After Hannah had made her decision, her mother started work on her wedding clothes. She made a trip to town and bought material for a new gown that was what a Quaker maid should wear for a wedding. She bought material for chemises and long-sleeved nightgowns.
Hannah had a hopechest of sorts where she had been putting away quilts she had made over a period of years. The big chest was made of pine and stained to look like cedar. Her father had made it when she was ten. It was at the foot of her bed in the small upstairs bedroom. In it she had kept all her treasures since she was that age. Most of the quilts were beautifully quilted, the handwork of Mother Russell and herself done after the necessary house and farm work had been completed. Hannah was an expert quilter. He stitches were tiny and even just as her mother had taught her they should be.
She had several sheets made from home-bleached muslin that her mother had given her from time to time and pillowcases, also. Pioneer women bought unbleached muslin and bleached it by wetting it each day and letting it dry in the summer sun. Then the sheets were made of the yard-wide material sewed together so each sheet had a seam in the center. Each had a two-inch hem at one end and an inch-wide on the other. When they were given their final washing, they were ironed and wrapped in strong paper and put away until needed in the new homes of their owners.
Hannah also had an Irish linen tablecloth and napkins that had been a part of her grandmother's dowry and several crocheted and knit doilies of various sizes that would help to make her house a home.
Someone had given her a picture album and a few of her relatives pictures were in it. Her mother had promised her more, so during December she added quite a few to its pages. That was the extent of her possessions except for dishtowels; she had a dozen of more of them.
Hannah realized it was going to be difficult to move into a house where another woman had lived and make changes. She was thankful for the articles in her big chest, they would make these changes much easier.
December passed almost too quickly, but Hannah's sewing was coming along nicely. One day Father Russell bought her a bolt of roller toweling. A roller towel was one that was pulled down over a wooden roller until a clean spot or a dry spot was found to use. Every home had roller towels in those days. The only seam in them was the one where the material was joined. The towel roller was usually near the kitchen sink where the housewife could use it after each task was completed. The roller was removeable from its frame so that the towel could be changed easily. When Hannah and her mother visited Silas' house, they found the towel roller where they had expected it to be.
Silas had made a beautiful dresser with handkerchief boxes on each side of the not-too-perfect mirror. There was a smaller commode to match it. These two pieces of furniture and the wooden bedstead were all the furniture in the bedroom. These Silas had made for his new wife. He had given the set he and his first wife had used to his sister.
Hannah decided she would make some rugs for the room in her spare time. She thought they would make the room more home like.
There were plant stands before several windows, and Hannah pictured them mentally as full of blooming oxalis, geraniums, and coleus as her mother's were each winter.
As a whole, the house was not too badly furnished. Hannah and her mother decided a few changes would need to be made when Hannah came to be its mistress.
December drew to a close. The Christmas tree, a beautiful young fir, was fixed to a base and adorned with strings of popcorn and cranberries with the homemade star on top.
The gifts the family members had made for one another were hung on its branches, unwrapped. There were hand knit socks and mittens for Ike, Linn and Father Russell. For Mother Russell there were pieces of calico and gingham for new aprons and some also for Hannah, since she was soon to become a housewife.
Silas had been included in the family, and for him Hannah had made two hemstitched linen handkerchiefs. He had brought a big box of store candy for Hannah and Mother Russell and some other kinds for the two boys.
Father Russell read the beautiful Christmas story from Luke, using the old family Bible and had offered special prayers for the occasion.
Ike and Linn had each received a hammer and a fine crosscut saw between them which made them feel almost grown up. Each had been given a book about plants and farming. Linn later became quite a botanist.
It had been decided that Hannah and Silas would be married at the farm by a "justice of the peace" on January 1, 1863. Click here to continue to Chapter Nine Click here to return to My Strong Family.....So Far
