New England bygones . ie—this assumption, in delicious crescendo,of sound—this quickening of the days life over the sleep of. night—this flying of darkness, as of a ghost pursued, before theflooding of light—this oldest of all stories again told. Awake,for the day has dawned! In those days women washed who went to church in brocadesand satins. Thev used no machinery, there was no bleaching-powder nor blueing in their tubs, and yet their linen came out, 144 NEW ENGLAND BYGONES. as Hannah used to say to my grandmother, as white as thedriven snow. These two women ke})t time at their scrubbing,and
New England bygones . ie—this assumption, in delicious crescendo,of sound—this quickening of the days life over the sleep of. night—this flying of darkness, as of a ghost pursued, before theflooding of light—this oldest of all stories again told. Awake,for the day has dawned! In those days women washed who went to church in brocadesand satins. Thev used no machinery, there was no bleaching-powder nor blueing in their tubs, and yet their linen came out, 144 NEW ENGLAND BYGONES. as Hannah used to say to my grandmother, as white as thedriven snow. These two women ke})t time at their scrubbing,and in the earlv morning, whcMi they were fresh, liummed psalmtunes together. They were not Ijelittled by this hibor, but bytheir efficiency and content they gave dignity to it. It mayhave broadened their hands,—I am sure it did their chests,—laitthey accepted, with the utmost wilHngness, these chmisy andnecessary toils of tluMr living. How T longed to plunge myarms into the ibaming, s|)arkling, rainbow-tinted suds, in spiteof Hannahs bleached, par]x)il(d lingers ! AVhen Jonathan hadcarried the tubs to the well for
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookpublisherphila, bookyear1883
