Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1883-07-14


his books out to the stable loft, and live a
little as possible at home while DIR. Allis re
manned. He wished women would keep Il
their own sphere, and let mems work alone
BY the time the two sessions were over, tn
compositions inspected, all the schoo
"chores" done, and his face turned home
ward, he was sure that he detested un
womenly women, and of these sinners b,
reckoned female doctors chiefest.
AS he opened the kitchen door, Obadiah
Sarah stood revealed, huxom, red-armed
good natured, carefully straining aromati
broth into q china bowl. Twas her no
tion," she explained. 1T shouldn't neve
have teched the best set-no, nor made tn
soup neither-thout tellin'. / took her III
ne toast an ten, g you said, an she neye
looked at 'em. But she said she must TAX
suthin', an she made 1t herself. You neve
see sech happy little thing. My! I guess
the full soul could eat that mess. Honey
combs cloyin' alwuz. / never see the fore,
of that tex. An she's gave her some sor
o revivin' medicine t didn't have no taste OF
smell, s fur s 1 see, an she's setttn' NJ
already, an seq her headaches most gone
an never knowed her out o bed before in
less n two days, when t really took holt OF
her."
What meaning even so close translator
of difficult tongues as Mr.. Nathan Larkin
would have distilled from this speech
may not be known. For at this pause there
appeared in the opposite door the most salts
factory gloss imaginable. A fluffy head, al
blonde curls. puffs, frizzes, he knew MOI
what; pink cheeks; laughing brown eyes
shining teeth; cambria gown that might
have awed him, had it not been even more
picturesque than fashionable; trim slipperet
feet beneath its abbreviated crispness-be-
hold the key to Sarah's voluble obscurity!
Il am Allis Putnam, said the phantom OF
delight, coming forward, with frank HAND
outstretched, ''and l beg your pardon fol
coming unannounced. But We found the
late train did not connect. And mamma said
Aunt Lsrkin could not be taken at a disad-
vantage. Having come, my professional
nose shifted action at once. Sarah was the
best of assistants" a brilliant
smile on that staring neophyte, which
Nathan was inclined to consider waste of
riches-'and between us we have really sci
your mother on her feet again. Now I'm
going to administer my next remedy, and
then you may talk with her as long as she'll
listen. think we can persuade her out on
this lovely veranda." And the doctor dis
appeared with her savory broth.
! Don't she beat all?" inquired the busting
Sarah, intent on the impending supper.
"Pooty's that wild rose, an smartern light
min. faint strange the old doctors, that
jest look owlish an don't do no good, don't
want women inter the business. They'd steal
the trade in no time. There's sour cream
enough, an told her I'd make some tip TOP
flap jacks for supper. Don't you take an
extry step for me, Sarah, she says. I'm
goin: to feast on brown bread an milk while
l stay There amt nothin' better n sour
cream fapjacks, but she's so 'fraid o givin
trouble. That's what call real lady"
If Nathan guessed that the name of this
extolled delight was written on DR.. Allis' In
dex Expurgatorius, he nevertheless ate his
own share with due satisfaction, and equally
enjoyed the rich preserves, the fruity cake,
the crumbling tarts, and the delicate, strong
tea, set forth in the best china to honor the
visitor, who. much to Sarah's disappoint-
ment, elected brown bread and milk, after
ALL
How it was brought about neither Aunt
Larkin nor Nathan could have told, but Oba
diah's Sarah, whose Declaration of indie
pendence had always read that she
wouldn't live out for nobody" found her.
self permanently installed in that cool anG
spotless kitchen within three days of DR.
Allis' advent. Aunt Larkin having repeated
for thirty years that she didn't see the
sense of havin' a girl clutterin' round to picl
up AFTER" and her son being accustomed tc
accept as final whatever domestic views his
mother promulgated, received the new dis.
pensation with submission on the one part
and rejoicing on the other. The doctors
luggage appeared to consist in great part il
{ lin nd no inf
riches in little room, of the Half hom
Series" And when Nathan came home one
afternoon to find his mother comfortably
rocking in her large chair on the veranda
deep in the fortunes of the Greatest Heiress
in England, instead of stirring up pancakes
or making button holes, he said to himself
"Allis is a witch, bless her!" Yes, already
it had gone SO far that the unwomanly
doctor was "Allis" to him. And at tea this
studious young sage, who spent all his leis-
ure in gardening among classic roots, an
nounced that as tomorrow would be Satur-
day, he was sure they could not do better
than to drive over to Bethesda Springs, all
of them, and spend an idle day in that great
Vanity Fair.
But morrow it was Nathan's turn. His
head was chained to his pillow with shackles
of pain. 1t was seasickness, he said to him
self, without the palsy of the will. It was
fever, without the blessed intervals of I'M
It was the rack, the thumb
screw, the iron boot. If the faint STRINGS
of desire might be called hope, he hoped
his mother would not prescribe magnesia, OF
bring him the dreaded coup O. tea"
By-and-by came DR.. Allis, with noiseless
presence, cool hands, low voice, and potent
As the slow hours dragged
on, the headache yielded grudgingly, irreso-
lutely, with spasms of reasserting power.
Next day Nathan was free from pain, but
tired out and respondent. Sitting in the
cool dusk of the honeysuckles, he said,
I'D give third of my life. Allis, to buy of
these headaches from the rest of it. Some
times think they will shut me out from any
career whatever. Can't you cure them, lit
tie Galen?"
mo, Herr Professor. not while you invite
them, solicit them, compel them"
st, Allis2 I don't give them an inch of
vantage. rise early, go to bed early, don't
sven smoke, and fight them to the death
when they come"
Nathan, should like to talk to you TO,
your good. though you'll hate me for it.
You've half forgotten that I am a female
doctor, and as person, am less objection
able than You feared. 'Twere pity of my
life to disturb this state of amity. But at
heart I'm professional above all things, and
you see I can't advise your mother lest l
seem disrespectful."
:. Lay on, Macduff, dare say shan't
know when I'm hit. And if do feel the
Whit and wind of your fell sword won't
whimper."
Nathan, do you know that your mother
killed those six children whose little graves
she showed me to-day?"
"Allisp'
eyes; although she would have died for
my one of them. And but that you were
tougher fbered, as well as finer fbered, than
The rest, you would have completed the
hecatomb. Your grandmother, mamma
says, was exactly like your mother, all
faculty. energy and thrift. She would
clean two rooms in a day-paint windows
md all-churn, get the dinner for great
family of men folks. take care of her chill
1rer. and make pair of pantaloons before
bedtime. OF course she was 'worryin','
with all her nerves on the surface, and of
course she had to bequeath to her girls this
same overweight mental and physical con-
1ition. Aunt Larkin, with less muscular
strength than her mother, has emulated her
and, half starved herself, has
Il l. Al