In her hand she
held carefully a bit of sheer, yellow, old muslin, and her bright
eyes were beaming with delight as she met the two neighbors at the
gate.
"It's the dress," she exclaimed, all out of breath and her sweet
little voice all a-tremble. "Sister and me and Tucker were all
baptized in it when we were babies. Sister Viney has had me a-going
through boxes and bundles for it ever since little Tucker was named
for us, and here it is! It's hand-made and fine linen, brought all the
way from New York down to the city in a wagon before the railroad run.
It's all the present we have got for little Tucker, but we thought
maybe--" And Miss Amanda paused with a shy diffidence in offering her
gift.
"Gracious me, Miss Amandy, they didn't nothing ever happen to me like
this little dress being gave to one of my children. I am going to let
him be named in it and then keep it in the box with my Bible, where it
won't be disturbed for nothing," exclaimed Mrs. Poteet in a tone of
voice that was tear-choking with reverence as she took the dainty
yellow little garment into her hand. "And to think how you all have
wored yourself out a-looking for it!" she further exclaimed.
"Oh, me and Sister Viney have had a good time a-going through things;
we haven't seen some of them for thirty or forty years. We found the
flannel petticoat Ma was a-making for me when she died over forty-five
years ago. The needle is a-sticking in it, and I'm a-going to finish
it to wear next winter.
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