THE SQUIGGSES ARE GRATEFUL

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 24 May 1880, Page 2

THE SQUIGGSES ARE GRATEFUL

I Thanksgiving is> strictly 3 New EnJ 1 land day. Its religions element make^H harraonions with the welUknown S <^H ment of New England. It is a da^H feasting, and giving thanks unto G oc^H his care and love daring the year ; an was observed by the Squiggses, a rppre^ sentative family, in an eminently characteristic manner. They had chicken fr>r dinner. Mr Fquiggs won the chicken the nit'ht before at a raffl». The day dawned aUsnimonslv. The voun? Squisreses, three in number, after a lafe breakfast, went out to slide on the ice. Mr Squiggs proceeded to fix np a 'ength in the baek«fenee, which had nepded repair for spveral we^ks. Mrs Pq-iiggs busted herself with the * ffiirs of the house, in the intricacies of which she was soon completely submerged. When the church bells pealed forth their glad notes, calling a grateful poople to the temple of a merciful God to worship him for his goodness, Mr Pq'iiggs was trying to ssw a barrel in two f»r a chicken-coop, and was currying on like a corsair because of the eccentricity of the saw ; and Mrs FMniiggs was disembowiing the chicken At half-past twelve, when the worshippers were coming from church, Mr Fqnisfes was beating the soot out of a length ot stove-pipe ; Mrs Sqniggs was sweeping out the parlour, or • front room ' as the Squiggses palled it* The three little Fqniggses, with appptites like a shark, had returned from the sliding on the ice, being driven therefrom by hanger, and were huddled about the kite-bon-fire, with a dreadful heartsick look in 1 their faces, produced by the dinner-hour, when there is to visible prospect of a dinner at hand. The kitclien was all confusion; the 'front room' vras cold, and floating with dvs f , in which Mrs Fquiggs appeared 4 ltke a being of mythology, with red armsj and a towel wrap* ped about her head; the air outside was | cold and cheerless in tne contemplation of

an empty stomach ; and the blows of the stove-pipe sounded most dismally. About three o'clock P.M., the dinner was served. The little Fqniggses, ha? ing been cuffed alongside the head by their impatient father, an I walked over several times by the harrying mother, were in an active condition for an onslaught on the meal, and fell to work in a most vehement manner. The father, who Bad omitted to ask God to bless the food, or to thank him for his mercies, said they acted like lings. This was a harsh cf iticism % but it h^d no visible effect on their enthusiasts. When the meal was over, the three boys slid out for the pond, — their faces shin ing with the friction of the feast,— the father went out to hunt up some bits of board for a coal-bin, and the mother went to work to • dear up.' Late in the afternoon the boys returned, having succeeded m swopping off a three-wheeled wagon for a quart of walnuts. In the evening, the father went down to the salooD. and lost seventy-fire cents at raffl ng, and about ten o'clock re'urned. The boys, having bad a good time, were lying on the fl >or, close to* the stove, asleep ; and the mother was busy letting in a square of dark doth into the rotunda of a pair o*^ light pants. With the memory of his t losses still upon him, the father intimated 'o the boys, with his hpot.tofs, thaMt was time to retire, which they did. Then lie pulled of his boots, and moved around in his- stocking.feet, occasionally pausing to nrtke some vivid observation on nut« •Mulls, preceded by that simple but fervent expression, — •Ouch!' Shortly after, the twain retired ; and thus dos'd a day «?t apart for rrj >icing :*nd thankfulness before Gad.— Danbury Newsman.