Page:The New-Year's Bargain (1884).djvu/104

 as much as anybody, for I never in my life did see such big pints as he used to pour out of his shining dipper.

"The whole house was scrubbed every day. Not because it was dirty, but because Dotty loved to do it. They lived principally in the kitchen, because the village custom was to use parlors very little, and keep them very dark; but now and then, when Dotty opened a chink of the parlor shutters and let in a little light, you perceived that the apartment was a magnificent one. There was a table with two daguerrotypes open upon it, and a copy of 'Doddridge's Rise and Progress,' put there, as Dotty said, to look 'littery.' The chimney held a great bunch of asparagus feathers; and on the shelf, on the sill, everywhere, were flowers, in mugs, bottles, pitchers, glasses. Peonies, dandelions, roses, it didn't matter which: all was fish that came to Dotty's net.

It was a grand sight to see the family at dinner, Mrs. Dotty, Mr. Willy, and a doll named Araminta. The meal was simple. Sometimes it