The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1883-04-14

| only one carflaSe-cOnIaluluS lne naie
members of Mr.. Cooper's family--accom-
panied the body to Greenwood Cemetery
where it was deposited in a vault.
ROMANCE OF HOUSE CLEANING.
She's coming to visit you - said Eric
Hale. with a slight grimace. THAT
simperng fine lady, with the useless
white hands. and the shallow little So
ciety laugh. Oh, Aunt Della, pack my
poltmanteau and let me be off on a lee
turing tour until Flora Lees visit comes
70 an eud"
Mrs. Dove looked a little disappointed.
To confess the truth, she had especially
arranged this visit with reference to her
nephew, Eric.
Hes fine young fellow" she had
said to herself, with true femme diplo-
macy, with an excellent parish and
fine prospects-and it's high time he was
settled in life with wife. And think
Flora Lee would suit him exactly"
And here was the young man himself
upsetting this charming little castle-in-
thc-air, without the least scruple of con-
science, like the modern iconoclast that
| he was.
well, Erie said Mrs. Dove, despair
| ingly, I'm write to her not to come.
| OF course, don't want to put you out,
! just when you're so busy, too, with that
course of lectures on the Book of Revela-
tion-but l really thought Flora would
make the 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 on that conference business. But
as visitor, should prefer little Polly
! Peppercorn's big wax doll with the silky
black hair and the staring black eyes,
that open and shut by machinery
So Mrs. Dove, choking back the tears
of disappointment Oor she had been nur-
sing this pet scheme in secret for a long
while sat down and wrote letter to
her friend, Miss Lee, postponing the pro-
posed sojourn at scarborough farm,
until roses should be in bloom, and
Strawberries begin to ripen.
"Adonijah," said she to the hired
man, take this letter to the postoffice. -
Yes sum- said Adonijah, and he put
/ - 80,
all about it.
| 1t was dismal rainy morning in April.
the yellow jonquil beaten to the ground,
the very wild violets shutting up their
eyes as il in unmitigated disgust at the
unEromsing state of the weather. Over
head, racks of gray clouds scudded
across the heavens, and the little sheet
| of silver lakelet under the hill was dot,
ted and dimpled all over with the falling
rain, as if pierced with thousand tiny
.iaveiins.
1T 5 no use trying said Mrs. Dove,
plantively, 1.-The tates themselves have
conspired against me"'
! va
whitewash stood steaming in the middle
of the parlor floor, and Mrs. Dove her.
self, with her gray curls tied up in yell
| low damask pocket handkerchief, which
her great uncle had brought from China
half century ago, sat crying on the
lower edge of stepladder. For Betsy,
tue help, had fallen down the cellar
stars and broken her leg, and Mrs. Null
roy, the charwoman, had sent a mes
sage that her eldest son had broken out
ovid de maizels, sure-speckled all over
like shower of red pepper, and sorra a
bit of clanin' could she undertake for
her until the wakes over
And these three days of all other, -
sighed Mrs. Dove, "when Eric had ex-
changed pulpits with Mr.. Washburne!
And he SO dislikes housekeeping
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 tim
brown travelling dress, with neat little
| hand bag, gossamer water proof cloak
and a silk umbrella.
why, Flora" cried she; "how came
You here?''
by the train, of course said Miss
Lee, " and | walked from the station"
Il wrote you not to come" said Mrs.
| Dove, in CONSERVATION.
But | never received any such let
ter said Miss Lee. "Shall l go again %
mo, you darling, you shall do moth
ing of the Sort said Mrs. Dove, enthu-
siastcally. 81. was only because-be-
cause we were house cleaning
q" I'm not afraid of house cleaning, "
said Flora Il see how it isl with a
comprehensive glance around the scene
of confusion, land I'm going to help you
with it,
Yes said Mrs. Dove.
"Yes! said Flora. "Why not? Just
lend me one of Betsey's old dresses
Where is Betsey, by the waya'
"Her father has just carried her home
in the wagon" said Mrs. Dove. She
broke her leg
And your charwoman
ooh, dear, oh, dear!' said Mrs. Dove.
"She has got visitation of the measles,
OF small pox, or some other horrid dis
ease in her family. And my nephew
Eric is to be gone for three days; and
am sure | could finish the house cleaning
while he was absent
And will" said Flora, cheerily.
How can we?'
''Oh, you shall see" nodded Miss
Lee.
And, depressed though she was, Mrs
Dove began to feel the mercul rise i'll
her mental thermometer at once.
And Flora Lee arrayed herself in one
of Betsey's cast-oif calicoes, tied hel
rippled brown tresses up in a cambria
sweeping cap. and went vigorously to
work with scrubbing brush; while Mrs.
Dove bent her attention to the window
glass, and Adonijah, with more zea