Page:The grandmother; a story of country life in Bohemia.pdf/231

Rh stylish, and this was no company for our lowly Grandmother. [sic]

In the evening, when the family returned home, the children related all they had seen and heard, and what nice things they had eaten. Here, however, Grandmother was not forgotten, for Mrs. Stanicky never neglected to send her a large package of good things. The children praised the music and told her who were there.

"Guess, Grandma, whom we saw?" said John.

"Well, whom?" asked Grandmother.

"The peddler, Vlach, who comes to our house and gives us figs! But you would not have known him; he was clean, dressed up like a prince, and had a gold watch chain!"

"One can afford to be extravagant when one has a plenty; besides, you, too, do not go out among people in your every day clothes. A person owes it to himself and to society to dress as well as he can afford."

"But he must be rich, do you not think so, Grandma?"

"As I never looked into his chest, I cannot tell. Doubtless he is, for he is a good business man."

On the last day of Shrove-tide the masqueraders came along with great parade, at their head Shrovetide himself. He was covered with pea straw, so that he looked like a bear. Wherever he came, the house-wife tore off a piece of the straw and saved it to put into the nest the following spring, when the goose was set, so that the eggs should hatch well.

Shrove-tide passed by and with it all the winter merry-makings. At her spinning Grandmother