The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1855-02-28

4
believe that any woman ever powdere,
| tobacco. in her mouth, instead of in tn
proper place-if the nose even is tha
proper place-she Is that person Sh
turned me round and round, and looked
me all over with most wonderful non
chalence. She wondered whether m,
eyes were black or dark hazel, suggested
caps as part OF. the toilet. of the mothel
of ten children, and desired to know
my christian name, as be intended to b.
very kind and mothcrly. +" Besides,
she said, s''I am Mrs. Perkins, and one
Mrs. Perkins Is enough in one house.
Perkins WINGED little at this, for it wal
not the first time she had told him so
When I answered that my name ,wat
Patience, she said-"P atiencei Humph
You are well named, for you will have
time of it. But la, dear we must be
cheerful, and begin with a cup of tea.
And such pleasant look as she put on
to second her invitation Her face
was the habitual incarnation, of lamen-
tations; and when she attempts smile
her features are so unused to it that it
seems more like twist of pain than an
expression of pleasure. - el--s,'si7
ss You will have time of it,n she re-
peated, for my encouragement, as she
placed me at the head of the table, be-
hind wilderness of cups and saucers,
and other tea and toast paraphrenalia.
"There'sno company tonight, Patience,
Just ourselves"
She watched with hope of contre-
tempt as proceeded to tea and toast
the little multitude, but / survived it.
have learned since that, with malice
prepense, she trusted to disgust and
force me TO surrender to her discretion.
The next morning at breakfast she hoped
to reap the fruits of her manoevre
Well Patience" she said, twill
you sit at the waiter, or shall (? with
motion toward that coveted post-a
dignity perhaps, but no sinecure. y
i" Now, or never" thought /, and slip
ped into the seat, with a determination
to assert my prerogative once for all
"Well, then, 1 must tell you," says
Mother-in-law. Mr.. Perkins does not
take much cream, Tim don't take sugar,
James don't take cream, Will don't
take. either, Tom has milk and water,
OallI has duC " dbGE1
John musn't have coffee, and you are
not to give Ruth any butter. Susy has
milk and water sweetened and Lizzie
mustn't have any hot bread" efT -
Well" said 1, having dispatched
Mr. Perkins cup, "what does grand
mother take ?"
You should have seen her eyes =
There were the intillations of fourteen
furies in there. "Who? Oh, yes, I
understand. I-oh, never mind me
I'm no body !n And then she sobbed
and snifled, and Mr. Perkins was in an
unwontcd state of excitement, and the
children exchanged winks and smiles,
and I-sat still If woman with ten
grand children all lin one lot, to say
nothing of their probable cousins, is not
entitled to the honored name of grand
mother, pray who is
!, So breakfast passed. Mother -in-law
recovered her serenity before the meal
was over. Husband, dear me, what a
word that is for me to write Husband
went abo1t his business, and mother-in-
law undertook to invest me with the
power of the keys, enliyening our pro-
gross through. the establishment with
some very interesting remarks.
I "Mr. Perkins is very fine man my
dear, though I am his mother who says
tia very fine man; but he has dread
full temper, and you must not let him
get set against you. He is very easy to
please, but you must be particular to
get uphis shirts carefully for he will
storm like an earthquake at a missing
button He is not all difficult about
his table, but things must, be served up
right, or he will not eat them. I'm his
mother, and am used to his ways. He
is very neat and careful, but he never
puts anything away, and Will keep a
person picking up after him all the time j;
and he wants everything he calls for
brought to him just to minute. He
is not at all hard to please when one
knows him, only it takes all your
thoughts to do it; but am used to
that. % - - = ..-s.=s.
This was pleasant introduction, GER
tainly, to my martial duties. Then
there's the children" she continued, ,Etsa
nice family as one need desire. but the
oldest, that's Timothy, has picked up
some bad habits, He viii swear dread
fully, but he's good boy for all that.
And James, that's the second son, is a
fine lad, and willing; butyou must not
expose him to temptation by leaving
loose money about. Willy is healthy
and Well-doing boy in the main, but he
likes to creep into the store-room As
sure as he eats handful of raisins, and
he will do it when he can, he goes into
commissions Tom is quiet, but dread
fui mischievous sometimes; and there's
no harm in the girls, except that they
quarrel, as ali children will, and won't
take care of their clothes no children
do. And John he plaques them most
to death, and Mr.. Perkins has no gov
ernment over them, and you'll have to
do it all my dear; but you must not be
discouraged. I'm here, and if they
don't mind, just turn them over me"
Do YOU wish to know what 1 did p
Go marry yourself to a widower, ten
children and a mother-in-law; place
yourself a foreign substance, among
three generations of cognates, and you'll
find out / sjust naturally" as they
say out west, went to my room, threw
myself on th bed and cried. Tears
won't provide a=dinner, I know, and !
knew it then; but did not imagine
that any one expected that / should fall
at once into providing for the household
II, stranger, and in strange place
-oh, how strange I don't know her
long I laid there in my half sleep, hall
sob. Presently I heard 9 mother y
screamed in q childish treble" moth