Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1883-09-07
HIS FOLKS.
From the Household.

summer wind brought the fragrance Of
new mown hay and the sweetness of the
mienonette which bordered the walks
ID the shady old fashioned gardens With
out. q s: ,|*#.@ +
at the windows, q network of morn
mg-glory vines, brilliant with their bios
SONS Of violet, pink and white, shut tout
the NOR ming sun which; although it was
30 early in the day, was unco mfortably.
warm. szf ~<;fI 4}$ a
| EVERYTHING was at its best save the
feelingsofthe pretty dark-haired woman
| who sat by the breakfast table looking
SO thoroughly miserable, that it would
| have, moved any spectator to mingled
pity and curiosity. She had been mar
ried but q year and had been very hap
Ply until lately. Che had, as she said,
fnotions Of her own" among which,
| one Of the most prominent was, that no
| house was ever yet large enough to &C.
vommodate q wife and her husbands
mother, and now, not only her hus-
! bands mother but a sister too was COM
ing to interfere Nth all her rules, and
| find fault with all her arrangements
She had never seen any OF her husbands
! people: at the time of her marriage; his
mother and sister were in California
with his elder brothers family on &C.
count Of the sisters health. Now that
she, was we'll agcin they longed for home,
and as Harry had the homestead what
were they to do but come there?
| Lefty stormed and resisted, but Harry
was firm. She did not deny that she
was cross and disagreeable. How could
| she be any thing else with such trial
in store? How could she be expected to
! like people who made trouble between
| Harry and herself even before they
came? What it would be afterward she
could not bear to think, but she knew
that cher good days were DONE" Why,
if they must come to the old home,
| couldn't she and Harry have a new one?
She had nearly had downright quarsel
with her husband on this point.
"Neither mother mgr Kate would ever
come into the house if it was to drive us
out, and it is their home too, as well as
ours. Wait till you see them, and don't
be 50 unreasonable
| She should see them soon enough!
Only this morning they had received
would STRIVE that afternoon, and Harry
was to meet them at the function"
some twenty miles distant, so she could
not see him again before they came, as
he would take an early dinner down
town in order to catch the train. It was
growing late in the morning. too, and
she had not yet washed her breakfast
dishes. She supposed she should be all
| the morning doing them by and by
! when she had so many to wash, not con-
! sidering how long she had sat at the
breakfast table commiserating herself.
| She had gone to the parlor bookcase
| and found the old photograph album,
and taken another look at the faded
! Harry had of his mothers while Kate's
photograph was Just horrid, though
! Harry did say it did not look the least
bit like her; but she got little consola-
ton from the survey. There was one
comfort though, she thought as she shut
the clasp with spiteful little snap and
| put the book down behind row of art
| Journals, they couldn't look much worse
than their pictures, with a little sigh, for
for she was an enthusiastic adn>irer Of
beauty. Their didn't look bit like her
handsome Harry, and he-feeling a 1T
tie hurt at her Indifference to his family
had said little about them, rather
cross to the sfEectionate, generous heart
| GA YpuNS Nldu w WEOul uOtLSI Autl
Kate We're almost superhuman.
Mrs. Bryant her nearest neighbor,
had sympathized with Lefty from the
beginning. "Nill brought his mother
to live with us when we were married,
and declare / should have dis d if her
| youn sest daughter had not married and
| wanted mother to live with her. l told
! Will all she wanted Of her was to do the
work. sfor Maria had always Taught
school and knew nothing Of housekeep-
ing, but pitied her husband! Wasn't I
abused though, inHthose three years?
Mother was strong, we'll woman, ard
yet she had every disease ever known
to humanity, and was always complain
| ing; never quite 10 happy as when she
had six or seven kinds of medicine
sleeping on the kitchen stove and scent
! ing the house all over. You can't stand
it Lefty, and wouldn't if | We're you.
| Mrs. Parker says You will never get
along with them and I should let Harry
know it in the beginning"
So it had gone from bad to worse,
Lefty listening 70 the history of the
| dreadful trials with "his folks" which
had been the experience Of her &C
! quaintances, and was dealt out to her by
| nnsparing tongues, and daily grew more
and more opposed to the double infic-
! tlOn which threatened her.
The day wore on, and although she
was anything but reconciled to existing
circumstances, still she was too good q
| housekeeper to allow any one to find her
house or table lacking in any particular.
and when at five o'clock she heard the
whistle Of the approaching train and
knew they would soon be here, she gave
hasty glance at the reflection Of the
pretty, dark face and soft muslin dress
which met her in the mirror, and passed
into the dining room to give some finish
| ing touches to the inviting table which
| looked as though it needed nothing.
Half an hour afterwards she stood in
| the hall to welcome the dreaded guests
Was this the invalid old maid who
rushed up the steps and caught her in
her arms before Harry had time to lift
mother down. This tall, handsome girl.
with Harry's fair hair and brown eyes
who looked no older than she. and who
gave her the demonstrative greeting OF
! a school girl. And then she was in
mothers arms, and one of the sweetest
voices she ever heard called her "daugh-
ter and she burst into a passion Of
tears, and Harry, man-like. went out
| and shut the door, mutteriug something
about "helping Tom with the trunks"
but with g. feeling of peace and happi-
ness he had not known for a long time.
!, When they were all collected little,
and were sitting around the little supper
table. Kate asked, "What did you think
we we're going to look like? I've laughed
till I cried, and mother has too, over
the photographs Harry has of us. We
would not send him any others