Maria Metz and her brother did not fail in their duty. In a few minutes they had invited a goodly number to make the gray farmhouse their stopping-place. Then Aunt Maria hurried home, eager to prepare for her guests. Soon the Metz barnyard was filled with carriages and automobiles and the gray house resounded with happy voices. Some of the women helped Maria in the kitchen, others wandered about in the old-fashioned garden, where dahlias, sweet alyssum, marigolds, ladies" breastpin and snapdragons still bloomed in the bright September sunshine.
Miss Lee, guided by Phbe, examined every nook of the big garden, peered into the deserted wren-house and listened to the child"s story of the six baby wrens reared in the box that summer. Finally Phbe suggested sitting on a bench half screened by rose-bushes and honeysuckle. There, in that green spot, Miss Lee tactfully coaxed the child to unfold her charming personality, all serenely unconscious of the fact that inside the gray house the white-capped women were discussing the new teacher as they prepared the dinner.
"She seems vonderful nice and common," volunteered Aunt Maria. "Not stuck up, for a Phildelphy lady."
"Well, why should she be stuck up?" argued one. "Ain"t she just Mollie Stern"s cousin? Course, Mollie"s nice, but nothing tony."
"Anyhow, the children all like her," spoke up another woman. "My Enos learns good this year."
"I guess she"s all right," said another, "but Amande, my sister, says that she"s after her Lizzie all the time for the way she talks. The teacher tells her all the time not to talk so funny, not to get her t"s and d"s and her v"s and w"s mixed. Goodness knows, them letters is near enough alike to get them mixed sometimes. I mix them myself. Manda don"t want her Lizzie made high-toned, for then nothing will be good enough for her any more."
"Ach, I guess Miss Lee won"t do that," said Aunt Maria. "I know I"m glad the teacher ain"t the kind to put on airs. When I heard they put in a teacher from Phildelphy I was afraid she"d be the kind to teach the children a lot of dumb notions and that Phbe would be spoiled---- Here, Sister Minnich, is the holder for that pan. I guess the ham is fried enough. Yes, ain"t the chicken smells good! I roasted it yesterday, so it needs just a good heating to-day."
"Shall I take the sweet potatoes off, Maria?"
"Yes, they"re brown enough, and the coffee"s about done, and plenty of it, too."
"And it smells good, too," chorused several women.
"It"s just twenty-eight cent coffee; I get it in Greenwald. I guess the things can be put out now. Call the men, Susan."
In quick order the long table in the dining-room--used only upon occasions like this--was filled with smoking, savory dishes, the men called from the porches and yard and everybody, except the two women who helped Aunt Maria to serve, seated about the board. All heads were bowed while one of the brethren said a long grace and then the feast began.
True to the standards set by the majority of the Pennsylvania Dutch, the meal was fit for the finest. There was no attempt to serve it according to the rules of the latest book of etiquette. All the food was placed upon the table and each one helped herself and himself and pa.s.sed the dish to the nearest neighbor. Occasionally the services of the three women were required to bring in water, bread or coffee, or to replenish the dishes and platters. Everybody was in good humor, especially when one of the brethren suddenly found himself with a platter of chicken in one hand and a pitcher of gravy in the other.
"Hold on, here!" he said laughingly, "it"s coming both ways. I can"t manage it."
"Now, Isaac," chided one of the women, "you went and started the gravy the wrong way around. And here, Elam, start that apple-b.u.t.ter round once. Maria always has such good apple-b.u.t.ter."
Miss Lee"s ready adaptability proved a valuable a.s.set that day.
Everybody was so cordial and friendly that, although she was the only woman without the white cap, there was no shadow of any holier-than-thou spirit. She was accepted as a friend; as a lady from Philadelphia she became invested with a charm and interest which the frank country people did not try to conceal. They spoke freely to her of her work in the school, inquired about the children and listened with interest as she answered their questions about her home city.
When the dinner was ended heads were bowed again and thanks rendered to G.o.d for the blessings received. Then the men went outdoors, where the beehives, poultry houses, barns and orchards of the farm afforded several hours of inspection and discussion.
Indoors some of the women began to wash dishes while Aunt Maria and her helpers ate their belated dinner; others went to the sitting-room and entertained themselves by rocking and talking or looking at the pictures in the big red plush alb.u.m which lay upon a small table.
Later, when everything was once more in order in the big kitchen, Maria stood in the doorway of the sitting-room.
"Now," she said, "I guess we better go up-stairs and see the rugs before the men come in. Susan said she wants to see my new rugs once when she comes. So come on, everybody that wants to."
"You come," Phbe invited Miss Lee. "I"ll show you some of the things in my chest."
Maria led the way to the spare-room on the second floor, a large square room furnished in old-fashioned country style: a rag carpet, rag rugs, heavy black walnut bureau and wash-stand, the latter with an antique bowl and pitcher of pink and white, and a splasher of white linen outlined in turkey red cotton. A framed cross-st.i.tch sampler hung on the wall; four cane-seated chairs and a great wooden chest completed the furnishing of the room.
The chest became the centre of attraction as Aunt Maria opened it and began to show the hooked rugs she had made.
Phbe waited until her teacher had seen and admired several, then she tugged at the silk sleeve ever so gently and whispered, "D"ye want to see some of the things I made?"
Miss Lee smiled and nodded and the two stole away to the child"s room.
Phbe closed the door.
"This is my room and this is my Hope Chest," she said proudly.
Among many of the Pennsylvania Dutch the Hope Chest has long been considered an important part of a girl"s belongings. During her early childhood a large chest is secured and the stocking of it becomes a pleasant duty. Into it are laid the girl"s discarded infant clothes; patchwork quilts and comfortables pieced by herself or by some fond grandmother or mother or aunt; homespun sheets and towels that have been handed down from other generations; ginghams, linens and minor household articles that might be useful in her own home. When the girl leaves the old nest for one of her own building the Hope Chest goes with her as a valuable portion of her dowry.
"Hope Chest," echoed Miss Lee. "Do you have a Hope Chest?"
"Ach, yes, long already! Aunt Maria says it"s for when I grow up and get married and live in my own home, but I--why, I don"t know at all yet if I want to get married. When I say that to her she says still that I can be glad I have the chest anyhow, for old maids need covers and ap.r.o.ns and things too."
"You dear child," Miss Lee said, laughing, "you do say the funniest things!"
"But"--Phbe raised her flushed face--"you ain"t laughing at me to make fun?"
"Oh, Phbe, I love you too much for that. It"s just that you are different."
"Ach, but I"m glad! And that"s why I want to show you my things."
She opened the lid of her chest and brought out a quilt, then another, and another.
"This is all mine. And I finished another one this summer that Aunt Maria is going to quilt this fall yet. Then I"ll have nine already.
Ain"t--isn"t that a lot?"
"Yes, indeed," laughed the teacher. "Just nine more than I have."
"Why"--Phbe stared in surprise--"don"t you have quilts in your Hope Chest?"
"I haven"t even the Hope Chest."
"No Hope Chest! Now, that"s funny! I thought every girl that could have a chest for the money had a Hope Chest!"
"I never heard of a Hope Chest before I came to Greenwald."
"Now don"t it beat all!" The child was very serious. "We ain"t at all like other people, I believe. I wonder why we are so different from you people. Oh, I know we talk different from you, and mostly look different from you and I guess we do things a lot different from you--do you think, Miss Lee, oh, do you think that I could _ever_ get like you?"
"Yes----" Miss Lee showed hesitancy.
"For sure?" Phbe asked, quick to note the slight delay in the answer.
"Yes, I am sure you could, dear. You can learn to dress, speak and act as people do in the great cities--but are you sure that you want to do so?"
"Want to! Why, I want to so bad that it hurts! I don"t want to just go to country school and Greenwald High School and then live on a farm all the rest of my life and never get anywhere but to the store in Greenwald, to Lancaster several times a year, and to church every Sunday. I want to do some things other people in the other parts of the country do, that"s what I want. I"d like best of all to be a great singer and to look and dress and talk like you. I can sing good, pop says I can."
"I have noticed you have a sweet voice."
"Ain"t!" The child"s voice rang with gladness. "I"m so glad I have. And David, he"s glad too, for he says that he thinks it"s a gift from G.o.d to have a voice that can sing as nice as the birds. David and Phares are just like my brothers. David"s mom is awful nice. I like her"--she whispered--"I like her almost better than my Aunt Maria because she"s so--ach, you know what I mean! She"s so much like my own mom would be. I like David better than Phares, too, because Phares bosses me too much and he is wonderful strict and thinks everything is bad or foolish. He preaches a lot. He says it"s bad to be a big singer and sing for the people and get money for it, in oprays, he means--is it?"
Miss Lee was startled by the ambition of the child before her and amazed at the determination revealed in her young pupil. Before she could answer wisely Phbe went on: