Peace in Friendship Village

Calliope Marsh in Friendship Village, when yet she was not well known to m

e suffered and joyed with others, literally, more than she did in her "own" affairs. I now feel certain that before we can reach the individualism whi

ly story, as I t

nd had marshaled us to the dining-room and so to chairs outlining the room. And[Pg 155] there the daughters of most of the guests had served us while Calliope stayed in the kitchen, with Hannah Hager to help her, seasoning and stirring and "getting it onto the plates." Afterward, flushed and, I thought, lovably

e Hannah Hager ate hers. And, as is our way in Friendship, Hannah talked it over, too—that little maid-of-all-work, who was nowhere attach

annah said with shining content and a tired si

w. I was kind o' nervous over my pressed ham, too. I noticed two o' the plates didn

notice," she amended brightly, "that Mis' Postmaster Sykes didn't make way with all her

with interest. "I couldn't tell a stitch anybody hed

eed for me to

hen we mean a thing very much,

in she hed on something p

stood up in

n' it all rustled w'en she stirred 'round. An' it laid smooth down, like it was starched an' ironed, an' then all to once it'd slimpse into folds, soft as soft. An' every way she stood it looked nice—it didn't pucker n

g

h a conspicuously high-pitched voice, who lived in the city and was occasionally a guest in the village. The girl, who I gathered had once lived in Friendship, was like a livi

I guess it near killed Gramma to do it—but she'd always been one to like nice things herself, and she couldn't get them, so she see what it'd mean to Lyddy. Ly

to see 'em pass out o' the room. Comp'ny clo'es don't change much here in Friendship. Mis' Postmaster Sykes says yest'day, when we was ironin': 'Folks,' she

wrinkled face, looked sidewise down the

ds on somebody seem's though I'd fly. Black and brown and gray—gray and brown and black hung on

lly giggled with, "

me, I got my mother's calicoes down to pass

her's "calicoes"—a huge box of pieces left from every wool and lawn and "morning housework dress" worn by the Marshes, quick and passed, and by their frie

had risen and was bending[Pg 159] toward Calliope, with such leaping wistfulness in her eyes that I followed her look

nah softly, "hain't t

annah?" Cal

he little ma

er. Pretty, ain't it? Lyddy always seemed to hanker some after pink. Gramma mostly always got her pink." Calliope glanced at Hannah, over-shoulder. "Why

's face, and she sank back in her seat at the table corne

to turn any more colors, 's I know of. Land, if the

I asked her who Hannah's prince might be. Calliope told me with a manner of triumph. For was he not Henry Austin, that great, good-looking giant who help

come to marry her?' It's hard to be that kind of woman. I wish't Hannah could hev a wedding that would show 'em she is somebody. I wish't she could hev a wedding dress that would show them how pretty she is—a dress al

I believe you would be a regular fas

I just worship colors." She hesitated, looking at me with a manner of shynes

g

ned to Hannah Hager, clatteri

buy me a bunch

my bonny b

f how certain elegancies are there officially recognized instead of being merely divined by the wistful amateur in color and textile. How Calliope and Hannah would have delighted, I thought idly, in the town's way of pretty things to wear, such as J

long, white box. She sat before me with the box on h

t, I declare I want to stand up and tell 'em: 'Colors! Colors! What'd the Lord put colors in the world for? Burn up your black and brown and gray and get into somethin' happy-colored, and see the difference it'll make in the wa

x and lifted the cover fr

end the wood-shed roof or buy a new cook-stove or do any of the useful things that's always staring you in the face. And I turned my back

of lustrous, exquisite soft silk, colored rose-pink, and res

dress. And I haven't ever hed the sh

and feature would have been well enough become by the soft pink, Friendship would h

n't what-you-might-say important. But land, land, how I'd like one on me in company! Ain't it funny," she added, "in the city nobody'd think anything of my wearing it. In the city they sort of seem to know colors ain't wick

d as an impossibility, took shape; and I poured it out

And next week come with me to the city—for the opera. We will have a box—and after

g

're fooling!" Calli

e lonely pink dress must see the light and with it Calliope's shy hopes, long cherished. And so, before I left her, it wa

e all the me's I've been turn over in their graves. And I

near to us—quite in the little passage; and as Calliope turned with the silk still in her arms the door swung back and there stood Grandma

feet are wet. Lyddy's gone to Mis' Sykes's. I c

hear you come in. I never heard you.[Pg 165] Come ou

tretched hand; but the outstretched hand Grandma Hawley did not see. She stood s

he asked, nodd

ly lifted her brows and her thin sh

for a dress, g

the sumptuous, shining lengths. Then she laid her brown, veined hand upon the silk—and I remember now

he said, "it

he perpetual trembling of her head

cked out in my head.[Pg 166] I know I use' to lay awake nights an' cut it out. But, time the cookin' things was paid for, the first baby come—an' then the other three to do for. An' Abe he didn't say pink silk after the f

, and took her arm. "You come along w

And we were hushed as if we had heard some futile, un

e, but it did not even hold her glance. For she had heard what Grandma Hawley had been saying, and it had tou

n the puckers of a very child's weeping, and she stood before us as a child might stand, crying softly without covering her face. She held out a[Pg 167] hand to

wley was t

intively. "It always settles in my head. My

ype="