St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-05-10
MISCELLANY.
seINTERVENTIONS.n

| anu tdhCH up LhC puuuiuS LOU sOOH
had now with some clatter and stun
bling, cleared the room and arranged
it for the evening. The children, who
had not minded her failures, and were
merry and talkative because there was
guest who smiled upon them, haC
been coaxed and commanded away tt
bed.
At last little Mrs. Worden was free
to sit down by her friend for conf
Dental talk, and her husband was free
to withdraw from his newspaper, moi
to the library, but to the other side Of
the table. Mrs. Worden had her work
basket in her hand, but she put il
aside as she looked into her friends
face-the heart was in her eyes.
ooh, Margaret, l am so glad to see
you ~ she said. at was so selfish Of
me to ask yon to come now, but new
er wanted to see you SO before"
| "And | never was so glad to come"
..Do you mean it? l used to take
such pleasure in making your vacation
pleasant, but everything is so different
now. Everything is gone that you
used to enjoy; the nice, large room
that kept for you, and the pictures
and the carriage and even the piano."
"But, dear Helen, L didn't come to
visit you for those"
"NO, but loved to think you enjoy
ed them. Now | have brought you to
this little, stuffy house, with the chill
dren all over it. You can hear their
noise from morning till night! There
is no Elsie to keep them in the nurs-
cry, or to take them off for an airing.
They'll torment the life out of YOU"
"No," said Margaret, "my life will
never go that way"
"But everything is so different. You
saw Bridget. 1t is so different keep
ing house with her from what it used
to be with the three nice maids had.
Indeed, | do my bed, Margaret, but
you saw how it was at dinner. We
gave up all our real silver. John
would, you know; and we kept only a
partly broken set of China. The table
doesn't look as it used to-"
"Never mind, dear, indeed, L don't
think of that"
"No," said Mrs. Worden, mournfully
''But [ can't even give you much OF
myself, this time. l have to be busy
every minute till the children are in
bed. ought to be sewing now. We
can't have any nice talks over books
and questions, yOa know. l hardly
know such things exist. My mind is
full of nothing but homework and
children. I've given up the literary
club and the charity union, and | can
not make calls. Those nice people
you used to like to meet | seldom see
now. I've just dropped out of their
way. l can't give any such nice re-
captions for you as we had last year."
81 don't want it; you know l don't"
"When | sent for you last week l
was feeling as though L could not face
New Years without you. When l
think of the change one little year has
brought it seems like nightmare. Ev-
erything pleasant went at once. 1t
was hardest to lose our country house.
We both loved it; it was so sweet and
airy out there, and we had such lovely
neighbors. When l look forward to
spending the.whole summer in the city
with the children it seems awful"
"And has it proved so bad as you
feared2"
"Well, no; I've really been so busy
| hardly know how the days passed.
And we have been remarkably we'll,
and John has been so thoughtful for
me and the children. Poor John !!
think what year this has been for
him {? He was so used to the sense of
having fortune to fall back upon.
And now | know it fairly frightens
him sometimes to think there is only
his slender salary between us and
want"
"There is more than that ;" said
Margaret. "There's Gods large, kind
providence"
eyes," said Helen, humbly, al know
but forget sometimes"
~ want to tell you something" said
Margaret. ~ mourn over your losses,
dear Helen, but since Pve been here [
haven't been realizing them as you
might think. I've been so happy over
the gains"
"What gains ?"
"Oh, my dear, you have got rid of
the interventions ~
"What do you mean by the inter
ventions ?"
"Let me try to help you, Helen. l
was a hypOcrite often in the days
when you were rich, and | visited you.
pretended to be happy and l did en-
JOY great deal that knew you want
ed me to enjoy. But all the while
there were such uneasy fears in my
hearti Sometimes | thought l would
tell you of them; then | blamed my
self for a worrying, silly old maid, and
was ashamed of them"
"But what was it all about, Marga-
ret?"
"About the interventions the in
terventions between you and your
first of all. The big house
with the big rooms seemed to be one
of them. The nursery was so far from
your sitting room. How could you
know the children as you do now that
they are thrown right about you here
And Elsie was another. She marshal
ed them to airings and meals and bed |
so irreproachably there seemed hardly
a chance for them to get at you. And |
she was jealous when the baby cried |
for dear, ill mamma don't you re-
Mabel fidgeted under rule,
and wanted to play on the verandah |
near you instead of walking out with |
the baby carriage. And when Maui
rice had those terrible outbreaks of
temper and none of you knew what to
do with him-forgive me, Helen-it
seemed to me sometimes just protest
Of his nature against uncongenial COM
Would not you or I be
cross, perhaps, if we had to spend six
Dr. eight solid hours of the day with
people who did not satisfy our hearts
md minds at all And your children
nave natures like your own, sensitive
% society, and minds like yours, bright
Ind demanding"
"Oh, Margaret Why did you not
speak of this 7"
81 could not. 1t seemed meddle-
ome. | was not even sure I was
light. But all that is gone now, and