The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1875-03-26
LEARNING HER VALUE.
By S. ANNIE FROST.


"Just what have been expecting fo1
about seven years." said Miss Pauline
Worthington, looking from am open let
ter IN her hand. with a frowning brow.
''Is not your letter from Herbert.
Lima (" questioned Mrs. Worthington, a
tiny, silver-haired old lady with gentle
expression.
t'Yes, mother. Essie is very i'll with
low, nervous fever, and they want me To
come and stay till she is better. The
carriage viii be sent at o'clock, mother, y
and Miss Pauline's eyes snapped. 81
think it Is about time Bert's tyranny over
that little martyr was ended. He is kill
ing her."
'tLina! He is your brother
can see his faul if he is.'
never heard Ess complain
She never would. But look ct her.
Nine years ago, when she married, she
was living sunbeam, SO bright and
pretty. Now, pale, quiet, and reserved,
her voice is seldom heard, her smile sell
dom seen. A wintry shadow of her
former summer brightness! Now she
has broken down. You have never seen
her ut home, but surely when she Is here
you see the change2"
eyes, dear, she has changed but
'sHas Louie changed so9 She has
been twelve years married.
Mrs. Worthington 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 certainly In cheerful happi-
ness, since her marriage, even if the
merriment of girlhood was gone.
Henry appreciates Louiei'' said
Lima &c there hes the difference between
her happiness and Essie's detection. IF
there Ii any domestic trouble Henry and
Louie share it, while Herbert shifts it all
upon Essie. He is an habitua1 fault
finder.
''Perhaps, dear, Essie is not so good
a housekeeper as Louie. Herbert may
have cause to find fault. T"
"Once in ten times he may. I never
saw a 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 Louie and I thought it bet
ter not to worry you with trouble be-
yond your help. But firmly believing,
as I do now, that Herbert is actually
worrying his wife into her grave, in
tend to give him a lesson. That is if you
can spare me to go2
FtYou must go, dear. I shall get along
nicely
So when Herbert Worthington sent his
carriage Lima was quite ready for the
fourteen mile drive to her brothers
house. It was most unlike a house
wherein any evil spirit of repining or
fauIt-fnding should have found an
abode. Spacious, handsomely furnished,
with well-trained servants, and all COM
forts wealth could furnish, it seemed a
perfect paradise on earth to visitors.
But very demon 1urked 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 hover
ing very near the portals of the eternal
home. There was babe, too, six months
old, and its wants filed all the spare
moments. Herbert snarled and fretted
over domestic shortcomings, but Lima
peremptorily forbade all mention of these
IN the sick-room, having the doctors au-
thority for saying the patients very life
depended upon quiet.
But when convalescence commenced,
Lima sent F.ssie and the baby TO visit old
Mrs. Wor.hington, and took control of
Herbert, khe two older children and the
household, fully determined to show her
brother how far he carried his habit of
absurd fault-finding. With all her Sc
verify, she did believe he was himself
unaware of the frequency OF his queru
ous complaints and the exaggeration of
his fretful statements.
The first dinner saw the beginning of
the lesson Lima meant TO teach, by prac-
tically illustrating some OF Herbert's alb
surdities. Herbert entered the dining
room, his handsome face dishgured by
its habitual frown. Harry and Louie
were seated, and the waiter girl In her
place behind L6na's chair.
sst' Soup, said Herbert, lifting the
tureen cover perfect dish-water r
Susan" said Lima sharply, before
Herbert could lift the 1ad1e, 9 take that
tureen to the kitchen and tell Jane the
soup Is not fit to eat. y
Susan promptly obeyed. Herbert
looked rather ruefully at the vanishing
dish. He was especially fond Of soup,
and the savory fumes of the really de-
hcious dish were tantaIzing. Essie
would have made some gentle excuse
never whipped off his dinner IN that way.
All dinner time Lima kept up ding
dong at Susan about that abominable
souD. till Herbert heartily wished he had
said nothing about it. Bat his imagina-
tion detected q burnt flavor in the pud-
ding. and before he could reHlonstrste
thaf dish followed the soup.
F,u get this house Ia some sort OF
order before 4 leave it, !" said Lana, en-
phaEcally.
- before NGzS AES1sx 70 4sy ss1As@ @-A-A 80 -
sharply. e DO you suppose you are
I,etter hcusekeeper t1an Essie Why, ]
have not 4 friend who does not envy me
the exquisite order of my house and my
dainty table. 2
Herbert, you surprise me. Only
Yesterday heard you say you did wish
fhere was eroy any thing fit to eat on the
table.
t.Ivas, Istarnffy. Y said Herbert, rather
s,,I5riIv. Bgat not an hour later, finding
Z strsssIx of luBt in the sitting room, he
decIared enphatically it Was not fit for
4 pig 10 live in.
Comm into it the next morning he
fonnd flls curtains torn down, the car
T,eta taken up, the floor Uttered with
rTasIa. soap, and brushes, and Lima In q