“Madame de Frontignac, we must not forget to say, had entered with hearty abandon into the spirit of the day. She had dressed the tall china vases on the mantelpiece, and, departing from the usual rule of an equal mixture of roses and asparagus bushes, had constructed two quaint and graceful bouquets where garden flowers were mingled with drooping grasses and trailing wild vines, forming a graceful combination which excited the surprise of all who saw it.

“‘It’s the very first time in my life that I ever saw grass put into a flower pot,’ said Miss Prissy, ‘but I must say it looks as handsome as a picture. Mary, I must say,’ she added, in an aside, ‘I think that Madame de Frontignac is the sweetest dressing and appearing creature I ever saw; she don’t dress up nor put on airs, but she seems to see in a minute how things ought to go; and if it’s only a bit of grass, or leaf, or wild vine, that she puts in her hair, why, it seems to come just right. I should like to make her a dress, for I know she would understand my fit; do speak to her, Mary, in case she should want a dress fitted here, to let me try it.’

“At the quilting Madame de Frontignac would have her seat, and soon won the respect of the party by the dexterity with which she used her needle; though, when it was whispered that she learned to quilt among the nuns, some of the elderly ladies exhibited a slight uneasiness, as being rather doubtful whether they might not be encouraging papistical opinions by allowing her an equal share in the work of getting up their minister’s bed quilt; but the younger part of the company was quite captivated by her foreign air and the pretty manner in which she lisped her English; and Cerinthy Ann even went so far as to horrify her mother by saying that she wished she’d been educated in a convent herself, a declaration which arose less from native depravity than from a certain vigorous disposition, which often shows itself in young people, to shock the current opinions of their elders and betters. Of course, the conversation took a general turn, somewhat in unison with the spirit of the occasion; and whenever it flagged, some allusion to a forthcoming wedding, or some sly hint at the future young Madame of the parish was sufficient to awaken the dormant animation of the company.

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MORNING GLORY

It must be “early to bed and early to rise” for the child who would see the sweet morning glory in all its loveliness, as it must be found before all the dew is gone

“Cerinthy Ann contrived to produce an agreeable electric shock by declaring that for her part she never could see into it how any girl could marry a minister; that she should as soon think of setting up housekeeping in a meeting-house.

“‘Oh, Cerinthy Ann!’ exclaimed her mother, ‘how can you go on so?’