aunt Sukey would draw her knitting needle from its sheaf, roll up the half-finished stocking, and put it away in a workbag hanging on a hook, near the chimney corner.