Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-10-27
WASHING DAY.

Washing Ia u
"Oh, dear me! what shall we do?" said
Mary Lennox. cts just exactly alike those
working people, to 60 and fall i'll just when
we need them most And every napkin in
the wash, and not enough table linen to last
two weeks. You must be a very poor man.
ager, grandma, not to have more of such
thingsr
Old Mrs Lennox sighed as she rubbed the
"My DEAR" said she, 81 should have had
more if 1 could have afforded them. But
times are hard, and"
Eyes, I've heard all that before sad Mary,
irreverently. 'sBut the question is, grandma,
what shall we do about the washing, now that
Katrina cannot come"
Mrs. Lennox heaved another sigh. She
was old and rheumatic, and the great piled-np
basket of clothes seemed terrific bugbear
before her eyes.
"rm sure don't know" said she. But if
YOU urls will help little about the dinner,
will try and see what can do. 1t must be
got out, suppose, and"
But here slight, dark-eyed girl, with a
clear, olive complexion, and wayy black hair
growing low on her foreheand, turned from
the table, where she was rinsing china
"You will do nothing OF the kind, grandma
said she, as resolutely as if she had been sew
enty instead of seventeen. "You attempt a
Gays washing, at your age!"
'sBut my dear, said grandma Lennox, feebly,
''who will do it?''
II will" said the dark-eyed lassie.
George, Pm surprised at you!" said Mary,
"why you never did such q thing in your life!'
That's no reason never shonld."
"But, Georgie-if any one should see you'll"
I'VE don't generally .eceive company in the
Kitchen said George Lennox. "And il any
one should come in"
HWeI19 p,
"1f they like my occupation, shall be very
much pleased; if they don't, they are quite at
liberty to look the other way!,,
And Mi Lennox tied a prodigious crash
apron around her, rolled up her sleeves, and
resolutely took her stand in front of the wash
bench.
ut seems too bad, my dear, with those little
white hands of yours" said old Mrs. Lennox,
irresolutely.
ooh, my hands!" laughed George. "What
are they good for, if not to make themselves
useful?"
Mary drew herself disdainfully up.
SWELL" said she, II never yet stopped to
such degradation as thatP'
TT would be great deal worse degradation
to stand by and let my rheumatic old grand
mother do the Washing" observed George,
with philosophy, as she plunged her hands
into the snowy mass of suds.
Old Mrs. Lennox had been left with pic
turesque farmhouse on the edge of Sidonia
Lake and nothing else. And so old Mrs Lennox
bethought herself to exc her slender means
by the reception of summer boarders. And
in September, when her two granddaughter
had obtained their fourtnight's leave Of alb.
sence from the type-setting establishment. in
Troy, where they earned their daily
bread. they came home for breath Of
nox with her boarders. For there was no girl
Kept At the farm house and no outside assist
ance called in, except as German Katrina
came once a week to was and scrub.
"It's drudgcry," sighed Mary, who was tall
and slender, with fair complexion, doll-bue
eyes, and a Broynic dissatisfaction with her
lot in life.
''It's funp' said George, who had no such
exalted aspirations, and liked to make Gus
tards, wash china, and decorate the tea-table
with flowers.
"YouIl hang out these clothes for me,
Mary, won't you% said George, as she flung
the last red bordered towel on the top of the
clothes basket, while l wash the pillow
cases?"
"Indeed I shall not" said her sister. "With
the Miss Pooleys playing croquet in plain
sight? Never"
"Then I must do it myself" said Georgia,
with a little shrug of the shoulders. ssAnd'-
But just as she spoke there came tap at
the kitchen oor.
"Comc ~" cried George, valiantly, while
her sister, with burning cheeks, endeavored
to hide herself and her OCCUPATION of peeling
onions behind the big roller,towel.
Aud Mr.. Raymond Abbott "walked in" &C.
cordingly.
Il beg your pardon, Miss Georgia." said he,
rather blandlY. II didn't know I should dis.
turo you.''
"Oh, you're not disturbing me at all, u
said Georgia, serenely, resting one dimpie
dotted, rosy elbow on the washboard, and
looking at him like practicalized copy OF
one of Guido's angels, out of a cluud of soapy
steam.
But" he went on, 81 was going to ask one
of the servants for basket to bring fish home
inn
81 will get it for you with pleasure" said
Georgia.
And as she turned to the dresser, her siste,
answered the puzzled expression of Mr.. Alb
bott's face.
You are surprised to see George doing
that:" said she, with q gesture toward the
plebeian tub. Sand don't wonder. But its
only Tor frolie-a wager. Girls will do such
things, you knowp'
But George had heard the last words, and
turned around with crimsoned cheeks and
sparkling eyes.
ut is not frolic," said she. "And it's moi
9 wager. It's serious, sober earnest. am
doing the washing because Katrina hat
sprained her ankle. and there's no one else
but grandmamma to do it.
"Indeed!" said Mr.. Abbott. "And can't
help you?"
"Yes," George promptly made answer
you can carry that basket of clothes out tc
the bleaching ground for me.p
"(4eOrrialO exclaimed her sister IA Mr.