Litchfield enquirer., 1873-03-27
An oLD-FAsnlonED REMEDY.
WORK VERSUS HERB-TEA. ,
BY F. THoRNE.

Es Mr. Whitaker was much troubled about Susan. All summer she had been in a pale, languid. half-alive condition, with no strength, no appetite, no interest in anything.
 Mrs. Whitaker, having a never-sufi- ciently gratifed passion for doctoring. had at first rather enjoyed this opportunity of trying the virtues of the various roots and herbs that hung in dry, dusty bundles from the garrett rafters. Susan's life had been made burden to her with doses of thoroughwort, penny-royal, tansy, dande- lion and burdock. There was always a big bowl of black, bitter herb-tea stand ing in the pantry, which it was equally an object of Mrs. Whitaker's life to induce Susan to take. and the object of Susan's to escape. ....s .-- .t ..s-.. .- And still Susan lay around the house in an exceedingly limp state reading novels with languid interest, studying her symptoms in the Family Adviser" and cutting out such scraps of poetry from the l newspapers as dwelt on the hollowness of the world, unappreciated loyeliness, and early death. s.-s ss-.a.E .r- a Ned Whitaker, Susan's younger broth CT, was decidedly skepticaI on the subject ! of her illness. "It's enough to make any one sick to do.as Sue does, said he ener- getically. 'lf she'd get up earlier in the morning and do little house-work she'd get we'll twice as quick as she will now, dosing and coddling." < "A great deal yoa know about it," re- torted Susan, with considerable vigor for an invalid; ''I like to hear boys talk. They know so much-in their own estima- tion." .-sy..- g E-... .'See here, Sue What if that interest ing young school-master should hear you speak so to your dear brother! It don't sound very angelic" - .af Sue said nothing, only blnshed little, jured look, which says plainl y, ''Yon'll be sorry for this when Pm gone.
 sFudge, Sue P said Ned,. quite unim- pressed, Don't look so spoony," and off he went, whistling and banging the door. It was fact that there had been a good-looking young school-master, the previous winter, school master who had not loved, but hirted and s'rode away. '' Perhaps Susan, having nothing else to do, had pleased herself by fancying she was in love with this gay decciver. A girl must do something. Mrs. Whitaker was one of those indefatigable, irrepressible women, q scrupulously neat and exact housckeeper, who loved hard work for its own sake, and "didn't want any one both ering round"
 Atone, Sue had quite mania for cook ing, but Mrs. Whitaker, after witnessing her awkward struggles with the bread dough, said: ..,.......r
 ''Come, let me take it. It's easier for me to do it myself than to see you. If you'll keep the sitting room ill order, and take care Of your own room, it's all I'll ask. .---
 And now Mrs. Whitaker thought Susan so delicate she relieved her of even these light duties, and left her with nothing to do but realize, in her own experience, the truth of the saying,
 "A mill stone and the human healt are ever
 driven round,
 If they have nothing else to grind, they must
 themselves be ground,"-
 to know all the weariness of an empty. aimless life.
 September came, and yet Susan re- mained Tn state of discOuraging about the-sameness. Mrs. Whitaker thought she would drive over and consult Aunt Debbie Dunbar.
 AuuG 1SDUIS WIS d WOulitu O1 vast eX- perience in sickness. She brought large family of her own successfully through all the humps, measles, and other ills infant flesh is heir to, and was now experiment. ing on yearly increasing circle of grand children, besides acting as adviser general for the whole neighborhood. What Aunt Debbie didn't know about doctoring was generally considered not worth knowing at all.
 As Mrs. Whitaker drove up she deserted Aunt Debbie's ample form out i'll the gar den, bending over the sage bed. At the round of wheels, she strengthened up, pushed her sun-bonnet back and peered sharply through her spectacles to see who was going by. .-.sr.s-.z.r-s.
 "Well, I never r she exclaimed, as Mrs Whitaker drove into the yard. eff it ant you, Miss Whitaker {! I was jest thinkin' about you. How de,O ye do? Seems as if hadn't seen you for an age. Cum right along in, and Kiah Il put your horse out" ..
 ''Thank you, but I've only come for a call; can't stop long,"
 "Well, how dye all dew at home ?'' her visitor into the sitting rolled
 
 down to her knitting. Aunt Debbie could always talk easier with her knitting-work in hand.
 Pretty we'll, thank you, except Susan. I came over partly to see you about her. She don't seem to get along as I should like to have her."
 "'Miss Haskell was tellin' me, last Sun day, how ailin' Susan's ben, this summer. From what Miss Haskell said I should think she's good deal as my Melissa was, five years ago. I cured Melissa with boneset." :"
 ''Susan's been taking that, more or less, all summer"
 "Does she cough any?'
 "No." '4" #
 Because if she did, colt-foot tea is a grand thing. Ain't she bilious ?''
 ssI shouldn't wonder if she was
 "Well, now if she was my girl, should give her good dose of blue pill to begin with, and follow it out with smart course of castor ile or salts. I should keep right on with the boneset three times a day 'tis very strengthenin' -and I'd have her take a raw egg in half a glass of cider every mornin' before breakfast That s one of the best things know of for week. ly folks Is she narvous about sleepin'?"
 ssYeS, she is, rather. ''
 ."There's nothin' so good for narvous- ness as hop tea. Give her some every night, the last thing before she goes to bed, and make her hop pillow. I guess if you follow her up thoroughly you'll bring her out all right. There's nothin' like bein' thorough" said Aunt Debbie, with the emphatic air of long experience.
 After much further advice, Mrs. Whit aker set out for home, burning with zeal to s'follow up" Susan with all Aunt Deb- bfe's prescriptions What the conse- quences would have been to poor Susan, one shudders to think. Fortunately fate kindly interposed in her behalf. It seems clear case of one ssborn in the woods to be scared at an owl" that the old Whitaker horse should take into his ancient head to be frightened at a moving machine. But such was actually the fact, As he was jogging along, head down, apparently lost in memories of his far-away youth, he came suddenly upon Deacon Foskett's rattling, clattering mow-