One evening she rushed into the house bubbling over with excitement and joyously proclaimed:  “Oh, Eliza, Miss Hutchinson is going to give a great dinner to her pupils on Thanksgiving Day; and I am to go, and you also, as her guest.”

Grandma was pleased that I was invited, and declared that she would send a liberal donation of milk and cheese as a mark of appreciation.

I caught much of Georgia’s spirit of delight, for I had a vivid recollection of the grand dinner given in commemoration of our very first legally appointed Thanksgiving Day in California; I had only to close my eyes, and in thought would reappear the longest and most bountifully spread table I had ever seen.  Turkey, chicken, and wild duck, at the ends; a whole roasted pig in the centre, and more than enough delicious accompaniments to cover the spaces between.  Then the grown folk dining first, and the flock of hungry children coming later; the speaking, laughing, and clapping of hands, with which the old home customs were introduced in the new land.

There, I wore a dark calico dress and sun-bonnet, both made by poor Mrs. McCutchen of the Donner Party, who had to take in sewing for a livelihood; but to the Seminary, I should wear grandpa’s gift, a costly alpaca, changeable in the sunlight to soft mingling bluish and greenish colors of the peacock.  Its wide skirt reached to my shoetops, and the gathers to its full waist were gauged to a sharp peak in front.  A wide open V from the shoulder down to the peak displayed an embroidered white Swiss chemisette.  The sleeves, small at the wrist, were trimmed with folds of the material and a quilling of white lace at the hand.

On the all-important morning, grandma was anxious that I should look well; and after she had looped my braids with bows of blue ribbon and fastened my dress, she brought forth my dainty bonnet, her own gift.  Deft fingers had shirred the pale-blue silk over a frame which had been cut down from ladies’ size, arranged an exquisite spray of Marechal Niel rosebuds and foliage on the outside, and quilled a soft white ruching around the face, which emphasized the Frenchy style and finish so pleasing to grandma.

Did I look old fashioned?  Yes, for grandma said, “Thou art like a picture I saw somewhere long ago.”  Then she continued brightly, “Here are thy mits, and thy little embroidered handkerchief folded in a square.  Carry it carefully so it won’t get mussed before the company see it, and come not back late for milking.”

The Seminary playground was so noisy with chatter and screams of joy, that it was impossible to remember all the games we played; and later the dining-room and its offerings were so surprising and so beautifully decorated that the sight nearly deprived me of my appetite.

“Mumps.  Bite a pickle and see if it ain’t so!” exclaimed a neighbor to whom Georgia was showing her painful and swollen face.  True enough, the least taste of anything sour produced the tell-tale shock.  But the most aggravating feature of the illness was that it developed the week that sister Elitha and Mr. Benjamin W. Wilder were married in Sacramento; and when they reached Sonoma on their wedding tour, we could not visit with them, because neither had had the disease.