Page:The grandmother; a story of country life in Bohemia.pdf/232

226 sang Lenten Hymns; when the children sat near her, she told them stories from the life of Christ, and the first Sunday in Lent she put on mourning. The days grew longer, the sun shone with greater power, and the warm wind carried away the snow from the hillsides. The poultry cackled gayly in the yard; and when the housekeepers met, they talked of setting hens and of sowing flax,and the men prepared the ploughs and harrows. When the gamekeeper wanted to come from the woods opposite to The Old Bleachery, he could not cross the river, for the ice was cracking and, as the miller said, "piece after piece was taking leave of its fellows."

The Sundays came, "the Black," "the Social," "the Sneezing," and, finally, the long expected "Death Sunday." The children cried: "To-day we will carry Death away," and the girls added: "Now it is our turn to be waits." Adelka had been saving eggshells all the week, and now Grandmother took these, together with some gay streamers, and trimmed up a switch for her; this was called "summer." The girls prepared for the spring merry-making. In the afternoon they met at the mill to dress "Death." Cilka Kuderna made a straw dummy, and each girl contributed some article of clothing; for the handsomer Miss Mawlikin was, the greater was the credit which the girls received. When she was dressed, two girls took her by the arms, the rest formed a procession behind, and dancing as they went, they sang: