Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1874-02-05
MRS. MAYCOCk'S KEYS.

For some years I have been the
owner of bunch of keys-a good big
bunch, of which, however, only two
were practicable. For q long time
had resolved to sort that bunch of
keys. most of which we're waits and
strays-There were two or three latch
keys, one, verify believe, of house
in London at which 1 lived fifteen years
ago; one OF house in Brighton long
ago given up dis .snsaibus. Memory
refuses to afix titles to the rest. At
last, however, happy fate has relieved
me Of the incubus of this useless bunch
of metal. A change of residence
has deprived me of the two
last working keys and left me
unencumbered. OF what use are
keys to met have never
more money than I can conveniently
carry in my pocket. The few letters
that receive all the world is welcome
to read they are read extensively in
the household, I know. I have long
since thrown open my skeleton cup
board, and finding the grizzly spectre
I dreaded q mere harmless joist of
some decayed old building, with few
laths nailed across it, Stimulating ribs
and vertebrD, have burnt it upon the |
domestic hearth, and scattered it's ash
es to the four winds. Thus, bare as
my cupboards may be, they are at least
clean and whitewashed. And my soul
is emancipated from locks and keys.
In @ this .:.:! :tat, Of t happy PIP freedom 1 was
hn ~ k,~ks
and coming over The Times, placidly
conscious OF the pleasant morning
sounds aud sights bells jangling soft
~ from the town hard by, the crank of
scythe in the field below, the cry of
the man with the vegetable cart; dog
barking, fowls clucking, children at
play-according to one of the Welsh
triads, the three signs of an inhabited
country. It was q leisure time with
everybody at home. NY: wife seemed
for once to be in an idle mood. Sailors,
you know, when there comes an idle
time when tie wind blows fair and
steady, and the sails draw as evenly as
if they were moulded in 1onzier .naoche;
when all the sheets ere Delayed, and
they have finished coiling little ropes
round big ones; when the First Lieut.
euant wears an unruf{led brow, and the
boatswain has ceased from piping, and
there is nothing whatever to do-Jack
or Tom proceed forthwith to overhaul
their chests. So with women, I think
-something in idle moments, they will
overhaul in this case the work basket.
Ends of ribon are sorted, bits Of lace
turned ovsr and mentally appraised,
balf.finished undertakings are sighed
over; the eldest daughter looking
gravely on, with o view to the welfare
Of her eldest daughter Dolly. At tie
bottom of the basket is q debris of nm.
considered trifles.
"Ned, here's something of yours"
the wife says, ':here's bunch of
keye!"
"Don't, for goodness sake, give them
to me; don't want them; shouldn't
know where to put them"
| "Then what shall I do with them : I
can't leave them in my work. basket"
"Throw them away"
A bunch Of keys, however, are not
things of which ono can dispose at a
moments notice. II you threw them
away, you would see them advertised
in the next days paper they would be
traced to you, money would be demand
ed-there would be bother of some
sort. No, it wouldn't do to throw them
away.
Look here, we're going on the river
and make an end Of them:S '1
Before this doom. however, had been
carried into effect, claimant appeared
for the bunch of keys. They were not
mine, it seemed, but nurse's-Nurse
Maycock's.
Nurse came in with her youngest
charge quite breathless with the danger
she had escaped. "Lor! whatever
should I do If master had thrown
my keys away9 p
She is a comely old lady, of digni-
fiod presence, with brown face and q
handsome double chin, aquiline nose,
which approaches her chin more
closely than of old, owing to her lack
of teeth very dramatic woman,
mind you, full Of action and gesture !;
with it all, a comfortable, mothe1ly
body.
"You're quite sure they are your
keys, nurse r. said my wife.
"Bless you. yes, MAN," said nurse,
sinking down into char. She is Of
st, oDg OH her Plus, and we don't exact
rigid ceremony from her. "Why, /
can tell the history of the whole 4
'em."
i Mrs. Maycock, like other story.tcl-
lers I know, requires very delicate
handling. II yo, let her see that you
expect a story from her, she either
shuts up altogether or spoils her tale
by over effect She must be left to her.
self and gently inclined to discourse ol
her experiences. To be heard in full
perfection, her narrative must flow
naturally from surrounding circum
stances.
With the late lamented Maycock
had no personal acquaintance; but
formed a vivid mental picture of hin
from his widows occasional descrip
tiops. He was thin and small, rathe
> lame, reserved. tiery-tempered man
who had vivid sense of his own dig
. nifty and rather contemptuous opin
ion of the female sex. He was an up
per workman of some sort, earning
> good wages and laying by litt!'
money-a valuable man in his owl
way, and we'll thought Of by bis EN-
n ployers.
: 10 return to nurse. Her attention
. is diverted for a moment by the young
i s'er Oh her lap, vii" makes a des i,crat tt
Il pull ut her cap strings, and almost sue
), ceeds Ill demolishing that elaborate
fabric,