Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-07-02
APPRECIATION.


seven years." said Pauline Worthington,
looking up from an open letter in her
hand with a frowning brow.
els not your letter from Herbert,
LinaPn questioned Mrs. Worthington, a
silvery-haired old lady with a gentle ex-
preston.
Yes, 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 as three o'clock.
Mother" and Miss PauGne's eyes
snapped, al think tits about time Bert's
tyranny over that little martyr was end
ed. He's killing her"
"Lina! he is your brother"
81 can see his faults if he is"
al never heard Essie complain"
"She never would. But look at her.
Nine years ago, when she was married,
she was a lively 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
is 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, and"
" Has Louie changed SOP 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
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 hap
piness, since her marriage, even if the
gayety of girlhood was gone.
Henry appreciates Louie" said
Lima. ''There lies the difference be-
tween her happiness and Essie's deiec-
ton. If 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, Essie is not as good
housekeeper as Louie. Herbert may
have good cause to find fault"
"Once in ten times he may. l 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, Lina!"
"Because Louie and thought it best
not to worry you with q trouble beyond
your help. But firmly believing, as 1
do ROW, that Herbert is actually worry
ing his wife into the grave, l intend to
give him lesson, that is if you can
spare me to CO."
You must go, dear. Ishall get along
nicely"
So when Herbert Worthington sent
his carriage, Lima was quite ready for
the fourteen-mile drive to her brothers
house 1t was house wherein an evil
spirit of repining for fault-finding should
not have found an abode. Spacious,
handsomely furnished, with well-trained
servants, and all the comforts wealth
could furnish, it seemed perfect para
disc on earth to visitors. But q 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 Of the eter-
nal home. There was 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. Worthington, and took control
of Herbert, the older children and the
household, fully determined to show
her brother how far he had 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
absurdities. Herbert entered the din
ing-room, his handsome face disfgured
by frown.
"Soup," said Herbert, lifting the
tureen cover; "perfect dish-waterl"
"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 ruefuly at the vanishing
dish. He was especially fond of soup,
and the savory fumes of the delicious
dish were tantalizing. Essie would have
had some gentle excuse-never whipped
off his dinner in that way. All dinner
time Lima kept up ding-dong at Susan
about that abominable soup, till Her
bert wished he had said nothing about
it. But his imagination had detected a
burnt flavor in the pudding, and before
he could remOnstrate that dish had fol-
lowed the soup.
"I1l get this house in some sort OF
order before leave it," said Lima, en-
yhatically.
"Before you leave it," said Herbert,
sharply. "Do you suppose you are a
better hOusekeeper than EssieP 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
yesterday heard you say you did wish
there was ever any thing fitto eat on the
table"
"One don't expect every word to be
taken literally" said Herbert, rather
sulkily. But an hour later, finding q
streak of dust in the sitting-room, he de.
clared, emphatically, " it was not fit fol
pig to live in"
Coming into it the next morning he
found the curtains torn down, the car
pets taken up, the floor Uttered with
pals, soap and brushes, and Lima in q
dismal dress, her hair tied up in towel,
directing two women scrubbing vigor-
Ously.
"Good gracious, what are you do
ingP''
'' Cleaning this room"
"Why, Essie had the whole house
olaanad till H. ahona In tha fall and