The country-folks laughed wildly at such a fine joke, and Polly, eager to own the other valuable contents, smiled with them and nodded her head at the salesman. He was not aware that she meant she would bid, for his customers always shouted forth their bids. Then a man asked: “What sort of contents is thar?”
Abner pushed his way through the crowd to open the drawer in the table and enumerate the small ware mentioned as “contents,” when he saw, to his surprise, that there was a heap of covers on the table.
He picked them up and stared at them in dumbfounded amazement, then said: “Say, Lem, here’s them old bed-quilts we had sech a job huntin’ up. Whar the heck’d they come from, I’m sure I dunno!”
“You got ’em, eh? Well, they ain’t listed, so sell ’em fust. I’ll mark them an ‘A’ lot. Who wants to bid on a ole bed-spread?” called Lemuel.
Had the women-folk known of bedding to be sold in the kitchen, there would have been a mad rush for it. But most of them were waiting for the blankets and comfortables found in the two small bed-rooms annexed to the parlor. So but few were in the kitchen when the old candle-wicking spread was bid on by Polly, and knocked down to her for a dollar-ninety.
Eleanor got the blue and white woven coverlet for a dollar and a half, and Mrs. Fabian bought the linen towels “in a lot” for two dollars. The old brasses that were also listed as an “A” lot were knocked down as follows: Polly bought the ancient foot-warmer for sixty cents; Eleanor secured the warming-pan for a dollar, and Dodo, the set of fire-irons with acorn tops, for three dollars. These undreamed-of bargains elated the girls so that they lost all discretion for a time.
“Now that we’ve cleared them things out of our way, we’ll sell the table,” said Lemuel, and forthwith he gave the table to a farmer for fifty cents.
“What ’che got next, Ab?” asked he.
“Some kitchen dishes,” replied Abner, as he opened the cupboard and displayed several samples of blue ware.
Eleanor saw the familiar pattern of the pagodas and willows that are found on old willow-ware, and instantly decided that these must be rare antiques because they were found in the same house as the ancient objects just acquired by her and her friends. So she raised the first bid of ten cents for eight odd pieces, to a dollar.