The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1885-08-13
OUT OF A FAMILY JAR.
BY EMILY F. WHEELER

hOld our tongues. but Wnen Cne next
time came, and she went into Mysteries
over Rob, and declared he cared moth
ing for her, and never had, we couldn't
help nodding acquiescence to a friend
ly neighbor who suggested that our
sister-in-]aw was extremely sensitive
and high-strung. Then it went back
to Lefty that we said she was a hys-
terical goose and absurdly jealous OF
poor Bob; and then she declared that
we had no more feeling for her than a
stone, and always had looked down
on her because she was poor girl,
and she should think a wife had some
rights, if she didn't bring her husband
afortune, as all the Graham girls would
to theirs, if they ever succeeded in get
ting any. And 50 there we were with the
prettiest family squabble possible on
our hands.
The worst of it was, it was such an
old one.
We should have learned wisdom by
experience; but though we knew Let
ty was a weak little thing, and all her
fondness for Rob taking the shape of
absurd jealousy even ofhis own family,
we could never get used toit. Shew
such a sweet little creature when he
married her, soft-eyed and lowvolced,
and meek as lamb, appealing to us
over everything, from the wedding cake
to the form of the ceremony. We
hadn't really minded it that she was
poor, for if the Grahams were rich now,
twenty years ago they were not, and
if Rob had been brought up like a
prince, as heir to the factories and the
stores and the rows of tenant-houses,
we, his three elder sisters, had known
something of the other side of the ta-
pestry in the hard times when father
laid the foundation OF that fortune.
and though we lived in a big house
now, and had our servants and our
carriage, and led society, in q way, in
the little town, Wenever meant to put
on airs. l think, indeed, we were bet
ter democrats than Lefty, for we new
er thought of these things, and she
never had them out Of her mind,
and was representative to any ref
erence to her former condition. We had
thought it such q pretty romance
when Rob married her, picking her
out of mill accident the first week
she went there to work, and falling in
love with her at sight, and taking no
end of trouble to get her widowed
mother into something nice and quiet
and profitable, SO that Lefty need
never 90 back to the mills. And
presently he installed Mrs. Dent as
queen-dowager of the home to which he
took Lefty, and that was the begin
ming OF the mischief. Mrs. Dent was
twice as suspicious as she, and never
let her shut her eyes to the family dis.
dain of Cophetua's choice. She was
small and slight and low-voiced, this
queen-dowager of ours, and so per
fectly womanly, as every one said,
though why there's anything un.
womanly in five feet six and avoirdu-
pois to correspond, as our Pamela
had, is more than I know. But
notice that little woman always lay
|
that superiority is in inverse ratio to
size
The special trouble was that when
Lefty got jealous she had Mysteries,
and after Dr. Grey limited that some.
thing was the matter with he1
heart, of course we were always
anxious. She was very delicate,
that was true, and when she was
herself she was as sweet and affec-
tionate as possible, and we all petted
and spoiled her. And then Rob would
walk home from choir meeting with the
soprano (nearly old enough to be his
mother), or sing duets with with May
Flemming land she engaged), or pick
up tired mill girl in his buggy, and
there was Lefty in tears, and the
house shut up, and the doctor sent
for, and Mrs. Dent on guard, and Rob
on his knees for sins he never dreamed
of, and we indignant, and sure, sooner
or later, to show it and be banished
from the sick-room. OF course, being
all she had, Mrs. Dent was very fond
OF her, but between her pride and Let.
tvs jealousy poor Rob had life OF
"There1l be no peace in the family
till Mrs. Dent Dies said Pamela, our
eldest.
"Or is married." added l. "There's
as much hope OF one as the other
She's fair and. forty-better chances
of life than you or l, PAM"
"Oh, she'd never marry" Pam de-
clared. "She would never leave Lefty
! If she would, there would be some hope
!! for Rob; and he's such a dear good
fellow, if they didn't expect impossi.
bilities; for, because she don't care 1o1
music, is he never to go to concerts,
or come over here for an evening Of
singing-he with the best tenor in Rock
dale? Oh, it's all very we'll to say it's
because she's ailing, and Pm sure
hope it will be better after the baby
comes; but I don't think it's nice
prospect for Rob-"
"They say the first year is always
the hardest" Annie said. otis just
excess of affection on her part, you
see. She loves him so much that she
can't bear his loving any one else-not
even us, his own sisters. When she
gets something else to love-
But if it was better for q rapturous
month after baby came, it was only q
truce. She was the lovliest young
mother in the world, and Rob adored
his Madonna, clasping his boy with al
ardor that satisfied even Mrs. Dent
But when S he was well again, over thu
baby's name, and the baby's medi
! cines, and the baby's: clothes and thu
baby's |; nurse, there were chances
enough of disagreement between thu
proud grandmother and the proude1
maiden aunts. Wewere homeopathic
and Mrs. bert insisted on an old
school allopath whenever the baby
sneezed; and we couldn't help Saying