r had cause to
be proud o' pore Sarah Jane. It's my belief that he thought more o'
Sarah Jane all the rest o' her life jest on account o' that premium.
Me and Sally Ann helped her pick it out. She had her choice betwixt a
butter-dish and a cup, and she took the cup. Folks used to laugh and
say that that cup was the only thing in Sarah Jane's house that was
kept clean and bright, and if it hadn't 'a' been solid silver, she'd
'a' wore it all out rubbin' it up. Sarah Jane died o' pneumonia about
three or four years after that, and the folks that nursed her said she
wouldn't take a drink o' water or a dose o' medicine out o' any cup
but that. There's some folks, child, that don't have to do anything
but walk along and hold out their hands, and the premiums jest
naturally fall into 'em; and there's others that work and strive the
best they know how, and nothin' ever seems to come to 'em; and I
reckon nobody but the Lord and Sarah Jane knows how much happiness she
got out o' that cup. I'm thankful she had that much pleasure before
she died."

There was a quilt hanging over the foot of the bed that had about it a
certain air of distinction. It was a solid mass of patchwork, composed
of squares, parallelograms, and hexagons. The squares were of dark
gray and red-brown, the hexagons were white, the parallelograms black
and light gray. I felt sure that it had a history that set it apart
from its ordinary fellows.

"Where did you get the pattern, Aunt Jane?" I asked. "I never saw
anything like it."

The old lady's eyes sparkled, and she laughed with pure pleasure.

"That's what everybody says," she exclaimed, jumping up and spreading
the favored quilt over two laden chairs, where its merits became more
apparent and striking. "There ain't another quilt like this in the
State o' Kentucky, or the world, for that matter. My granddaughter
Henrietta, Mary Frances' youngest child, brought me this pattern _from
Europe_."

She spoke the words as one might say, "from Paradise," or "from
Olympus," or "from the Lost Atlantis." "Europe" was evidently a name
to conjure with, a country of mystery and romance unspeakable. I had
seen many things from many lands beyond the sea, but a quilt pattern
from Europe! Here at last was something new under the sun. In what
shop of London or Paris were quilt patterns kept on sale for the
American tourist?

"You see," said Aunt Jane, "Henrietta married a mighty rich man, and
jest as good as he's rich,