The Worthington advance., 1882-10-05
CLEANING HOUSE.

NLEA NlNU llVUOEs
lis she coming to visit you?" said Eric
Hale, with slight grimace. ''That sim.
perins fine lady, with the useless white
hands, and the shallow little society
laugh? Oh, Aunt Della, pack my port.
manteau, and let me be off on a lecturine
tour, until Flora Lees visit come to an
cnd!" ~ 49,
Mrs. Dove looked little disappointed.
TO confess the truth, she had especially
arranged this visit with reference to her
nephew, Eric.
'Hc's fine young fellow, she had
said to herself, with true feminine
diplomacy, with an excellent parish,
and fine prospects-and it's high time
he was settled in life witha wife. AMI
think Flora Lee would suit him ex-
actly."
And here was the young man himself
upsetting this charming little castle-in-
thc-air, withC ut tho least scrup,e of con.
science, like the modern iconoclast that
he was.
"Wcll, Eric, said Mrs. Dove, despair
ingly, "l'il write to her not to come. OF
course, l don't want to put you out, just
when you're SO busy, too, with that course
Of flccturcs on the Book Of revelation
but ! really thought Flora would make
tllc house lively"
''She's deal too artificial to suit me-"
said Eric Hale. "Ask her to come in
June, when shall be off to Omaha and
Nevada OH that conference business.
But ;ls for Il visitor, should prefer little
Polly Pcppcrcorn's big wax doll with
the silky black hal: and staring black
eyes, that open and shut by machinery"
So Mrs. Dove, checking back the tears
of disappointment Uor she had been
nursing this pet scheme in secret for u
lony whilc), sat down and wrote 4 letter
to her friend, Miss Lee, postponing the
proposed soiourn at Cedarboush farm
until roses should be in bloom, and straw
berries beginning to ripen.
"Adonii iiah," ," said she to the hired man.
s:t:,kc this letter to the post office"
."Ycs, 'un" said Adonijah, and he put
it in his pocket, and straightway forgot
all about it,
1t was (, dismal rainy morning in
April, the yellow jonQuils beaten to the
ground. the very wild violets shutting
up their eyes as If in unmitigated disgust
ut the Cnpromising state of the weather.
Overhead, racks of gray clouds scutlded
across the heavens, and the little sheet
Of silver lakc|ct under the hill was dot
ted and limpled all over with the fall
in" rain, rs ii pierced with a thousand
tlnv lavelins.
ats no use trying" said Mrs. Dove.
plaintivcly, the fates themselves have
consprcd against mc!'
The carpets were up, the pals ofwhitc-
wasl, stood stealnng in the middle of
the rarlor floor, and Mrs. Dove herself,
with her gray cur|s tied up in yellow
''all'lsk poe ket handkerchief, which her
great uncle had brought from China half
II century ago. sat crying on the lower
edge Of stcpladder- For Betsey, the
help, had fallen down the cellar stairs
and broken her leg, and Mrs Mulrony.
her eldest son had broken out ''wid de
lmi%les, sure-speckled all over like a
shower of red pepper, and sorra 4 bit of
cianin' could she undertake for until the
wakes over;'
And these three days of all Others"
sighed Mrs. Dove, "when Eric had ex-
changed pulpits with Mr.. Washburne!
And he SO dislikes house cleaning and"
Dear me, Mrs. Dove, what is the
,nattcr?'
Mrs. Dove started to her feet with a
little scream-for there exactly as if
she had been raincd down out of the
gray zenith stood Flora Lee herself, in
trim, brown travelling dress, with
neat little handbag, a gossamer water
proof cloak and a silk umbrella.
."Why, Floral" cried she; chow came
you here?"
:'By the train, of course" said Miss
Lee, "and walked from the station"
II wrote you not to come," said Mrs.
Dove in CONSERVATION.
But | never received any such let
ter" said Miss Lee. ''Shall go ayain?'
of the sort!" said Mrs. Dove enthusias.
ticaliy. 1T is only because-because
we were house clearinv.'
"I'm not afraid of housc-cleaning."
SAID Flora. II see how it is,"' with a
comprehensive glance around the scene
through with it,
"Youw said Mrs. Dove.
eyes, T." said Flora. "Why not?
Just lend inc one of Betscy's old dress.
cs: Where is Betscy, by the way?'
Her father has just carried her home
in the wagon" said Mrs. Dove. "She
broke her leg"
And your old woman?"
ION, dear! oh, dearr' said Mrs. Dove
''She has got visitation Of the measels,
or small -pox, or some other horrid dis
ease in her family And nv nephew,
Eric, is to be gone for three days: and
made sure 1 would finish the house
cleaning while he was absent"
lana We w'll,"' said Flora, cheerily.
"How t:an we?" r-..-
"Oh, you shall see!" nodded Miss Lee.
And depressed though she was, Mrs.
r. Dove began to feel the mercury rise in
her mental thermometer at once.
And Flora Lee arrayed herself in one
OF Hetsey's cast off calicoes, tied her rip-
pied brown tresses up in canbric
sweeping cap, and went vigorously to
work with a scrubbin. brush; while
Mrs; Dove bent her attention to the
window glass, and Adonijah, with more
zeal than discretion, splashed white
wash over himself and the floor with
laudablc impar,iality.
WALL" said Adonijal,, afterward, II
never did see no cricket work spryer
than that city young lady. BY gracious,
she beats Betsey all holler at it!
And she's got such an up-an'-down,
fiCaSy way ~ uOll LHHlSS, 100. U6.
clare, couldn't hardly take my eyes oil
her all the time was in whitewashin'!"
Mrs. Dove, however, was unused to
the severe exertions incident upon house
cleaning time, and went TO bed with the
sick headache, i'll the middle of the af-
ternoon.
Never mind, Mrs. Dove, said Flora;
I'll get tea. and III get some of those
cream WaflleS and a short cake for Mr..
pc, Dove, and you shall sec how nicely I can
Indeed, indeed, 1don't know what 1
shall do without Floral" said Mrs. Dove,
tcrvently,
But, as it happened, Daniel Dove was
UNEXPECTEDLY detained on business at
Whiskill, q neighboring town, and in
stead of him, who shonld walk debo.
nalrly into the little sitting room, fling
Ing down his carpet-ba2, but Eric Hale
himself, just as the rainy dusk closed in,
anu the delicious oysters and Mocha cof-
fee filed the house.
"tlello" said Eric. $50 you're clean.
ing house-eh, Betsey?" .;s laaas ! j
Yes sir" q demure voice responded