Rapides gazette. (Alexandria, La.) 1869-187?, 1873-10-04

, but didn't dream of anything like that.
e | can do it in half the time that Nora took
: at all events.''
well, don't know. Are you sure i
: isn't hard? You might try il for while
; BUT don't want your pretty hands to ge
G coarse and"
D Laura flushed with pleasure. He hat
, not stopped to see whether there were any
thing pretty about her or not for so long
She felt paid i'm an instant for the work O
years TO come, if it had been twice a.
:. hard.
: '.Oh, nothing hurts my hands,n sh,
said. If there did, they would have beer
spoiled at Cousin Walters"
80 they would. Well, well; Cousin
Walter and Cousin Walters wife shall see
you go in and out of a home such as they
never hoped to have. And after that there
Will be plenty of time by-and-by for hands
to get white again.
And do you think OF anything else
where l can turn am honest penny?" asked
Laura, with delight. For this was such an
immense testimony on Rogers part that
her silly rejoicing heart would fain have
continued the conversation, already long
one for Roger, all the evening.
Yes" said Roger, presently, 'in the
abolition of one thing-though l hardly
like to mention it, because it will be de
priving you of such a pleasure" And
then he laughed.
"Oh. do tell me, Roger,"
81 think women like to be martyred, y
he said. swell, it is those dainties YOU
are always making for me. / noticN
seldom taste them yOurself-which is Z.
picious, by-the-way. You brought four
cookery books into the house for your
dowry; and as you Were determined to
make them useful, l have been as steadily
eating my way through themas any book
wornr and |. shall S6me out at last with
ruined dfgestf9f all reatirfor my chrys-
alia, and you'llbe blooming Grdha9ibe
MaoyyS
@DdS't t1Hso. Roger dear-dm,t.@
%You are afkid l1evil htesap4y hap
pen to hear. You little heather waEx a.
TioWay, \ thinlswe can do without all the
tarts and sugasSa and jellies."
oh, l DOM lke to haV yeu, Roger"
- knewfou wouldn't" ne ahSvtQcd.
|" Butdoas Kou please. Only remember
Idon't want any Of tlieR. Was that John
or Thongs Flint here? J6hnG Oh yes,
Shsp, kkhow what he wants. I must 60
atS,Es1umedifely dc, a9d ilinch that mat
a
Il was, perhaps, as hard ,asthile.as he
con1d have asked. .herto 70; for well-lam
andinvitirgt cable was one of the auxiHar-
les she most relied upon. But PLAIN hfead
and meat and' such things as Af@garden
flfnish@ must be the fare now; and she
varied it with surprising preparations of
the same vegetable, relish 81 hot sherbs,
with charming salads OF nasturtiums and
crosses and everything from purslane to
pumpkin bl6sstmssf She VIitle the pump
kin blossoms attractive by telling him they
were a favorite Mexican salad, and how
baskets of them were tumbled down i'm the
market at Jalapa, high up on the table-lands
of perpetual summer: and plain dough-
nut really seemed little nicer when She
called it an alpistefa.as the Spaniards do.
And Roger of coursetlid not miss the dain-
ties though to tell the truth. Laura id
herself dor she had always been the vic
tim QfAcapricious appetite, and frequently.
having been unable to eat at table, ,s~Oulds
afterward be glad of the toothsome things
left in the pantry from yesterday. But
now she must take what there was or go
without-and she frequently went with
out. Not that Roger would not have been
horror-stricken at any deprivation of the
kind, had he known it; but never did
till il was too late.
But Laura was not a person to do things
by halves, and having begun to econo-
miZe, she carried the system through to its
lastTesults. Now that there was no fancy
cooking, certainly she could do the plain
cooking herself; and the cook followed
Nora, and had been gone for weeks before
Roger found it out. Laura used to have
her fire Laid over night for kndling i'm the
morning, and the table ready for Rogers
breakfast, whose smoke ascended in a
morning sacrifice to him before he came
down; then she had the day before her
for sweeping and dusting; the simple din
ner was put upon the table the moment
she heard the train leave the station; and
she had just as much of the evening as she
wanted to ''clear away" i'm. for Roger
never was at home, of course, but always
off clinching an old bargain or making a
new one. But Roger did not murmur
much when he did discover the cooks de-
parture. He was working hard, he
thought, and Laura was his helpmeet, and
when all was said, her work was easier |
than his, and without an atom of mental |
wear and tear about it; still he told her to |
be very sure and not overdo herself
Books and music, of course, went with |
Nora and the cook, and all the pleasure |
Laura ifiu lelC was tne pleasure OF serving |
Roger-the greatest of pleasures, she |
would have told her cousin Walters wife. |
But, nevertheless. books and Music were |
missed, and Laura felt her horizon narrow |
ing about her like the contracting walls of |
the prisoners cell i'm the story. They |
took no paper, and they ceased their sub
scription TO the book club. at is only for
a year or two," said Roger. "We can
soon read up again, and have library of
our own to boot by-and-by." They had
no company; they never took an excur-
sion. Asfor passing the night in town for
the sake Of theater, or opera. or concert
as for taking Laura in with him to a matt
nee-RogT would have thought himself
crazy to propose such thing. "Time
enough for all that by-and-by,' he said.
She sat at home with her sewing in the |
endless lonesome days; she saw other not
long married people taking their pleasure
as they went-going down the street to-
gether pleasant afternoons with their
luncheon-baskets for the sailing parties on
the lake, driving by on long summer rides,
sitting together in the twilight. She
wished, in spite of herself, that her life and |
Rogers were the same as that of these