Litchfield enquirer., 1873-03-27
What was to become of the whitakers

| Gr1Hlng matter. A small factory Ill Lne village absorbed all the American girls of the vicinity, who would otherwise have | worked in families, and there being no Catholic church within 10 miles, the Irish girl who could be induced to live on farm was rGrG aUis, indeed. MT. Whitaker devoted week to driv- ing over the hills in different directions in pursuit of various myths of possible girls that vanished into thin air on closer in- spection. Now Mr. Haskell had heard of a very moe girl over in Benham, Franklin Lester's wife's sister, who was anxious to secure place. By the time Mr. Whit aker had reached Benham the nice girl had engaged to teach district school. Arrived at home he found Mrs. Goodman had sung to Susan the praises of a certain "widow-woman" on Stony Hill. MT. Whitaker hies him to Stony Hill to find the widow gone to keep house for her brother
 "I declare" said Mir. Whitaker to Su- san, as he returned, ,girlless and dispirited, from his long drive, 'I believe if want ed wife could get six easier than one girlr'
 ''Dont try any more, father" said su- san, "We can get along somehow. Ned and I can do the work"
 ''That's so, said Ned. "We1l make bully team
 ''Don't be so low, Ned," said Susan, who had undertaken the somewhat dis couraging task of ''elevating" Ned. Boys resent ''elevating," especially by their own sisters, and accordingly Ned rather exerted himself to be slangy in Susan's presence. zig.
 But now feeble vail was heard from the bed room where poor Mrs. Whitaker lay, feverish and helpless upon her rest less couch.
 ''You must get girl, father" she re- monstrated. ''Susan can't do the work. It will kill her. She isn't strong enough, and besides she don't know how. Oh dear, if could only get up and take hold myself I can't be reconciled to lying here when there's so much to dor'
 To soothe his wife, MT. Whitaker prom ised to try once more, and finally one night drove into the yard in triumph, seated on small hair trunk, the owner of the trunk, an actual ''girl'' in 31ropria persona, band-box in hand, sitting in state on the seat behind him. 1 Thenew girl name was Luna, "pale Lu- na, Ned called her. She was tall and bony, wore her hair cut short in the neck, and rejoiced in bass voice that was a perpet- ual surprise to the family. Luna soon developed ways, that, if not ''dark," were decidedly uncomfortable. Ned al- ways declined pie, after he once saw Luna, as she cut each piece, drawing the knife-blade through her mouth, to "cleanse" it. No matter what she had previously been doing, she stirred Mrs. Whitaker's heef-tea with her finger with out going through the ceremony of wash ing her hands, and tasted it freely with the same spoon soon offered the invalid. She told Susan she "Iiked to make bread. it takes the grind off your hands so nice.'' Under her administration, the appetites of the Whitakers dwindled alarmingly. Susan, who saw the most of Luna's cook cry, lived entirely on crackers.
 When Mrs. Whitaker heard that Luna prepared the potatoes for dinner in the wash-hand- basin, and put the best tea knives soaking in the bottom of the pan while she did the other dishes, tea-knives whose glossy handles were Mrs. Whita- ker's pride, her indignation knew no bounds.
 "I won't have her in the house another minute can't sleep till she is out of it! The idea My best tea-knives I've been so particular never even to damp the handles, and always kept them put away in tissue paper, and now they are ruined Do get her out of the house before she spells everything in 1t, and pois0ns us all p
 Luna went Susan cleaned up the house, and prayed, whatever other calam- ity might be in store for them, they might at least be spared another girl Susan was much better now. Her mothers ill., ness had taken her out of herself, and obliged her to make some exertion. She went into housework with will, equally pleased and surprised to find herself really good for something Ned helped her ail he could, and novel were some of the ex- periments of what Ned called the ''new girls"
 One day, Susan decided to have baked beans for dinner. She put something like two quarts boiling. By and by, look ing in the pot, she was dismayed to find it full of beans to the very brim. She took out nearly half, but still the beans continued to swell beyond her widest forebodings. Ned came in to dinner to find an immense dish of baked beans crowning the dinner table, while several pans of the same agreeable edibles, in various stages of doneness, were standing around the kitchen.
 "Whe-ew Y exclaimed Ned. ''You're | you are rather overdoing this bean busi- ness feel about beans as the old lady's hired man did about liver. He liked it we'll enough for 50 or 60 days. but didn't care about it for steady diet.'' Don't laugh, Ned,; said poor Sue, l looking anxious and exhausted. 'I've l had a really dreadful time with the things. I positively believe three beans would have been enough"
 Susan usually had very good success with her bread. But one day there arose an unforeseen complication. The sponge had soured in the night.
 'ENed," she said, ''did you ever notice l how much soda mother uses when the sponge is sour? I'm sure I don't know"
 ''Nor I. guess she just stirs it in till it tastes all right"
 l She put in a large tea-spoonful of soda. Then she and Ned both tasted and smelt 1 1t.
 s''Taint right yet, said Ned, with an air of wisdom and experience. ''Dab in some more"
 In went another spoonful Another testing by the cooks.
 ''It tastes smarty,' said Sue. 'I be- ieve shall put in another spoonful
 After getting in four spoonfuls, they concluded it would ''do."
 The bread came out of the oven deep yellow-brown in hue, and exhaling an overpowering odor of soda. Sue made biscuit for tea, and the pigs reveled in new made bread for supper that night. Ned, being implicated, swore solemn se- crecy and, as he used afterward trium- phantly to observe, Git didn't kill the pigs, either"
 But Susan's experiences were not at all so disastrous. Mrs. Whitaker was quite astonished to see how well things went on. She really began to think Susan was ''natural cook" Daughters of such nota- ble housekeepers as Mrs. Whitaker are apt to be natural cooks" Order and method is the rule. of the house, and they adopt instinctively, mothers way' of doing things. A certain deftness and skill is hereditary with them. Perhaus.