Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1889-02-01
HIS SONS WIFE

HIS SONS WIFE.
''I'm afraid she's a poor, feeble cree
tur' :" said old Mr. BayHlT, shaking hi
head "Ten o'clock Monday morning
and the washing amt out yet. 1t aim
the way your mother used to keep house
Hector. Eh2 howe Where ye goin
nowl"
Hector Bayliff had left the ox-yoke he
was mending, and crossed the green
door-yard with a rapid step, to take The
heaped-up clothes-basl<et from the hands
Of pretty, slender young woman who
had just emerged from the kitchcn-door.
The old man uttered an audible snort
of disgust
"Well, I neverl" said he. "If Hec-
tor hain't left his work to wait ON that
wife O his'nl It amt a mans work h
carry clothes out, no way you can fix it.
If you do it once, you'll be expected to
do it twice. And Hector's wife is clean
spoiled already. 1t amt the way man
aged matters when l was first married
to Hector's mother. What ye been
doinl" sharply, as the young man re-
turned to his work.
"That basket was too heavy for Gym
thia to carry" said Hector, curtly. II
wish could afford to keep a girl for
her."
"A girl!n Mr. Bayliff's voice betrayed
mingled astonishnent ana contempts'
"A grill Your mofher-p
Yes, | know, father interrupted
Hector. "But things have changed
since then, and perhaps mother would
have been alive now if the housework
hadn't worn her out before her time
''That's downright flying in the face
Of Providencel" said Mr.. BaylifF, rcd
dening to the roots of his stiff, iron gray
hair. 'It was the Lords will that
your mother should be took away, and
there amt no sort O. doubt but that
she's better off. And Cynthia won't
never stand in her shoes, no way you can
look at it,"
Hector Bayliff made no reply, but
took up his ox-yoke and went across the
fields with it.
''Father may say what he pleases,
said he to himself, ''but mother died of
oyerwork and undercare, and nothing
else. And the household duties are too
heavy for Cynthia, and 1 must see what
can be done to Tighten them. No
woman shall be drudged to death under
this roof now.
Cynthia Hough had been a pretty
young factory girl when Hector Bayliff
had married her. She had been ig-
norant of all the details of housekeeping.
but she had cxerted herself diligently to
learn.
Old Mr. Baylif, however, was an
exacting critic, and the Bayliff farm
house was big, rambling, inconvenient
place, where one might work hard all
day and have very little to show for it
at the end. And the tired look in her
eyes, and the weary flush on her cheek,
went to Hector's heart at times.
"My darling said he, ~ wish /
could make things easier for you.
"oh, they are easy enough, said Gym
thia, brightly. "It's only that am too
stupid to manage as l ought"
Hector shook his head. He knew that
something was lacking, but he did not
quite comprehend what.
But she dropped SO that he saw some
radical change was necessary.
"Cynthia, " said he, ''this won't do.
You must go to stay with your mother
week or two, and rest and recruit"
''But what will you do, Hector2"
Gwen keep bachelors hall, father
and I, " said the young man, cheerily.
"What does it signify to US, little in
convenience, so long as you are bene-
fitedl"
So, rather unwillingly, Cynthia went.
Old Silas Bayliff shook his head forebod-
ingly.
IF this is the way you're goin' to
baby that wife of your'n, Hector,n said
he, 'you'll hev her playin' sick the
whole time. I don't hold to lettin'
women think themselves too important.
Now we shall be obleeged to hey Mary
Jenkins here to do the chores an cook,
and it'll cost us a dollar and a half a,
week at the very least. 'Tain't what I
call economical housekeepin'."
"That depends upon what one calls
economy said Hector, quietly.
But when his neighbor, Luzon Per-
kins, drove past that afternoon, with his
wife, Hector called them in, secretly re-
ioicing that old Silas was down in the
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