Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1873-10-15

no expression in it-and to-day he said
! looked old enough almost to be her mother.
| Aha Mr.. Henderson, We'll see f! it's only
! love and care for you ndyours that's made
me so forget myself and fall into careless
ways. I'm just as good looking to- day as
Cat Ray is-if l do say it myself-we'll
see! ~ and the angry little woman's cheeks
grew redder, and her eyes almost snapped
in their glittering brightness as she turned
the safety-valve and began. to sing. That
was her safety-valve, when her tensionen
nerves could stand no more she sang aud
was relieved without flood oftears. 70 y
From under the messy roof of that tidy
little spring-house welled out the jubilaDt
words of an old hymn to the inspiring air
of Pisgah.
The next morning, after the children
started to school and her work was all done
up nicely, she washed herself and carefully
brushed her hair, and put it up in pretty
way, with a rose and a spray of myrtle at
the side of the coil. She had brushed it
until it shown with lustre. Theirs she put
on neat light-print dress, and lace collar,
fastened with beautiful gold pin, gift of
her girlhood.
The gold hoops that her mother had
worn long ago, of antique pattern, looked
beautiful a-near the dark-brown of her
hair. She had not touched those gold
hoops for years-her children had never
even seen them.
Then she clothed her feet in neat CATERS,
and put on her wedding ring, and her
nearest neighbors would hardly have recog-
nized the careless slattern in the bright
eyed, sweet-faced woman of to-day. The
change pleased her-it made her smile in
voluntarily, and that smile was her charm
always had been, why couldn't she wear
1t, too, if her heart was full of q joy so new
and so rare and beautiful.
The whole woman was completely me-
tamorphosed. The change beautified her,
and the little bit of revenge was harmless
and-sO street $40 . ..sHr
When her husband came home at noon,
he stopped in the doorway and stood still
an instant, then he whistled a long,
w-h-e-w!
She turned around in an innocent way,
and-the expression of his eyes was the
same as when he was devoted, admiring
lover. ...rrE .s.a..r
''Sfy wife, y he said, and he folded her in
his arms, and his face twitched, and he
laughed in pleased, hysterical way.
Her eyes filled with tears, and there was
a stified sob on his bosom, but it was the
best sob she'd ever made, it meant great
deal.
1--WE been too thoughtless and careless
about myself, Tom, ~ she said. 81 thought so
much of you and the children, that never
cared how L went, l didn't think of my
self"
"You are so sweet, little wife, so beauti-
full" said Tom, holding her off and look
ing at her, while she blushed and struggled
to get away.
The turning of that leaf was new era
in Hetty Henderson's life. She never so
neglected herself again, and instead of
growing older, it does seem that as the
years glide by she grows younger.
When the children came from school
that evening, one at q time, they said, "Oh,
where have you been, mother?n or "Where
are you going, mother p, and little Rosy,
who had never seen the jewelry before, or
a collar, or a rose in her mothers hair, said
in subdued whisper, "What is the mat
ter you look like the pictures of the pretty
ladies in the Magazines" and she felt of
her face as though the vision before her
might melt, or vanish into air under her
touch. .'-.i.a a. ... t-..
We must confess that we believe there is
a little spice Of mischief in it, when early
every morning Hetty takes time enough to
pin on a white collar and brush her hair
smoothly off her brow, and remove every
sign of the careless sloven from her attire.
She knows very well that neatly -dressed
woman has the advantage oyer one who
is not appearing well. This shows itself
in the springy step, and the self-assurance
that gives her head queenly poise. So
the two lady visitors, who cared more for
her good dinners than they did for Hetty
herself, taught her a lesson we'll worth re-
membering, and her married life will be
the better and the pleasanter for it as long
as she lives.