Quilts Part 10

The proverbial neatness of the ancestors of the Dutch colonists in America was characteristic of their homes in the new land. This is well ill.u.s.trated in the following description of a Pennsylvania Dutch farmer's home, similar to the one in which the quilting above mentioned took place: "We keep one fire in winter. This is in the kitchen which, with nice housekeepers, is the abode of neatness, with its rag carpet and brightly polished stove. Adjoining the kitchen is a state apartment, also rag-carpeted, and called 'the room.' Will you go upstairs in a neat Dutch farmhouse? There are rag carpets again. Gay quilts are on the best beds, where green and red calico, perhaps in the form of a basket, are displayed on a white ground; or the beds bear brilliant coverlets of red, white, and blue, as if to 'make the rash gazer wipe his eyes.'"

There are many things to induce women to piece quilts. The desire for a handsome bed furnishing, or the wish to make a gift of one to a dear friend, have inspired some women to make quilts. With others, quilt making is a recreation, a diversion, a means of occupying restless fingers. However, the real inducement is love of the work; because the desire to make a quilt exceeds all other desires. In such a case it is worked on persistently, laid aside reluctantly, and taken up each time with renewed interest and pleasure. It is this intense interest in the work which produces the most beautiful quilts. On quilts that are made because of the genuine interest in the work, the most painstaking efforts are put forth; the pa.s.sing of time is not considered; and the belief of the majority of such quilt makers, though unconfessed, doubtless, is the equivalent of the old Arab proverb that "Slowness comes from G.o.d, but hurry from the devil."

All women who are lonely do not live in isolated farmhouses, prairie shacks, or remote villages. In reality, there are more idle, listless hands in the hearts of crowded bustling cities than in the quiet country. City women, surrounded by many enticing distractions, are turning more and more to patchwork as a fascinating yet nerve-soothing occupation. Not only is there a sort of companionship between the maker and the quilt, but there is also the great benefit derived from having found a new interest in life, something worth while that can be built up by one's own efforts.

An anecdote is told of a woman living in a quiet little New England village who complained of her loneliness there, where the quilting bees were the only saving features of an otherwise colourless existence. She told the interested listener that in this out-of-the-way hamlet she did not mind the monotony much because there were plenty of "quiltings," adding that she had helped that winter at more than twenty-five quilting bees; besides this, she had made a quilt for herself and also helped on some of those of her immediate neighbours.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WILD ROSE

That loves to grow in fragrant, tangled ma.s.ses by the roadside was made to march in prim rows on this child's quilt]

American women rarely think of quilts as being made or used outside of their own country. In reality quilts are made in almost every land on the face of the earth. Years ago, when the first New England missionaries were sent to the Hawaiian Islands, the native women were taught to piece quilts, which they continue to do down to this day.

These Hawaiian women treasure their handiwork greatly, and some very old and beautiful quilts are to be found among these islands. In creating their patchwork they have wandered from the Puritanical designs of their teachers, and have intermingled with the conventional figures the gorgeous flowers that bloom beside their leaf-thatched, vine-covered huts. To these women, also, patchwork fills a place. It affords a means of expression for individuality and originality in the same way that it does for the lonely New England women and for the isolated mountaineers of Kentucky.

Harriet Beecher Stowe, immortalized by "Uncle Tom's Cabin," produced other stories, not now so familiar to us as to our countrymen of the Civil War period, which showed an intimate knowledge of the home life of the American people as well as the vital questions of her day. In her novel ent.i.tled the "Minister's Wooing," which ran first as a serial in the _Atlantic Monthly_ in 1859, she describes a quilting supposed to have been given about the year 1800. Here we can view at close range a real old-fashioned quilting, and gain some insight into its various incidents of sociability and gossip, typical of an early New England seafaring village, as set forth in Mrs. Stowe's inimitable style:

"By two o'clock a goodly company began to a.s.semble. Mrs. Deacon Twitchel arrived, soft, pillowy, and plaintive as ever, accompanied by Cerinthy Ann, a comely damsel, tall and trim, with a bright black eye and a most vigorous and determined style of movement. Good Mrs. Jones, broad, expansive, and solid, having vegetated tranquilly on in the cabbage garden of the virtues since three years ago, when she graced our tea party, was now as well preserved as ever, and brought some fresh b.u.t.ter, a tin pail of cream, and a loaf of cake made after a new Philadelphia receipt. The tall, spare, angular figure of Mrs. Simeon Brown alone was wanting; but she patronized Mrs. Scudder no more, and tossed her head with a becoming pride when her name was mentioned.

"The quilt pattern was gloriously drawn in oak leaves, done in indigo; and soon all the company, young and old, were pa.s.sing busy fingers over it, and conversation went on briskly.

"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 gra.s.ses 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 gra.s.s 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 gra.s.s, 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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?'

"'It's a fact,' said the adventurous damsel; 'now other men let you have some peace, but a minister's always round under your feet.'

"'So you think the less you see of a husband, the better?' said one of the ladies.

"'Just my views!' said Cerinthy, giving a decided snip to her thread with her scissors. 'I like the Nantucketers, that go off on four years' voyages, and leave their wives a clear field. If ever I get married, I'm going up to have one of those fellows.'

"It is to be remarked, in pa.s.sing, that Miss Cerinthy Ann was at this very time receiving surrept.i.tious visits from a consumptive-looking, conscientious young theological candidate, who came occasionally to preach in the vicinity, and put up at the house of the deacon, her father. This good young man, being violently attacked on the doctrine of election by Miss Cerinthy, had been drawn on to ill.u.s.trate it in a most practical manner, to her comprehension; and it was the consciousness of the weak and tottering state of the internal garrison that added vigour to the young lady's tones. As Mary had been the chosen confidante of the progress of this affair, she was quietly amused at the demonstration.

"'You'd better take care, Cerinthy Ann,' said her mother, 'they say "that those who sing before breakfast will cry before supper." Girls talk about getting married,' she said, relapsing into a gentle melancholy, 'without realizing its awful responsibilities.'

"'Oh, as to that,' said Cerinthy, 'I've been practising on my pudding now these six years, and I shouldn't be afraid to throw one up chimney with any girl.'

"This speech was founded on a tradition, current in those times, that no young lady was fit to be married till she could construct a boiled Indian pudding of such consistency that it could be thrown up a chimney and come down on the ground outside without breaking; and the consequence of Cerinthy Ann's sally was a general laugh.

"'Girls ain't what they used to be in my day,' sententiously remarked an elderly lady. 'I remember my mother told me when she was thirteen she could knit a long cotton stocking in a day.'

"'I haven't much faith in these stories of old times, have you, girls?' said Cerinthy, appealing to the younger members at the frame.

"'At any rate,' said Mrs. Twitchel, 'our minister's wife will be a pattern; I don't know anybody that goes beyond her either in spinning or fine st.i.tching.'

"Mary sat as placid and disengaged as the new moon, and listened to the chatter of old and young with the easy quietness of a young heart that has early outlived life and looks on everything in the world from some gentle, restful eminence far on toward a better home. She smiled at everybody's word, had a quick eye for everybody's wants, and was ready with thimble, scissors, or thread, whenever any one needed them; but once, when there was a pause in the conversation, she and Mrs.

Marvyn were both discovered to have stolen away. They were seated on the bed in Mary's little room, with their arms around each other, communing in low and gentle tones.

"'Mary, my dear child,' said her friend, 'this event is very pleasant to me, because it places you permanently near me. I did not know but eventually this sweet face might lead to my losing you who are in some respects the dearest friend I have.'

"'You might be sure,' said Mary, 'I never would have married, except that my mother's happiness and the happiness of so good a friend seemed to depend on it. When we renounce self in anything we have reason to hope for G.o.d's blessing; and so I feel a.s.sured of a peaceful life in the course I have taken. You will always be as a mother to me,' she added, laying her head on her friend's shoulder.

"'Yes,' said Mrs. Marvyn; 'and I must not let myself think a moment how dear it might have been to have you more my own. If you feel really, truly happy, if you can enter on this life without any misgivings----'

"'I can,' said Mary firmly.

"At this instant, very strangely, the string which confined a wreath of seash.e.l.ls around her gla.s.s, having been long undermined by moths, suddenly broke and fell down, scattering the sh.e.l.ls upon the floor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "KEEPSAKE QUILT"

The sunbonnet la.s.sies suggest an outing or a call from playmates on the morrow. These la.s.sies may be dressed in bits of the gowns of the little maid, and the quilt thus become a "keepsake quilt"]

"Both women started, for the string of sh.e.l.ls had been placed there by James; and though neither was superst.i.tious, this was one of those odd coincidences that make hearts throb.

"'Dear boy!' said Mary, gathering the sh.e.l.ls up tenderly; 'wherever he is, I shall never cease to love him. It makes me feel sad to see this come down; but it is only an accident; nothing of him will ever fall out of my heart.'

"Mrs. Marvyn clasped Mary closer to her, with tears in her eyes.

"'I'll tell you what, Mary, it must have been the moths did that,'

said Miss Prissy, who had been standing, un.o.bserved, at the door for a moment back; 'moths will eat away strings just so. Last week Miss Vernon's great family picture fell down because the moths eat through the cord; people ought to use twine or cotton string always. But I came to tell you that supper is all set, and the doctor out of his study, and all the people are wondering where you are.'

"Mary and Mrs. Marvyn gave a hasty glance at themselves in the gla.s.s, to be a.s.sured of their good keeping, and went into the great kitchen, where a long table stood exhibiting all that plent.i.tude of provision which the immortal description of Washington Irving has saved us the trouble of recapitulating in detail.

"The husbands, brothers, and lovers had come in, and the scene was redolent of gayety. When Mary made her appearance, there was a moment's pause, till she was conducted to the side of the doctor; when, raising his hand, he invoked a grace upon the loaded board.

"Unrestrained gayeties followed. Groups of young men and maidens chatted together, and all the gallantries of the times were enacted.

Serious matrons commented on the cake, and told each other high and particular secrets in the culinary art which they drew from remote family archives. One might have learned in that instructive a.s.sembly how best to keep moths out of blankets, how to make fritters of Indian corn undistinguishable from oysters, how to bring up babies by hand, how to mend a cracked teapot, how to take out grease from a brocade, how to reconcile absolute decrees with free will, how to make five yards of cloth answer the purpose of six, and how to put down the Democratic party.

"Miss Prissy was in her glory; every bow of her best cap was alive with excitement, and she presented to the eyes of the astonished Newport gentry an animated receipt book. Some of the information she communicated, indeed, was so valuable and important that she could not trust the air with it, but whispered the most important portions in a confidential tone. Among the crowd, Cerinthy Ann's theological admirer was observed in deeply reflective att.i.tude; and that high-spirited young lady added further to his convictions of the total depravity of the species by vexing and discomposing him in those thousand ways in which a lively, ill-conditioned young woman will put to rout a serious, well-disposed young man, comforting herself with the reflection that by and by she would repent of all her sins in a lump together.

"Vain, transitory splendours! Even this evening, so glorious, so heart cheering, so fruitful in instruction and amus.e.m.e.nt, could not last forever. Gradually the company broke up; the matrons mounted soberly on horseback behind their spouses, and Cerinthy consoled her clerical friend by giving him an opportunity to read her a lecture on the way home, if he found the courage to do so.

"Mr. and Mrs. Marvyn and Candace wound their way soberly homeward; the doctor returned to his study for nightly devotions; and before long sleep settled down on the brown cottage.

"'I'll tell you what, Cato,' said Candace, before composing herself to sleep, 'I can't feel it in my bones dat dis yer weddin's gwine to come off yit.'"