Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1884-02-08
AUNT BETHIA.
tB.ll,C Gre Nc in The Continent. 7

sat lmuu" the crowd, II little bewildered.
lui sufficiently alert, listening to the glib
chatter of tho critics as they discussed
Tie merits ni = me Il 600 landscape.
The samc being. aS she declared to the
friend acc' mranying her. only u picter
ui what ANYBODY can see for notlIin' up
to Cranrv Iiollcr." where she lives.
Why SAID she regarding the great work
of art with one eve severely shut up,
lcst go 10 onr back door of a summer
m"n,nr and stand and look. and there
you aye IT, for all the world!
The same smooth. green medders,
with tnc pretty brooks windin' through
c'n. and on both sides. to the right and
left. the pastur lands where the cattle
are fed 20 peaceful and contented; then,
wa oil III the distance, them sollem-
lunhn mountains. with the shadders
crccpin' round EN-, or restin on their
tops. and all the time the sun shines
bright and pleasant down below in the
valley.
Il do declare, could Almost believe
the man stood in our back door when he
painted that picter
II Is n han some view and no mis-
take: hut don't it seem pity to spend
money Jest for n picter. when You
could huv a small farm-a live pic
ter ~ it were. for II ,m0."
She sees much in our city to disap-
prove Most Of the so-called modern
improvements are denominations to
| Aunt Bethia
The electric light finds no favor in
her ewes.
"iIow must our Maker look on't?"
she asks. Indignantly.
1T wouldn't h. 80 bal if they only
used I as they d. gas. or kerosene lie;
but when they come to light up all ont
doors with it, and make it take the
place of the heavenly bodies that's
what call impious, Nothin' more nor
less than irwin to outdo the Creator
when the moon and stars don't
shine. let folks walk in the dark, or else
carry lantern." says she, whimsically.
The telephone she regards as an in
fernal machine, and insists that there is
something supernatural about it.
She has never been prevailed upon to
use il once.
II won't have anything to do with it
in any way nor shape." says she. "Jest
as il any human invention could do
what that thing does!"
She always keeps safe distance from
it, as if it were liable to "go Off at any
moment to play some diabolical trick
NJ on her.
She does not approve the Quincy
Method" in our schools. and much pre-
fers to have the children learn their
lessons from their books and recite
them standing in nice. straight line,
with their toes to crack in the
floor. She would like more prominence
given to order and to the ten COM
mandmcnts; and she sadly misses the
dinner baskets and the water pail and
tin dipper.
She does not Ike the new version of
the scriptures; Eer mothers bible is
good enough for her; and she takes no
interest in the great controversy. except
to mourn that there should be such
disorderly goings on in the world.
She went to the opera of Patience"
and her womanly soul was shocked be-
yond repair at the conduct of the love-
sick maidens; she felt personally
Inundated and disgraced, and sat there
with burning cheeks, not daring to go,
and too indignant to stay and see it
through.
Words were thrown away on her.
"All the words in the English language"
she declared to us, couldn't excuse or
explain away such shameful
exhibition - such immodest behavior
on the part of them young girls.
| tIs, chA
"whcrc in the world were their
mothers? Poor things, though" she
added. ~ an afterthought, perhaps
they hadn't any mothers; can't believe
they had"
Fsthcticism and tho Renaissance, as
she understands them, are only delu-
sions of the adversary, invented to ruin
weak and idle souls who loiter in the
by-paths Of life, and she believes the
only salvation for such is to 60 to work.
Let 'em do something practical"
she will sav. ''lf they re so mann
fond o sunhowers let 'em go to raisin'
'em by the cart-load! They re excel
lent chicken fodder. as everybody
knows did see q whole acre on 'em
once all GROWN together; they was in
|
with their big round faces turned
toward the sun. Oscar Wilde says,
yon know. that they resemble lion;
and they do look about as wise and
KNOWN.
There's nothin' like work for keep
in girls out O mischief" she is fond of
saving.
"Whcn our girls leave school let 'em
take right hold and help their mothers
with the housework and the plain SEWN
and takin' care of the baby, and then
they won't be hankerin' to paint old
pots and jars or to embroider sage
green curtains and table-cloths.
Though why that color is sage-green l
cant imagine; it certainly amt the color
Of any sage that ever grew in my gar
den; and it's unaccountable to me that
so many folks nowadays prefer such
dirty. fadeI out colors that You can't
look Mt without fcelin' sick and faint,
when there's plenty of pretty bright
ones that will wash and bile, as it
were"
Aunt Bethia is a born nurse, and as
such il recommended by the "Holler"
folks with as much enthusiasm as their
own favorite spring bitters or co"gh
remedy.
She is indeed excellent in a case O.
sickness" and she comes at such times
like vcritable angel of mercy, bring
ing with her her soft voice and gentle,
soothing ways, not forgetting the noise
less slippers and the white apron.
Aunt Bethia is, l suppose. an old
maid: hut there is no bitter blight OF
disappointment II on her life.
She has never loved, and her unwon
heart is sill fresh with the dew of
youth Though her lovely hair is just
hcg ming To he threaded with gray, she
know = not the feeling of growing old,
neither do the passing years bring any
definite sense Of want to her peaceful,
sunny nature, except, perhaps, some
times dreamy feeling of incomplete
ness. like the faintest shadow only of
pain.
Her city nieces 1 I'll her often. with