Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1881-03-05
KITTH'S MENDINE.
BY LYDIA +. HINMAE.
Deacon Stanley was by no means

said, an economically savin'" man.
he was in good church standing, devout
and sincere. He had good wife and
dutiful daughter to make him pleasant
home; was considered well-to-do,"
though farmer, and the comforts of
the house were not forgotten in this de-
sire to DO economical. Nevertheless
this one "savin'" bump caused Mrs.,
Stanley and Kittie great deal of trou.
bic. He would persist in wearing his
clothes until they were SO patched you
could hardly tell the patch from the or
iginal garment. Mrs. Stanley had hand
dali the mending over to Kittie as her
work, and Kittie did so hate mending;
and, together with her pride and her
chagrin that her father would persist in
wearing such clothes, her troubles were
great.
"Why, he wears meaner clothes than
any poor on the town." she exaggerated,
"and he was Just cheating the rag
picker" and he would only laugh.
Mrs. Stanley, too, was a trife ashamed
that her good husband should so persist
in making patchwork of his garments,
but the kind soul had given up the argu-
ment long ago.. The church parscn had
been talked to about the deacon's pecul-
arity, bnt, as the deacon was Christian
in every other respect. gave to the
church and her missions, helped the
poor and did not neglect his family,
this one sin-f sin 1t could I've called
was considered but q minor one, and so
the deacon escaped censure. He
often heard remarks, though, both be-
hind his back and to his face, to which
he would respond laughingly, turning
the remarks into Jokes, and none Of
them ever made the slightest ripple of
anger upon his ocean of good nature.
The parsonage of L. was being re-
paired, and the young minister was
boarding at the Stanleys' during this
process, and preparing for the convention
which was to be held in their society the
next week.
Suddenly he tool, great interest in
the family sitting room, and found it
pleasanter. l am ashamed to say, read
ing and talking toKittie and her mother
afternoons than writing sermons for the
people of l. to sleep under, or even
seeking out the unrrly sheep of the
fock, who had loaped the sectarian
fence. And Kittie-well, perhaps she,
too, took more interest in the afternoon
talk than the Sunday sermon. Mrs.
Stanley, from her placid face, one might
read that she was well satisfied with
both.
One afternoon, Mr.. Stanley came in
fox some clover-seed, which Mrs. s., in
her careful way, had put in dry place,
and she directed him up to the garret.
After few moments search he de-
scended with the clover-seed, and left it
in the kitchen, while he proceeded into
the sitting-room with, hanging over his
arm, three pairs of old dilapidated pants
he had accidentally stumbled upon
| where Kittie had hidden them one
one pair of striped, one of checked and
another plain.
Kittie, he said, laying the cobwebs
anu garments tenderly down upon the
stuffed chairs, "now, this ere is some
Of your work, putting them away and
not half worn out. You never will he
the economical wife your mother is, my
child. These could he mended into one
pair, and, as may want them to wear,
you had better set about fixing 'em up
as soon as mother can spare you" And
out he stalked as innocent Of any i'm
propriety as the meekest lamb
Kittie's eyes flashed and dropped as
she saw her father appear with the
hated garments, and asuspicious trem-
ble gathered at the corners Of her mouth
and bushes leaped to her cheeks, but rs
he departed out Of hearing she glanced
at her mother and mirthfulness predom-
mated over anger, and she burst into a
hearty laugh, which was joined in by
Mrs. Stanley and the minister, who was
fully acquainted with the deacon's fail
ing. A
That afternoon Kittie wore q serious,
nreoccupied air, which had changed the
next morning to aughter at most unac-
countable times and secret tttsrs which
quite astonished her mother, and as at
the first leisure moment Kittie was dis
appearing with the offending garments.
Mrs. Stanley asked:
"How are you going to fix them, Kit
rie?"
| And Kittie answered, giving them a
spiteful shake:
I'll fix 'em, never mind"
And the minister. finding Kittie not