o to ploughing, and the bride was sent to the
fish-flake.

Two witnesses were present at this dismal wedding beside Mrs. Lawton.
One was the Widow's daughter, a girl of seventeen, whom Chloe called
"Missy Katy." The other was Sukey Larkin, who lived twenty miles off,
but occasionally came to visit an aunt in the neighborhood. Both the
young girls were dressed in their best; for they were going to a
quilting-party, where they expected to meet many beaux. But Catherine
Lawton's best was very superior to Sukey Larkin's. Her gown was of a
more wonderful pattern than had been seen in that region. It had been
brought from London, in exchange for tobacco. Sukey had heard of it, and
had stopped at the Widow Lawton's to make sure of seeing it, in case
Catharine did not wear it to the quilting-party. Though she had heard
much talk about it, it surpassed her expectations, and made her very
discontented with her own gown of India-cotton, dotted all over with red
spots, like barley-corns. The fabric of Catharine's dress was fine,
thick linen, covered with pictures, like a fancifully illustrated volume
of Natural History. Butterflies of all sizes and colors were fluttering
over great baskets of flowers, birds were swinging on blossoming vines,
bees were hovering round their hives, and doves were billing and cooing
on the roof of their cots. One of the beaux in the neighborhood
expressed his admiration of it by saying "It beats all natur'." It was
made in bodice-fashion, with a frill of fine linen nicely crimped; and
the short, tight sleeves were edged just above the elbow with a similar
frill.

Sukey had before envied Catharine the possession of a gold necklace; but
that grew dim before the glory of this London gown. She repeated several
times that it was the handsomest thing she ever saw, and that it was
remarkably becoming. But at the quilting-party the bitterness of her
spirit betrayed itself in such remarks as these: "Folks wonder where the
Widow Lawton gets money to set herself up so much above other folks. But
she knows how to drive a bargain. She can skin a flint, and tan the
hide. She makes a fool of Catharine, dressing her up like a London
doll. I wonder who she expects is going to marry her, if she brings her
up with such extravagant notions."

"Mr. Gordonmammon thinks a deal of the Widow Lawton," said the hostess
of the quilting-party.

"Yes, I know he does," replied Sukey. "If he was a widower, I guess
they'd be the