The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1871-01-05
Anotrso11 ynttlligerter,
gURNING gHE TABLES.
= THE wIEE,s sTRATAGEM.

never been in this state beforel You see, the
fire had a ft," and couldn't be made to burn
this morning" :
"Oh, yesi you are: always ready with an ex-
cuse. Now therel-is~Mrs. Smith her stove
never has fits. And she always has the light
est, sweetest bread and the incest cakes and
prsserses Fever ate. wish; you'd take pattern
s"Wen, Tanasure,Joe, H'domy best, and |
think succeed oftener than I fail. l wish
could suit you always; but that, Isuppose, can
scarcely be expected" and Mary gave weary
Mary Starr had been married about year,
during which time she had found housekeeping
rather uphill work. She was neat little
BODY. and conscientiously did her very best to
please her husband; but he, whatever might
be the reason, was very hard to please-in fact,
seemed determined not to be, pleased with, any
thing She did. Perhaps, like the old soldier In
one'of Dickens stories, he had vital and con-
slant sense that discipline must be maintain
ed" At any rate, he never allowed Mary to
be pleased with herself on any occasion if he
could help it.
Mary was an amiable wife, fortunately, and
not easily irritated, though, to tell the truth,
there were times when her forbearance was Sc
verely tried. For instance, whenever she and
Joe took tea out, or went to party, or even to
church, he seldom allowed the opportunity to
pass unennbraced to ;animadvert on some de-
fciency in cookery, or manners, or dress, on
the part Of his wife. For instance, 1t would
be-
"Mrs. Jones' what beautiful sponge cake you
make! Mary, take notice how light this cake
Is. 1 wonder why you can never have it so
puff" Or, 'Mrs. Brown, you certainly are an
adept at entertaining company. wish, Mary,
that you would try to steal Mrs. Browns ar" J"
Or, "MIs. Green, your dress is always most be-
coming. Your taste is exquisite. l don't see
why it is, Mary, that with all 1 spend for you,
you never look quite as nice as Mrs. Green"
On these occasions Mary would blush and
bite her lip and be inwardly annoyed, but she
was a woman of too much pride and good
sense to make q display of her chagrin and
was really too ood-natured and Christian per-
son to let it change her feeling toward Joe,
whom she knew to be, after all, very fond of
her, and very just man at heart. After a
while, too, seeing that the fault was probably
curable, she bethought herself how she should
proceed in order to break him of his disagreea-
bic habis.
Fortune favored her. One day lady, one
of her most valued friends and neighbors,
called to invite Joe and Mary to tea-party at
her house.
at will be small affair" she said, "but
very pleasant, think. You only are wanting
to make the circle of harmony complete"
"Well," said Mary, II will come, Mrs. Vane,
on one condition"
Condition Is it come to this, that you
must make conditions? Well, my dear, make
your demand"
"The condition is," said Mary, chat you
will allow me to furnish all the refreshments. Z"
"Well, that is an odd idea! Mary, my dear,
I hope you don't mean to insinuate that l am
getting poor?" -,
cred her favors on you quite literally. But
have a,notion for this, which, if you please, l
will not diyulge; only let me have my way this
once, just for the oddity Of the thing"
off anybody but you, Mary, had made such
arequest of me, certainly shonld have taken
Soif it will be any satisfactionto you-though
forthe life of me L can't imagine what your
drift isl will comply with your conditions.
When may expect my supplies?
"Lct me see; tomorrow is my bakingsday,
and your party is not before Thursday. Well,
on "Wednesday afternoon you shall be sup
piled with bread, biscuit, cake, and all other
accessories and mind, the only thing | allow
Won 10 furnish is butter, which do not maxi" "
every we'll, it's all settled, then, and will
leave YOU. On the whole this arrangement
suits me: it relieves me of great responsible
ty, for vour COOKERY IS we'll known to be par
ticularly nice. So goodbye till Thursday"
"Mind you say nothing about this, Hattie, to
any one; it is secret of mine"
every we'll, IS you say, I'll keep num-
Goodbye again, for you will have your hands
full, andI must not interrupt you"
So off Mrs, Vane went, inwardly wondering
what crochet demure little Mary had got into
her steady little head.
Everything came off on that baking -dny pre-.
cisely as Mary could have wished it. Her bread
was light and sweet, and white as snowflake,
with Just golden-brown line of crust sur
rounding it; her cakes were perfection; her
biscuits crisp and delicious. Then she knew
that her preserved fruits were nice and if
ever there was sponge-cake more like solidi-
fed froth she would IKE to see it. Everything
was sent in to Mrs Vane on Wednesday after
noon, and she had all Thursday to devote to
her dress.
Mary los very pretty that night at the
tea-party, $r eyes shone with purpose,
and she haStsassIst excitement enough about it
to redden her cheeks in very becoming man.
rser. Add to this that she was dressed with
ileatness and taste, and You viii be unwilling
To believe me when I say that she was the belle
of the occasion. Joe evidently thought 80
himself; for, strange to say, he made no re-
marks upon her appearance that night calcula-
ted to lower her self-esteem but contrariwise,
gazed at her from time to time with the most
profound satisfaction.
: But murder will out" 1t came on this oc-
casion, when they sat down to supper. Every
body was delighted; there had not been such
an unexceptionable ''tea" in that neighborhood
for long time. Country people are very fond
of their "teas ;",they compare one with another
with admirable connoisseurship. This one was
triumph,
makers. Your biscuit are quite beautiful
Were ever such made before How do you
-.a.aaac;t NJ. Nnna2 Mhnt lively snonne.