Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 November 1876 — TILLIE’S THANKSGIVING. [ARTICLE]

TILLIE’S THANKSGIVING.

I ato, spre Tillies spirit must have slid down to'earth on a sunbeam, it is such a shining bit of spirit, always turning its face toward the cheerful side of events, as a sunflower turns its disk to the Al Children, you know', are wise in some one talent or trait, some one good or bad quality that grows faster than the rest of them; and Tillie, who is very childlike in most respects, and even behind others of heP age in her studies, is very old in hope. Her sistar Mary, though two years her senior, has not half Tillie’s courage, and is veiy much inclined to if you could, spend a week at their house,.! think you would laugh at the funny likeness flfey bdar t'q Their • '»« < • ( ■ ■ Mr. Treadway looks out of the window,; and if there is a cloud anywhere visible, he is sure it is (going to 'rain - ; but little Mrs. Treadway oh the rattiest day in the year is always seeing a thin place some, where iu the clouds, and is sure the storm won’t last much longer'. If it still goes ou,jhe always says “how much this will hdlp<the crops,” or “ the cisterns - wete almost-dry,” or something else that reminds you of refreshing drops from the full reservoir of her grateful heip-t. well and is neat and orderly and worries too much, and Tillie learns from everything that flies and walks, and is not as careful as she ought to be about getting those dreadful tlxfjfe-cofnered tears in her gowns and pinafores, but she has a lovely trus> in everybody’s good intentions, and she promises, with tears in her eyes'and no knowledge of grammar in her small head that she “won’t never do it agattt—nieycr;*’ • The two sisters sat in the nursery one Sleasant November day, dressing their oils. ... “Olf! say, Mary,” saidTlllie, suddenly, “ let’s have a Thanksgiving dinner.” ’’“'Why, we always have one, of course. DOn'tyou remember last year it was at Aunt Mary’s, and ttye year before at grandmother’s,' ahd this year it’s going to be—, ’ “Oh! dear,” interrupted Tillie, “do you s’pose I mean our reg’lar grown up dinner? not. I mean one all to ourselves.” . “Whaf for?” asked practical Mary. I* don’t* sec-any Use in it ” -..“Wily, Mary Treadway, I should think you’d be ashamed of yourself,” exclaimed Tillie, pursing <Mp her small mouth in great indignation. “ Diun’t you hear the mini^tpr T scrap of paper, the'prdeviation, you know ; didn’t he say there wasn’t nobody in church but that had pught, to keep Thanksgiving.” Poor Tilhe! her eagerness destroyed all traces of the educated society she was in the habit of Meeting. “ I don’t keep Thanksgiving much siftin' right against the leg or a table and wafting, for everybody to get'helped, when I am just as hungry as a bear. It just makes me feel eroes.” :1 . ■ 1 ■ Mary could hardly help laughing at the scowl that tried to keep tight hold of her merry sister’s forehead. We've £ot such a let of things to be thankful for, you see,” continued Tillie. “ I don’t know Whether we have or not,” put in Mary. “ you Know papa’s clerk ran away last week with $500.” “Pshaw!” interrupted Tillie, “that isn’t much. Papa’s got a new- overcoat, . you know, and we’ye got our blue sacques and white satin bonnets. I guess that’s morq good than that old SSOO is bad.” Maty thought of that blue plush sacque aided in her drawer, and of the They just soiled her, and Were, dear unto t her feminine soul. ’ “Then,” said Tillie, lowering her tone and growing confidential. “There’s mother, you know, I’m awfully thankful she his wavvi brown hhir andr&# teeth. ' What if i she was like Mrs. Thorn*t<tn,' Witb snipping bead-catchers all, . s»pnd) har-..forehead and make-belfeve teeth! I guess you' wouldn’t fyel very thankful then, Mary Treadway. Besides that.Tom’shomp-V-“9h!don’t cpeakof (hat, Tillie,” said Mary, quickly, the tears springing to her eyes. You know be And to come home, because he- was ad bad at school, ana mother's nearly ... broken-hearted about him. I heard father tqjking with him xesterdayin the library,trying to get him to Write tr letter of apbldgy to the teachers. Sndho'WXXiMn'tj, Pin afraid, Tillie, Tom’s going to grow up a wicked man and be a—lS—lt—thorn in our flesh,” said Mary, With great Beftbusness, but something of triumph in the Way she man aged to round the sentence, • ■ Tillie was stunned by this speech Oi

Mary’s. Tom waa her pet and admiration,'and all the Thanksgiving spirit flew avniy from her heart for a few brief seconds; nut then she thought of the dear fellow, and her usual cheerfulness returned. ‘’Well, Mary, don’t you see wo’ro thankful we’ve got him tiny-tiny, even it he is a little speck naughty. He’ll get over it, mavbe,” (or as Tillie said, “nwfcfts,”) “ and oh! I’m awful glad we’ve got him —'cause he’e the darhngest broth, er ever was. We’ll both ask Goa to make him mind papa —then he can’t help doing it, you see. Our dollies must come to dinner, of course, and they’ll be thankful, ’cause we’re their mothers, and we’re pretty kind ones, ten times kinder’n Bell Smith is to her dollies, and they ought to be happy, for they might have been darPey dolls just as well as lovely white ones. Betty'll give us some bread and chicken and 'pickles and cheese, and we’ll have my dishes.” “ Well,” said Mary, who was usually dragged along by the wake of Tillie’s enthusiasih, ana whose thoughts were still busy with the disgraceful conduct of that bad brother Tom. * It was only two days before Thanksgiving. Tillie was as blithe as a bird, flitting here and there, and chirping over her enormous preparations. Charlotte Amelia had to be dressed in pink silk with a white muslin over-dress, and all the white stripes on Jack, the sailor doll, needed to be carefully sponged before he was fit to dine in ladies’ society. Mary Ann, who lost half her nose by a fire-cracker on the Fourth of July, was forced to submit to becoming a waitress and was duly fitted and costumed for the occasion. Natalie, fresh from Paris, always appeared in an exquisitely conscientious toilette, and was fortunately ready for any American occasion. Every dish in the nursery was thoroughly washed and dried, and through it all, dear little Tillie was saying to herself, (though you would never have imagined it, for she seemed to be hopping about and talking every minute of the time,) “ Please God, make my darling, darling brother Tom good—please, please do!" Oh! what an earnest asking it was from that loving sister’s heart. The nursery dinner was to be at one o’clock, and they weie to bl all through to sit down at the great table in the diningroom at three. Tillie had proposed dressing for the occasion in one of mamma's long over-skirts, and Mary had followed her example, being, impressed by thegraceful train of the unlooped skirt, as Tillie swept grandly across the room. A pair of mamma’s coquettish convalescent caps of muslin and valenciennes, with bright bows, gave them the appearance of two very dressy and engaging matrons, for some mysterious reasons, suddenly cwt short. As papa and tnamma came in to see their table and help pin on their imposing head gear, Tillie noticed that their faces were brighter than they had been since Tom calrie home in disgrace. Her heart gave a bound of joy, and she ran out to find her brother and have him take a look at her wonderful table. She ran across the drawing room, and looking over her shoulder at her train, as she sped along, went plump into Tom’s arms. “Oh! dear, how you scared me," she said, rubbing her forehead. But Tom aid not pinch her or tease her, as he was apt to do, after the manner of most boys. He lifted the quaint little figure in his arms and sat down quite soberly in an arm-chair, holding her face close to his shoulder.

Tillie," he said, after he could speak, for it’s very hardjVOU know, for a proudspirited boy like Tom to eat humble pie, “ You’re the dearest little sister that ever a boy had, and I thought you might have a better 1 hanksgiving if I told you that somehow I couldn’t help minding father, and I’ve written the letter. It was tough work to give in, but, you sec, I heard you and Mary talking the other day—the door was open—and—” What Tom would have said was entirely smothered, for Tillie’s arms were about his neck ar d the pretty cap was knocked all awry by the series of joyous hugs she was inflicting upon the repentant boy. “Oh! you are the darlingest brother. I knew you’d get over it —now come and see our table—it’s perfectly beautiful. ” Everybody thought Tillie’s face was “ perfectly beautiful,” as she tripped back into the nursery with Tom striding beside her, and as she gravely assisted the dolls to their portion of her fine dinner, the prayer of the last two days was changed to a song that went on and on through all the courses and through all the hours of the afternoon, until her tired head was fairly on the snowy pillow, and it was all made up of two short words—“ Thank ydu—thank you —thank you —thank you." So Tillie’s make-believe dinner was a real Thanksgiving one after all.— Paige Dwight, in Christian Union.