Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-07-22
Gales ano Sketfbts.
NJ WELL SPENT SUMNER.
BY KATE PEYTOy.
fContinued from resterdar. )

CONTINUED from yesterday
So here was one great trouble disposed
OF. Like many other troubles in life. it
needed only to be grappled with. and it
disappeared.
But how. in the meantime, did it fare
with the order Of the house?
Disorder Is chronic trouble some
times needs a sharp alternative to break
it up.
Tuesday afternoon saw something in
think little. The result was a note.
thus -
DEAR HAIRY VIII you come down
to the house as soon as you can con-
veniently, In great haste. KITTY"
Down came Harry at a pace like the
lope Of California horse. Breathless he
rushed in.
..Is Belle sick -
NO" replied; but come into the
parlor moment"
Now that he was here, confess was a
little afraid Of the result. Men have so
much amour propre, and do so hate to be
made ridiculous, that felt as il / had
drawn the elephant in a rattle and didn't
know what to do with il.
Harry said J, severely. ''you re-
member our contract, and the duty Of pa
rents 10 set good example ?''
could see a glimmer OF suspicion in
his face. Then ! made a desperate
plunge.
Look over on the sofa. ! only sent for
you to hang up your overcoat."
Pause, awful to me, while Harry vi
brated between anger and Iserriment.
Finally, good fellow that he was. he sat
back in his chair and laughed heartily.
kitty, I'll pay you for this, if | live.
The idea Of getting a man home from his
office TO hang up his overcoat What will
you bet that you don't catch me again ~
Bet You are demoraliZing? have
lived in New York. and seen jerome Park
have been in Saratoga, and heard about
the races, but have never made bet
However. just to make up with YOU,
Harry. III bet the price Of that new china
set which Bell looked at so longingly the
other day.
Very WELL" said Harry; but you see
il she gets it,"
After this it was a source OF much silent
amusement to Belle and myself to see
Harry every morning. sauniering care
lessly around the room, as ii he had no
object whatever; but slyly looking out of
the corners Of his eyes TO see if anything
OF his was astrsy. and then bouncing upon
the offending article. like the eagle upon
his prey. lost my bet
And now descended we. at one fell
swoop. from aesthetics to-potatoes.
Perhaps you know very little about
these except in their daintiness You
may have driven from your hotel this
summer and returned with n cornucopia
ofpotatoes a In Saratoga, and entertained
kind of dim fancy, if you have thought
about it at all. that they grow in some
such mysterious way. but the original
article is no more like these crisp, brown
brittle bits of righteousness than the oriSi-
nal What Is It" is like civilized, cult
waited man. No; the original potato is a
dirty. ugly tuber with its mother earth
clnging closely around it, and needs di-
vers and sundry operations before it can
be presented to the artistic eye.
We had made out regular bill of fare,
and on this bill figured the delicious es-
culent aforesaid twice day. breakfast
and dinner SO for fourteen times week
Belle was in the habit of disappearing in
the nethermost regions with little pan,
which she filled with the ugly, dirty
things. and then subjected to the weari
some preparatory processes.
Now, New England housekeeper is a
labor. saving institution; so, one day, |
took a basket and disappeared. When |
returned with it full. Belle looked up
aghast.
My goodness are you going to have
regiment to dinnerp'
NO" replied. This is for the week.
One journey for fourteen
Bellies ewes sparhled with new
thought. Once plant the germ of fore
thought in woman's mind. and it will
blossom out in thousand unexpected
ways.
But there is one thing in housekeeping.
before which the most New England-like
faculty must stand abashed. There is no
"laying that spectre" who is continually
asking for "clean dishes"
The gods on Olympus, it is said. toss
aside their goblcts and take fresh ones every
time. but poor mortals cannot do that and
so comes the inevitable soap and water.
But one can be helped through the pro-
cess. and SO one day walked out to the
shop of n kind of halfway Hoosier car
pentcr, and gave him directions tor max
ing n dish-drainer. a thing he had never
heard of He brought il to us the next
day. ana we tounu III q source OF Sollu
comfort; but alas. lost my standing with
the Hoosier.
That evening. when he went home to
''bacon and greens" for the third time that
dav. he told his wife. who. with kind con-
sideration, managed 10 send it along to
me. that
Them Yankee girls was powerful cute.
but he didn't think he should want one for
wife. He'd ruther have one of the or
nary kind. For woman to be telling a
man how to make things. somehow seemed
to him agin natter"
And yet this man had never heard OF
Bushnell's Reform against Nature. and
didn't even know there was such ques-
ton rs Woman's Rights.
One more experiment. and 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,
il the deities in that other place do have
anything 20 assuage their thirst it must be
that. 1t is such a punishment to drink it,
Belle looked subdued at once as il she
expected little more chemistry. but |
spared her. Given good coffee. properly
roasted and ground. plus boiling water.
and n subtle something which Sambo call
ed "de know how" and the result must
he-necfar So this week we will have