Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1885-08-29
SELECTIONS.
A WONDERFUL CURE.
BY HELEN FOREST GRAVES

nabS tnaI Olack Inquire aSif
the whitesnow p asked Mrs. Get
chey, fitting on her far.sighted specs
as she sat at the window upon d
threatening Monday morning.
"That y said Aurilla Ann, "Why
that's Mr.. Dorking "a hanging ont
the clothesr'
"Mr. Dorkingw repeated Mrs
Getchey. aWhy, where's Marian y
Her daughter-inlaw, AurilIa Ann
indulging in short, snorting laugh
Cup stairs in bed, | calculate,'
said she.
"Sick ~ SAID Mrs. Getchey, in ac
cents of concern.
"No more'n | am 7" said Aurilla
Ann, shaking the table cloth out oil
the buttery window, SO that the long
legged Brahma fowls might have
the benefit of any stray crumbs thai
might be going. "Cranky, that's all.
She always was as odd as Dicks hat
band"
ssEh ?''
Mrs. Getchey, a Western woman
was evidently IMMERSED in local al
lusions.
"Don't you know 7" SAID Aurllla
Ann, with chuckle. "Dick's hat
band, that went half way around
and tied in the middle %
"Ohw said Mrs. Getchey. "But
Marian Dorking used to be as smart
stirring woman as ever | see."
"She's took a notion t'other way,
of late" said .Aurilla Ann. Il de-
clare, / never in all my life felt SO
sorry as l do for Daniel Dorking.
He's IL dreadful peaceable, good tenn
pered man, and Marian treats HIM
real mean. He does all the work of
the house himself, even to the wash
ing and Ironing, because Marian
chooses to fancy herself sick; and
jest wish you could see the poor
mans shirts. Besides, there's the
mill to see arter, and the farm work,
though of course that last ain't so
heavy this time o. year. But it's
too much for one man, let alone the
worry of it.r
Saint they able to hire no help ~
said Mrs. Getchey, who had fallen
back on her knitting work.
"Why, of course they be!n Aurilla
Ann made answer. :sBut Marian
won't have no help about the house,
'sThat's rather hard Oh Daniel,
amt it ~ said Mrs. Getchey.
!, "Well, Ishould think so," replied
her sons wife, piling fresh knots OF
wood under the wash boiler, pre-.
paratory to her Mondays work.
While the neighbor who, uncon-
sciously to himself, was the subject
of SO much solicitude among the sur.
rounding families, hung out his last
wet and tapping sheet, securing it
by battered clothes pin, and has.
tened, with blue nose and frozen
fingers, into the house.
"Mariar :" he spoke, up the stair
way. which wound around and
around like wooden corkscrew-
"Maria p
"Well, sighed mourntul voice.
s'Shan't | make We a little butter
ed toast.p
81 don't care for no buttered toast
returned the funeral strains.
''Or fry ye an egg9 Do try an egg,
Maria-with shaving o. bacon and
some coffee Ye must eat, Maria, OF
YEN break down. For my sake,
Maria, eat something"
Only sigh was the response.
"Bnt Daniel Dorking made the
coffee, and fried the little slice oil
bacon, with its accompanying eggs
speedily carrying the tray up stairs,
where he opened the door with a
gentle impetus with his foot.
Maria occupied the best room in
the house that was very evident.
A rag carpet. woven in maroon
and yellow stripes, covered the floor;
a cheerful wood fire blazed in the
chimney; the window was curtained
with Turkey red; and Mrs. Dorking
propped up on a pile of feather pill
lows, was surrounded with a cam.
phor bottle and a fan.