"ElizaLeeFollen-TheTalkativeWig" - читать интересную книгу автора (Follen Eliza Lee)

in his life.

I have done, my friends--the old cloak is a more serious, dignified
person than I, and will now, I trust, give us her history."

The old cloak began to speak in a different tone from that of the
coat. I cannot say the tone was gloomy, though it was very serious.
It was a kindly, affectionate tone, that made you not unhappy, but
thoughtful. "I agree," said she, "with my neighbor who has just
spoken, that no one deserves better of society than he who promotes
its innocent merriment. No bad person can know what true gayety of
heart is. Goodness and cheerfulness are like substance and shadow;
where the one is, the other will always follow.

I was made of German wool; and, in my country, the people all laugh
and sing. They keep still a saying of old Martin Luther, which runs,
if I remember rightly,--

"Wo man singt, leg' ich mich freilich nieder. Bose Menschen haben
keine Lieder."

"Keep to plain English, you Hushan!" shouted the musket with a kick.

"I am sorry to hurt your feelings, my old soldier," said the good
natured cloak. "I think, however, it is rather hard of you to keep
the name of Hessian as a term of reproach forever, just because a
few poor miserable fellows once came over here to fight you. Was it
not enough to have treated them as you say you did in the Jerseys?
For the benefit of you and those less prejudiced, I will translate
the couplet:--

"Where I singing hear,
I lay me, free from fear.
Men intent on wrong
Never have a song."


I was a singer myself once during the short time when I was
connected with one of dame spinning wheel's relatives. I am not even
a laugher now. Still I am contented and cheerful, and I remember
past trials without any bitterness. I went through all processes of
carding, spinning, weaving, dyeing, stretching, dressing, &c., and
was at last placed in a shop for sale. A beautiful young girl
purchased me for her bridal pelisse. Never did a happier heart beat
than did hers on the Sunday after she was married, when she wore me
to the church, holding by her husband's arm. I could not but partake
of the pleasure which she received from the gentle pressure of his
arm when she put hers within his, saying, "I am glad, dear, you like
my pelisse so much."