Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1885-06-23
Gales aud Sketfhes.
[Harper's Bazaar. ]
OUT OF 4 FAMIYT JAR.
By EMILY F. WHEELER.

at Lettv's. we would hold our tongues
But when the next time came, and sh
, went into mysteries over Rob, and declares
he cared nothing for her. and never had
we couldn't help noddirg aequiescence 3
! a friendly neignbor who suggested tina
, our siser.in-lag WAS extremely sensitive
D and uigh-strung, Then it went back 4
r L4tty that we said she va, a hystfrica
goose ard absurdly jealous If poor Rob
1 and then she declared that we bad no NOR
. feeling Tor her than stone. and AWAY
:. had looked down on her because she wa
! a poor gill. and sine should think a WIT
: had some rights, if she didn't bring h.
husband fortune AS all the Graham girl
J would do theirs, if they ever succeed Il II
getting any. And SO there We were Will
|. he pretiiest family squabble possible OF
our hands. :,
The worst Of it was. it was such an old
one. We should have learned wisdom
by experience but though We knew Lefty
was a weak little thing. and all her fond
ness Tor Rob taking shape Of absu d jeal
ousy even or his own family. we could
never get used to il. She was such a
sweet little creature when he married her,
sott-eyed and low-voiced. and meek as a
lamb, appealing to US over everything.
from the wedding cake to the form of The
Iceremony. We hadn't really minded il
that she was poor. for if the Grahams
were-rich now, % wears 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 some
thing of the other side of the tapestry II
the hard times when father laid the foun-
daton of that fortune. And though we
lived in big house now, and had our
servants and our carriages, and led socie-
ty, in way, in the little town, we never
meant TO put on airs. think, indeed. we
were better democrats than Lefty, for We
never thought Of these things, and she
never had Them out Of her mind. and wa>
supersensitive to any reference to her
former condition We had thought it
such "A pretty romance when Rob married
her; picking her out ola mill accident the
| first week she went there to work. and
falling in love with her at sight. and TAX
ing 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 in
stalled Mrs. Dent AS queen dowager OF
the home tn which he took Lefty. and
that was the beginning of the mischief.
Mrs. Dent was twice as suspicious as she.
and never let her shut her eyes to the
family disdarn of Cophelua's choice
She was small and slight and low
voiced, this queen-d wager of ours.
and so perfectly womanlv, as every
one said though why there was any
thing unwomanly in five feet SIX, and
avuIrduDois TO correspond. as our Pamela
had. is more than know. But notice
that little women always lay the flaitering
JUNCTION to their souls that superiority is III
inverse ratio to size.
| The special trouble was that when Let
tv got jealous she had Mysteries, and after
| DR. Grey limited that something was the
matter with her heart, of course we we've
always anxious. She was very delicate
| that vas true. and when she was herself
she was as sweet and atfectionate as pos
sible. and we all petted and spoiled her.
| And then Rob would walk home from The
choir meeting with the soprano (nearlv
old enough to be his mother) or sing du-
cts with May Flemming (and she en-
gaged), 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 sacred
sick room. OF conrse, being all she had,
Mrs. Dent was very fond of her. but be-
tween her pride and Letty's jealousy poor
Rob had q life of it.
"There'll be no peace in the family till
Mrs Dent dies" sale Pamela, our eldest,
"Or Is married." added I. There's as
much hope of one as the other. She's
tair and forty-better chances of life than
you or |, Pam"
"Oh. she'd never marry" Pam declar-
ed. "SLe would never leave Lefty. II
she would. there would be some hope for
Rob; and he's such dear good fellow, il
they didn't expect impossibiities for. be-
cause she don't care for music, is he never
to 60 to concerts, or come over here for
an evening of singing-he. with the best
tenor in Rockdalep Oh. it's all very well
to say its because she's ailing. and Fm
sure hope it will be better after the baby
comes but don't think it's nice pros.
pect tor Rob-"
They say the first year is always the
hardest" Annie said. ats just excess OF
affection on her part, you see. She loves
him so much that she can't bear his loving
anyone else-not even us, his own sisters
When she gets something else to love-
But if it was better for a rapturou,
month after baby came. it was only s
truce. She was the loveliest young moth
err in the world. and Rob adored his Ma
donna. clasping his boy with an ardor tha
satisfied even Mrs. Dent. But when she
was we'll again, over the baby's name
and the baby s medicines. and the baby
nurse and the oaby's clothes, there were
chances enough OF disagreement between
The proud grandmother and the proudel
maiden aunts. We were homeopathic
and Mrs. Dent insisted on an old schoo
allopath whenever the baby sneezed
and we couldn't help saying one dav, see
ing the shelf of medicines he was accumu
lating, that twas a mercy he had the
Graham constitution. We wanted hin
named for his grandfather. good Scrip,
ural name that had ALWAYS been in The
family but he had to be Harold. straight
out OF novel Lefty had read. And wher
we called him Pet and Blossom and Prince
ling, halt TO avoid that destable name. hall
because he was so sweet. Lefty declared
that we despised Ter and her baby, and h.
wasn't worthy, she supposed. to be tn,
heir of the Grahams unless he was callec
I ...tx q