Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1886-05-28
4 BORN COOK.

Il BOifN COOK.
1t was an unattrsctive looking place, tha
third.story back room in the s.cond-rat,
boarding house, yet that minute it looked
positively pleasant to it's occupant. Elizabeth
Dale. II she could have left it of her owl
free will, nothing would have given her NOR,
pleasure now that she was obliged to leav,
it, she was almost sorry-a fact quite in &C
cordance with the inherent contrariness oi
all things. She had just had an interview
with her landlsdy and that person had in
formed her that she, Miss Dale, was two
weeks in arrears for board and that il must
be paid. Mrs. Brown-that was the landa
dy's name-regretted exceedingly 10 press the
matter, but 10 justice to herself aud her dear
poor, fatherless children she could not dc
otherwise. Rem we're advancing, provis.
ions were going up, there was the water tai
and the gas bills and the coal bills, and Mis-,
Dale could understand that these could moi
be paid without money.
MrP. Brown was not the loud-voiced. az
gressive, ungrammaiioal landlady. She spoke
in such soft low tones that one was almost
fain to believe in what she called her excel
lent coffee, and she offered her discouraged
looking griddle cakes with such a smile and
such irreproachable English as almost recon
ciled one 10 their indigestibilty. She made
her remaks TO Miss Dale in dulcet tones, but
that young womAn's educated ear detected
the hardness underneath voice and smile.
She heard it in the emphatic though light
step that had just died away on the stairs.
Then she sat down to think it all over She
had told Mrs Brown that she would think
about it, and there was no choice about
keeping her word.
II there was one thing that Elizlbet Dale
understood perfectly it was that bills could
not be paid without money. The neatly.
made-out bill that Mrs. Brown had left in her
hand was a silent but truthful witness to that
fact
Hers was the common story unframed to
work, by a succession of misfortunes il had
suddenly become necessary for her to do 80.
just what the misfOrtunes we're does not mat
ter. Trouble Is inhnite in its resources and
does not need to repeat itself
After Mrs. Brown had gone, Elizabeth
picked up the morning paper. She read
this
WANTED, ina family where one servant is kept, q
housekeeEer; one who understands cooking and the
superintending Of a household. Address or call up
on ADAM BAILEY, AllandAle
She read it over carefully she turned the
paper and looked at the time table she look.
ed IN her purse-the result seemed TO be sat
isfactory, for she proceeded to put few arti.
her belongings into her one large trunk.
Then with a calmness born Of her despera-
tion, she walked down and told Mrs. Brown
that she was going to Allsndale, that she
probably should not be back for several days
that she would leave her trunk until she
could send the amount due for board.
Once on the train she realized the reckless.
ness OF what she was doing. She owned to
herself that beyond making good cup of
coffee, frying oysters and making sponge
cake, she knew little about cooking, but she
looked hopefully and trustfully at the thick,
practical looking book which she had stop
ped on her way to the train to buy. She
even employed the 80 minutes reading recipes
aud rules for the making of pies, doughnuts
and various every day edibles, aud came to
the conclusion that it was not beyond her
power to master their mysteries. When the
consciousness was borne in upon her mind
that her last fifty cents had gone for her tick.
ct the impossibility Of failure was revealed
to her The truth is, Elizabeth Dale" she
said to herself, your destiny is manifest :;
there's nothing left to you if this fails"
Allandale was pretty village; pretty in
the spring, that trying season when donning
piece by piece its garments Of green; beau
tiful in the summer robed from head to foot
in gay attire with rose and violet on brow
huu bltasN kOTBtOub III US huluuu kONu OI
flame and russell and gold, with its wells of
purple mist, and it's golden rod and aster in
the place of rose and violet.
1t was easy to find where Adam Bailey
lived 1t was one of the oldest and hand
soonest of the many old, handsome places in
the village. When Elizabeth walked up the
long path 10 the door she thought that
her feet had walked no path so pleasant for
many day, and she resolved that she would
please Adam Bailey's palate or perish in the
attempt
No one answered her ring she rang vigor-
ously again and again. The one servant men
toned in the advertisement, hanging on the
back gate gossiping with the neighbor help,
paid no attention to it. So Elizabeth gently
opened the door and stood moment wonder
ing what to do next when from an inner
room she heard hoarse Come in.
1t took a moment for her eyes TO accommo-
date themselves to the dim light of the room
entered. When she could see, she discovered
an old man, gray and bent in an invalid's
chair. She let in a food of light that daz-
zled his eyes as much as the darkness baffied
hers. In q moment he said, "Who in the
world are you, and what have you been bang
ing away at my door so long for?"
I'm the housekeeper you advertised for,
and I've been banging at your door because
L wanted 10 get IN.
"Housekeeper | suppose you can make
sponge cake, and presume you can arrange
bouquets in a room and drape curtains and
dust pictures what want is some one who
can teach an idiot of girl how to make
bread that's it TO eat, or, if need be, can
makeit herself. lwant some one who can cook
a beefsteak and make a pie that won't make
man a burden to himself In short, young
woman, l want some one with sense-good
hard senJe. Have you got it2'
"Mr. Bailey" said Elizabeth, II assure
you upon my honor that l have that most
important article, and more than that, have
it about me-"
"Well then, take of your bonnet, aud go
on with your business. Find the girl she's
gone shopping presume, or is giving par
~, perhaps Get the run of things yourself ;
I'm sick-laid up with this oonfounded lame
leg"
Il don't wonder you're sick"
"You don'tq"
mo; any man would be sick-any man
Onght to be sick who shuts himself up in a
dark, close room this bright June morning. "
young woman, I've engaged a ahousekeep-
er, not preacher nor physician"
"a housekeeper's duty, as understand it, "
replied Elizabeth, ''is to make house clean and
wholesome and pleasant, and this is certainly
the most disorderly, untdy, unattraetiye
looking place I've seen in a long time"
"You are plain spoken person"
81 have the vice of candor and the virtue
of perseverance"
'If you have the ability TO get me lunch
that will not throw me into convulsions, you
may do it,"
Then Elizabeth went into the kitchen and
proceeded to make the acquaintance Of the
haxen haired Scandinavian maiden who was
the mistress of that domain. By some mag,
10 she made conquest Of that same some
what dull but faithful damsel, and when g
half hour later she with her own hands car
ried in tempting lunch Of crisp brown toast
fragrant cup Of tea and a dish of dewy
Strawberries, and saw the crotchety Adam
devour the same, she felt that victory perohed
upon her banner
The tea and toast proved her stAunch allies
they aided her to persuade the invalid thai
his room needed general setting to rights
and before he was fully aware of what wal
going on, II had been swept and busted, light