Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1881-08-30

"What Is It." is like civilized, cult
waited man. No; the original potato is
dirty, dingy tubcr. with its mother earti
clinging closely around it, and needs di
vers and sundry operations before it car
be presented to the artistic eye.
We had made out regular bill-of
fare, and on this bill figured the deliciou:
esculent aforesaid, twice a day. breakfast
and dinner. SO for fourteen times each
week Belle was in the habit Of disappear
ing in the nethermost regions with little
pan, which she filled with the ugly, dirty
things, and then subjected them to the
wearisome preparatory processes.
Now, a New England housekecper is a
labor institution SO, one day, |
took basket and disappeared. When
returned with it full, Belle looked u
aghast.
my goodness are you going to have
a regiment to dinner :" said she.
NO." Ircplied, this is for the week.
One journey for fourteen
Bellies eyes sparkled with new
thought Once plant the germ of fore
though, in woman's mind, and it will
blossom out in a thousand unexpected
ways.
But there is one thing in housekeeping,
bsfoTc which the most New England-like
faculty must stand abashed. There is
no laying tha, spectre" who is con,in.
ually asking for " clean dishes"
The gods on Olympus, it is said, toss
aside their goblets, and take fresh ones
every time, and so comes the inevitable
soap and water. But one can be helped
through the process, and so one day |
walked out to the shop Of kind of half
way Hoosier carpenter, and gave him di-
rections for making dish-drainer-a
thing he had never heard of. He brought
it to us the next day, and we found it
source of solid comfort but, alas !. | lost
my standing with the Hooser.
That evening, when he went home to
bacon and green's" for the third time
that day, he told his wife, who, with
kind consideration, managed to send it
along TO me, that:
"Thcm Yankee girls was powerful
cute, but he didn't think he should want
one for his wife. He'd ruther have one
of the 'ornary kind. For woman to be
telling a man how to make things, some
how seemed to him agin mater"
And yet this man had never heard of
Bushnell's Reform AgdiHst Nature, and
didn't even know there was such a ques-
ton as Woman's Rights.
One more experiment, anl that is all.
The rest were like unto them. Good
coffee is drink fit for the gods. believe
it is the original nectar; but poor coffee,
alas if the deities in that other place do
have anything to assauge their thirst, 1t
must be that. 1t is such punishment
TO drink it
Belle looked subdued at once as If she
expected little more chemistry, but |
spared her. Given good coffee, properly
roasted and ground, plus boiling water,
and subtle something which Sambo
called "de know how" and the result
must be-nectar. So it went on, and
before the expiration of six months | for
mally abdica,ed, and Belle took the reins
again, because she knew just how to man
age them.
And things go on in this smooth way,
and bread and coffee, and all the neces-
saries of family comfort come without any
slips or mishaps.
My dear friend, will be confidential.
There are "spots on the sun" there are
cratic wanderers among the stars, there
are clouds as we'll as sunshine, and this
little household was human.
There were days when these things
were very wrong indeed. When the
child.en were cross, and Belle was tired,
and well | had "nerves." believe
that is the nice way of saying it.
There were days when letters came
from my party of friends, enjoying the
summer trip. which filed me with hate
full discomfort. Hot days, when the spark
ling waves Of the St. Lawrence dashed
before my eyes; when the Thousand Isles
arose out of the mist of my vision like the
Isles of the Blest, days when the velvet
lawns, the exquisite flowers, the spread
ing beach and the festive throng of New
port, mocked me in the distance, and,
above all, the sunny SUBMITS Of the White
Mountains lifted themselves like dazzl-
ing mirage.
But those days were few. There is
nothing like sense of duty to curb the
wandering fancy.
Belle, like many another troubled young
housekeeper, needed only little instruc-
ton. and writes me that she has now a
happy and we'll ordered home.
As for me, it is certainly very deplor-
able and mournful thing for woman to
be called "cute but then, if one has
managed to help another by it, the odium
is more supportable.
have had my gay summer since, but
this still call "My Well-Spent Summer"
-Beecher's Christian Union.
A POSITIVE CHRISTIAN.