The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1882-12-21
'HOuSecleaning Romance

LIES SHE coming to visit your
said Erie Hale, with a Sigh
~ grimace, that simperin
50 fine lady, with the useles
white hands, and the shallow littl,
society laugh2 On, Aunt Della
pack my portmanteau, and let ne b
off on a lecturing tour, until Flor
Lees visit comes to an end -
4 Mrs. Dove looked little disau
| pointed. To confess the truth sh
had especially arranged this visi
with reference to her nephew, Eric
| HES a fine young fellow sh
had said to herself, with true femi
nine diplomacy, with an exceilen
parish, and fine prospects-and it,
high time he was settled in lfe will
a wife. And l think Flora lie,
would suit him exactly"
And here was the young mar
himself upsetting this charming
| little castle in the air, without the
least scruple of conscience, like the
modern iconoclast that he was.
''Well, Eric" said Mrs. Dove
despairingly. "I'll write to her not
to come. OF course l don't want tC
put you out, just when you're SC
busy, too, with that course OF
lectures ON the book of Revelations
But L really thought Flora would
make the house lively"
"She's a deal too lively to suit
me- said Eric Hale. "Ask her to
come in June, when | shall be off to
Omaha and Nevada on that confer
ence busines-. But as for visitor,
should prefer littly Polly Pepper
corn s big wax doll with the silky
black hair and staring black eyes,
that open and shut by machinery" p"
So Mrs. Dove, choking back the
tears of disappointment, for she had
been nursing this pet scheme in Sc
cret for long while, sat down and
wrote 4 letter to her friend, Miss
Lee, postponing the proposed so
journ at Cedarbough farm until
roses should be in bloom and straw
berries beginning to ripen.
"Adonijah, said she to the hired
man, take this letter to the post
office"
YES, 'um," said Adonijah, and
he put it in his pocket, and straight
way forgot all about it.
1t was a dismal rainy morning in
April, the yellow jonquils beaten to
the ground, the very wild violets
shutting up their eyes as if in un-
mitigated disgust at the unpromis
ing state of the weather. Overhead
racks of cold gray clouds scudded
across the heavens, and the little
sheet of silver lakelet under the hill
was dotted ard dimpled all over
with the falling rain, as if pierced
with thousand tiny javelins.
Its no use trying" said Mrs.
Dove, plaintively, 1.-The fates them
selves have conspired against men'
The carpets were up, the pals of
whitewash stood steaming in the
of the parlor floor, and Mrs.
Dove, herself, with her gray curIs
tied up in a yellow damask pocket
handkerchief, which her great uncle
had brought from China half a
century ago, sat crying on the lower
edge of a step-ladder. For Betsy,
the help, had fallen down the cellar
stairs and broken her leg, and Mrs.
Mulrony the charwoman, had sent
a message that her eldest son
had broken out "wid de maizles,
spro SnorI- Iod oil ovar lilo n G cbouar.
Of red pepper, and sorra bit of
clanin' could she undertake until
the wake unz over
And these three days of all
Others" sighed Mrs. Dove, when
Eric had exchanged pulpits with
Mr.. Washburne! And he so dislikes
house-cleaning; and"
Dear me, Mrs. Dove, what is the
matter?"
Mrs. Dove started to her feet with
a little scream-for there, exactly
as if she had been rained down out
Of the gray zenith stood Flora Lee
herself, in n trim brown travelling
dress, with a neat little hand bag, a
gOssamer water proof cloak and
silk umbrella.
"Why, Flora" cried she, show
came you here?''
"By the train, of course" said
Miss Lee, "and L walked from the
station"
Il wrote you not to come" said
Mrs. Dove, in CONSERVATION.
'But 1 never received any such
letter." said Miss Lee. "Shall | go
again?'
"No, you darling, you shall do
of the sort!' said Mrs.
Dove, enthusiastically. cit was
only because-because we were
house cleaning"
''Pm not afraid of house clean
ing" said Flora. Il see how it is,
with a comprehensive glance around
the scene of confusion, land I'm
going to help you through with it?''
Your said Mrs. Dove.
Eyes, Ir'::said Flora. "Why not?
Just lend me one of Betsey's old
dresses. Where is Betsey, by the
way?'
Her father has just carried her
home in the wagon" said Mrs.
Dove. ''She broke her leg
And your charwomsn?'
"Oh, dear! oh, dear!' said Mrs.
Dove. "She has got visitation of
the measles. or smallpox, or some
other horrid disease in her family.
And my nephew, Eric, is to be gone
for three days; and l made sure
could finish the house cleaning while
he was absent"
'And we will" said Flora,
cheerily.
''How can'wer'
"Oh, you shall see:' nodded Miss
Lee.
And, depressed though she was,
Mrs. Dove began to feel the mercury
rise in her mental thermometer at
once
And Flora Lee arrayed herself in
one Of ie sy's cast-oG calicoes. tied
her rippled brown tresses up ina
cambria sweeping-cap, and went
vigorously to work with a scrub
bing brush, while Mrs. Dove ben,