The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-08-23
Yutslligeueer.
LEARNING Her VALUE,


"Just what have been expecting for
about seven years." said Miss Pauline
Worthington, looking from an open let
ter in her hand with frowning brow.
els not your letter from Herbert,
Lina?" questioned Mrs. Worthington, a
tiny, silver-haired old lady with gentle
expression. -,
'sYes, mother Essie is very i'll with
low, nervous fever, and they want me to
come and stay until she is better The
carriage will be sent at three o'clock,
mother" and Miss Pauline's eyes snapp-
ed. s'I. think it is about time Berts
tyranny over that little martyr was end
ed. Hes killing her"
'Lina! He is your brother"
"I can see his faults if he.is."
81 never heard Essie complain"
'She never would. But look at her.
Nine years ago, when she was married,
she was a lirelyssnnbearn, so bright and
pretty. Now, pale, quiet and reserved,
her voice is seldom heard, her smile sell
dom seen. A wintry shadow of her for
,mer summer brightness! Now she has
broken down. 4. You have seen her at
home, but surely when she is here you
see the change"
eyes, dear, she has changed; but fam
lily cares
elias Louie changed SO? 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 forffteen 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
sport of girlhood was gone: .
"Henry appreciates Louie, said Lima |;
'tasthere lies the difference between her
happiness and ESTES detection. If
there is any domestic trouble Henry and
Louie share it, while Herbert shifts it all
on Essie. He is an habitual fault
finder" s 5 K; tcT
.Perhaps, dear, Essie is not as good a
houseEeeper as Louie. Herbert may
have cause to find fault"
"Once in ten times he may. l never
saw fanltless house or housekeeper; !;
but Essie and her house are the nearest
approach to perfection | ever did see."
"You never spoke so before, Lima"
"Becanse Louie and / thought it best
not to worry you with trouble beyond
your help. But firmly believing, as do
now, that Herbert is actually worrying
his wife into the grave, | intend to give
him lesson; chat is, if you can spare
me to go?"
"You must go, dear. L can get along
nicely"
So when Herbert Worthington sent
his carriage, Lima was quite ready for the
fourteen miles drive to her brothers.
house.. It was a house wherein no evil,
spirit of repining and fault-fnding should
have found an abode. Spacious, hand
somely furnished, with well trained SER
wants, and all the comforts wealth could
furnish, it seemed perfect paradise to
visitors. But 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 hov.
ering very near the portal.o the eternal
home. There was Q babe, too, six
months old, and its wants filled 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 authority for saying that the
patients very life depended upon quiet.
But when convalescence commenced,
Lima sent Essie and the baby to visit old
Mrs. Worthingtcn, and took control of
Herbert, the older children, and the
household, fully determined to show her
brother how far he carried his absurd
habit of fault finding.
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 disfgured by q
frown.
"Soup," said Herbert, lifting the tu-
reen cover; "perfeet dish water"
''Susan," said Lima sharply, before
Herbert could lift the ladle, "take that
tureen to the kitchen and tell Jane the
soup is not fit to eat"
Susan promptly obeyed. Herbert
looked rather ruefully at the vanishing
dish. He was especially fond of soup,
and the savory fumes of the delicious
dish we're tantalizing. Essie would have
had some gentle excuse for it-she never
whipped off in that way. AL dinner
tine Lima kept up ding-dong at Susan
about that ahominable soup, till Herbert
heartily wished he had said nothing
about it. But his imagination had de-
tected burnt favor in the pudding, and
before he could demonstrate, that dish
had followed the soup.
"I'll get this house in some sort of
order before I leave it," said Lima en-
phatica1ly.
"Before you leave it," said Herbert,
sharply. "Do you suppose you are bet.
ter house-keeper than Essie? Why, /
have not friend who does not envy me
the exquisite order of my house and my
dainty table,"
"Herbert, you surprise me. Only yes
.terday I heard you say you did wish
there was ever anything fit to eat on the
table"
zone don't expect every word to be
taken literally" said Herbert rather
sulkily. But an hour later, finding a
streak of dust in the sitting room, he de-
clared emphatically cit was not fit for a
pig to live in"
Coming into it the next morning, he
found the curtains torn down, the carpets
taken up, the floor Uttered with pals,
soap, and brushes, and Lima in q dismal
dress, her hair tied up in towel, direct
ing two women, scrubbing vigorously.
aGood gracious, what are you doing".
Cleaning this room."
"Why, Essie had the whole house
cleaned until it. shone, in the fall, and
didn't make half the muss," he added,
contemptuously.
"Well," said Lima, slowly, 81 thoug ht
this room marvel of neatness myself,
but when you said it was not fit for the