Village Life in America

July.–Every Saturday our cousins, Lucilla and Mary and Louisa Field, take turns coming to Grandmother’s to dinner. It was Mary’s turn to-day, but she was sick and couldn’t come, so Grandmother told us that we could dress up and make some calls for her. We were very glad. She told us to go to Mrs Gooding’s first, so we did and she was glad to see us and gave us some cake she had just made. Then we went on to Mr Greig’s. We walked up the high steps to the front door and rang the bell and Mr Alexander came. We asked if Mrs Greig and Miss Chapin were at home and he said yes, and asked us into the parlour. We looked at the paintings on the wall and looked at ourselves in the long looking-glass, while we were waiting. Mrs Irving came in first. She was very nice and said I looked like her niece, Julie Jeffrey. I hope I do, for I would like to look like her. Mrs Greig and Miss Chapin came in and were very glad to see us, and took us out into the greenhouse and showed us all the beautiful plants. When we said we would have to go they said good-bye and sent love to Grandmother and told us to call again. I never knew Anna to act as polite as she did to-day. Then we went to see Mrs Judge Phelps and Miss Eliza Chapin, and they were very nice and gave us some flowers from their garden. Then we went on to Miss Caroline Jackson’s, to see Mrs Holmes. Sometimes she is my Sunday School teacher, and she says she and our mother used to be great friends at the seminary. She said she was glad we came up and she hoped we would be as good as our mother was. That is what nearly every one says. On our way back, we called on Mrs Dana at the Academy, as she is a friend of Grandmother. She is Mrs Noah T. Clarke’s mother. After that, we went home and told Grandmother we had a very pleasant time calling on our friends and they all asked us to come again.