Beaufort Republican. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1871-1873, 1873-06-05
BEAUFORT S. c., THURSDAY, JUNE o. lo'3'

somefr1endS, Their surprise ana pleasur'
at Seeing me on their return home
appeared great. Upon eonversing will
Maria the next day, found her to b'
very ignorant rs regarded baby''s re
quirements. "He does CRY 80 dread
fully" she said. stayed there a whole
month perhaps it was too long, bu
there always seemed something for me
to do. I took charge of the little
creature whenever his mother wanted
to spend an evening in company, which
was not seldom. Many and many {
lonely hour I spent in that dimly light
ed room, rather than trust him to tht
awkwardness of The young girl who pro
fessed to fulfill the duties of child.
nurse. I did great deal of sewing fol
Maria, of whom became fonder thar
I had ever expected to be.
James had q relapse of his intermit
tent fever. His wife knew nothing
about sickness. 1 nursed him-I who
had never known fatigue when he need
ed anything in former years, would
surely not fail him now. sat up with
him night after night, and showed the
cook how to prepare nice little dishes
for him, such as I knew he iked-that
is to say, I prepared tEetn While the
cook looked on. Whatever was needed
now; ZIP stairs or down, I was the one
| to plan and do it. At last began to
think ought to return to Fanny /; and
seeing James fairly eonvalescent, ]
sought the train for my journey home
ward. Sitting in the railroad car, q
party of young people took places in
front of me, laughing and talking with
eager animation; principally about per-
sons I knew nothing of; except by
MANS. Presently one of them began to
speak of my sons wife.
"I used to see great deal of them
at one time" she said, but"
"Oh ! well, you know how they have
had a mother r-in-law raging round late
ly, 50 1 have kept away"
$50 have l."
Hero followed laugh of derision.
IA mother-in- law I" exclaimed an
other; "that is hard I do pity them,
indeed"
"Bat 1 understand she is off now,
luckily"
"GIad to hear it. Have you heard
the new, operaP"
Twas the mother-in-law on whose ac-
count friends kept away. / remembered
the weary nights in that sick room the
weary days when, sufferingfrem the loss
of sleep, I struggled to keep my eyes
open that 1 might attend to various lit
tie household duties. l remembered
the nice little dishes, the neatly ar
ranged rooms, the carefully tended
baby. Which of all this was the "rag-
ing round" which excited the risible
muscles of those young people2 /
thought of Fanny, her good looks, her
intelligence, her affectionate nature, and
found myself wondering whather nature
was to be. But here we are. There
she was waiting to meet me, dear child;
but there was some one with her, most
insignificant looking individual, with
very prominent eyes and large whiskers.
Why did my heart sink with melan-
choly foreboding? ,
How glad she was to see me again
She introduced her companion to me as
Mr.. Jenkins; and whereas I was all
anxiety to be alone with her, Mr.. Jen-
kins, with great flourish of politeness,
walked all the way home with rs. Be-
fore I could unite the strings of my
bonnet he told me that Fanny had
promised to marry him was thunder
struck, having in the annoyance of his
presence forgotten my forebodings Of
half an hour before. I had read with
much attention, in various highly laud-
ed books, of the great and imperative
duty of bringing up girl to be help
meet for o noble man. Was this my
Fanny's noble man-this dapper little
maniken? He seemed amiable, but SO
utterly insignificant ! He bad uninter-
esing parents, and weak, plain sisters,
MI of whom made perpetual amuse-
ment of the engagement. My parlor
was given up to them-that is, to him
and his sisters. I seemed always ode
trop" when I entered, Judging by the
sudden silence which followed the ami
mated task. My coming was an inter
ruption. I began to sit up stairs ; I
always Waiheu uIOue.
Having avoided all society and all ac-
quaintanceship when my children were
young, that might devote my whole
time to them, found myself now DESC
late and friendless. Friends, like plants,
must be cultivated. found no congo
niality in either of the two families with
which my family were connecting them
selves.
After two years they were married /;
and after year of boarding aspired to
the dignity of keeping house. After
looking at many dwellings one was Sc
lected, one which required great many
repairs, and now my services were in
very greatrequest !; 1 attended to all the
directions Mrs. Jenkins wished given to
workmen 1 stayed in the cold, empty
rooms all day, when there was nothing
to sit OH but an empty candle box. L
did the necessary quarreling with the
plumbers, and bore the snubbing of the
upholstaers l put the furniture in the
places I thought best by degrees, and
by degrees changed it all to suit his
tastes. 1 washed all the china and glass;
and sometimes fancied, when Igot dirty
doing all this, that 1 was happy. Ihad
so long been accustomed to work for
those loved, that it was hard to learn
there might be any reproach connected
with it. I must do Fanny the justice to
say that she'was very kind and grateful
for all this trouble.
On the last day, after having some
cold tea out of pitcher on the corner
of mantel-piece, I overheard Mr.. Jen-
kins, who had brought in friend to