Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1875-02-03
Learning Her Value.


with frowning brow.
" Is not your letter from Herbert, Lima Z?
questioned Mrs. Worthington, a tiny, silver
haired old lady with gentle expression
"Yes, mother. Essie is very III with low
nervous fever, and they want me to com
and stay till she is better. The carriag
will be sent at three O'Clock, mother" anc
Miss Paulines eyes snapped. al think it j.
about time Berts tyranny over that littl,
martyr was ended. lie is killing her"
"Lina lie is your brother"
" / can see his faults if he is"
d" | never heard Essie complain"
"Sho never would. But look at her Nine
years ago, when she married, she was liv
ing sunbeam, so bright and pretty Now
pale, quiet, and reserved, her voice is seldom
heard, her smile seldom seen. A wintry
shadow Of her former summer brightness
Now she has broken down. You have never
seen her at home, but surely when she is
here you see the change ?"
Yes, dear, she has changed but family
cares"
Has Louie changed so -? She has been
I twelve years married"
Mrs Wor,hington was silent Louie was
her oldest child, and presided over the home
in which her mother had been a crippled
prisoner for fifteen years. She took all the
household care, and had five children, and
yet Louie had gained in beauty, and GER
tainly in cheerful happiness, since her mar
riage, even if the sport Of girlhood was gone.
Henry appreciates Louie" said Lima /;
there lies the difference between her hap
pincss and Essie's detection. II there is any
domestic trouble Henry and Louie share It,
while Herbert shifts it all upon Essie. He
is an habitual fault-fnder"
Perhaps, dear, Esse is not so good a
housekeeper as Louie Herbert may have
cause to find fault"
Once in ten times he may. | never saw
faultless house or housekeeper; but Essie
and her house are the nearest approach to
| perfection | ever did see."
You never spoke so before, Lima"
| Because Louis and | thought it better
not 10 worry YOU with trouble beyond your
help. But firmly believing, as | do now,
that Herbert is actually worrying his wife
into her grave, intend to give him lesson.
| That is if you can spare me to GOT"
You must go, dear. | shall get along
nicely"
So when Herbert Worthington sent his
carriage Lima was quite ready for the four
teen mile drive to her brothers house. 1t
was most unlike a house wherein any evil
| spirit of repining or faulthnding should
have found an abode Spacious, handsomely
| furnished, with well-trained servants, and all
comforts wealth could furnish, il seemed
| perfect paradise on earth to visitors But a
very demon lurked there to poison all, and
this demon Lima had come TO exercise.
| For the first fortnight Essie took all her
time and care, the gentle spirit lowering
very near the portals of the eternal home
| bpaa hul,a 81 tha a.
its wants filled all the spare moments. Her
bert snarled and fretted over domestic short
comings, but Lima peremptorily forbade all
mention of these in the sick-room, having
the doctors authority for saying the patients
very life depended upon quiet.
But when convaescence commenced Lima
sent Essie and the baby to visit old Mrs
| Worthington, and took control Of Herbert,
the two older children and the household,
| fully determined to show her brother how far
he carried his absurd habit Of fault-fnding
The first dinner saw the beginning of the
lesson Lima meant TO teach, by practically
| illustrating some of llerbert's absurdities
| Herbert entered the dining-room, his hand
some face disfgured by its habitual frown.
Soup" said Herbert, lifting the tureen
cover; "perfect dish-water"
Susan" said Lima sharply, before Herbert
could lift the ladle, Z" take that tureen to the
kitchen and tell Jane the soup is not iit to eat 4"
Susan promptly obeyed. Herbert looked
rather ruefully at the vanishing dish. He
was especially fond of soup, and the savory
fumes of the really delicious dish were tan
talizing. Essie would have made some gem
tie excuse-never whipped off his dinner in
that way. All dinner time Lima kept up a
ding-dung at Susan about that abominable
\ L 4
said nothing about it. But his imagina-
tion detected a burnt flavor in the pudding.
and before he could demonstrate that dish
followed the soup.
"iU get this house in some sort of order
before I leave il" said Lima cmphatically.
Before you leave it," said Herbert sharply.
Z" Do you suppose you are a better house
keeper than Essie Why, | have not a
friend who does not envy me the exquisite
order of my house and my dainty table"
" Herbert, you surprise me. Only yester.
day heard you say you did wish there was
eper anything fit to eat on the table"
" One don't expect every word to be ta
ken literally" said Herbert, rather sulkily
But an hour later, finding n streak Of dust
in the sitting-room, he declared emphatically
sit was not fit for pig to live in"
Coming into il the next morning he found
the curtains torn down, the carpets taken
up, the floor Uttered with pals, soap, and
brushes, and Lima, in dismal dress, her
hair tied up in towel, directing two wo
men, scrubbing vigorously.
"Good gracious, what are you doing"
Cleaning this room"
"Why, Essie had the whole house cleaned
till it shone in the fall, and didn't make
half this muss," he added, contemptuously
"Well,' said Lima, slowly, :" thought
this room marvel of neatness myself but
when you said 1t was not fit for the pigs
supposed you wanted it cleaned"
"The room was well enough" was the
curt reply. For mercy's sake don't turn
any more of the house upside down"
At breakfast, tiny tear in Louies apron
caught her fathers eye, and, by his own AN
cry statement, she never had decen,
stitch of clothes, and he did wish somebody
would see TO her."
Two days after, formidable dry goods
bill was presented at the store, and Lima ex
planned it in this wise;
You said, Herbert, that Louie hadn't q
decent stitch, and you wished somebod,
would see 10 her, so / bought her complete
outfit. i could not see any fault myself
but of course | got more expensive articles
as you did not like those already provided
/ am glad you called my attention to tn,
poor neglected child"
Poor neglected child" echoed astonished
Herbert. "Why Lima Essie fairly slave,
her life out over those children. am sur,
never see any better dressed or neater."
Lima merely shrugged her shoulders. A
month passed. Essie gained strength in tn,
genial atmosphere surrounding Louie anc
her mother, while Lima ruled lIerberts hous,
with a rod Of iron. Herbert began to ex
perience a sick longing for Essies gentl,
presence. Lima took him so very literally il
all he said, and yet he could not rebuke hel
for doing exactly what he openly wished.
A chair with tiny spot Of dirt being de
clared absolutely filthy, was upholstered and
vanished at cost of eight dollars. A dozen
new shirts, Esses last labor of love, being
+ said to "set like meal-bags," were bestowed
upon the gardener, and new set sent from
furnishing store. Harry's blocks wer,
burned at the kitchen FIRE when Herbert
stepping upon one, said he would not have
such rubbish in the house." Every window
was opened after pettish declaration thai
the room was as hot as an oyen," and an
hour later the stove was fired up 10 smother