Annals of our ancestors; one hundred and fifty years of history in the ...

132 ANNALS OF OUR ANCESTORS
leaving nothing but the shell; and she was so sadly disappointed
that we children pitied her with all our hearts.
Aunt Isabelle had a characteristic which seemed most
strange to us — she was more fond of other people than of her
own relatives, and was always out with her kinfolk and never
willing to receive their help. I recall that one, however, in-
sisted upon being helpful to her, though he was but a distant
relative; every winter he hauled her wood and ricked it up for
her, and came often to daub the cracks between the logs of
her house with clay taken from the roadside near. He finally
made quite a little pond by excavating for Aunt Isabelle 's
protection. Upon this little sheet we children used to slide
in winter, and I remember vividly once testing the depth of
this pool. One cold day in March I had been sent to get some
gunpowder tea, and was so afraid I should forget my errand
that I kept conning over "Gunpowder tea, gunpowder tea!"
as I ran. So taken up was I with my task that before I knew
it I had slipped into the pool by Aunt Isabelle 's! When I
came out I was so muddy and bedraggled that I had to return
to wash up. When I got where mother was I thought over my
errand and it struck me as absurd, "Mother," I said, "how
foolish that is, 'gunpowder tea!' Why call it by such a name?"
She explained to me that it was called so because of its small
globes of tea leaves, and I was sent on my way again, this time
with my lesson learned.
One time Emmaline Van Zandt and I went over to Aunt
Isabelle 's cabin and found that she was out on one of her
gossiping tours, and we thought it no harm to enter and prepare
a surprise for her; so we took some quilts and comforters
which were handy and rolled them up and attired them in
some of Aunt Isabelle 's garments, with her old gossiping
bonnets for headdresses. These figures we placed on chairs
about the room, assisted by Brother Joe, who was with us,
and then we took our departure and quietly and meekly sat
down by our own fireside. It was not long before Aunt
Isabelle came plunging in, saying, "You girls have been over
to my house!" Strange to say she was not angry at this joke.
The silent visitors in her room seemed to amuse the old woman.