The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1892-11-26
THE IRISH sTANDARD. sATURDAY, NoVElBER %

for the first day or two except MISS
Forbes, a weedy woman, who wore a
deprecating set smile that looked as Il i
had been painted on. Miss Forbes was
on the church social committee, and 1t
was part Of her duty to visit strangers.
Ann showed her into the dining room
and opened the inside wooden shutters
Just crack to let in thin stream Of
daylight. Miss Forbes call was not
very exhilarating, and Mrs. Whitcumb
tacitly acquiesced in AIMS Judgment
that it was not worth while to open the
parlor for her. The formidable room
was not opened therefore until one day
when Ann by mistake showed in a book
agent to the subduing gloom Of the
place and called Mrs. Whitcumb down
stairs. It was rather painful incident
for the book agent, who was shown to
the door with scant ceremony.
In confidential chat with Ann, Mrs.
Whitcumb let fall hint of her surprise
that the neighbors seemed slow about
coming in. Ann opined, as she prepared
baked squash and scalloped tomato for
dinner, that they were getting their chill
dren ready for school. and putting up
fruit and vegetables for winter use.
Mrs Martha was FESTIVE. She had
brought new silk gown, that ratified
as she walked with the stiffness of sheet
tin, and her best bonnet had been
trimmed over for fall with high nod
ding red flowers in front. There was
let trimming on the silk that had been
put on almost entirely with view to
social calls and the invitations to tea
she was to receive in Littlaheld.
1t was therefore awkward for Mrs.
Martha that she had arrived in town
at slack time for entertaining, when
the summer languors were hardly over
and the fall stimulus and energy had
not awakened There are always periods
of social stagnation in village life. when
the neighbors do not care to see much OF
each other, or to entertain strangers.
Then kind of dreary wondering reigns,
and the brisk emulation of ''tea fights
and receptions is not known. Mrs.
Martha had lighted down on one Of these
waste and barren places, and it looked,
after three Or four days of stagnation,
very much as il the new black silk with
its bead trimming and the red artlicials
would be wasted on the desert air. She
had gone to church on Sunday in all her
glory, and had been greeted with few
mods and smiles from old acquaintance,
but it was communion Sunday, aud Mrs.
Whitcumb did not commune, and theie
was but little opportunity for gossip and
inquiries on the church steps after meet
ing.
To be sure. Mrs Wood had called IL
greeting across the road to her. The
Woods were all rather noisy, out-of-
door kind of folk, and fulfilled most OF
their social duties over gates and fences.
The house was so near she could catch
the drip of conversation from the win
dow, for the family all had shrill, high
voices 1t was edifying to hear Angie
Wood, though the country was suffering
from long dry time, express the wish
that the rain might hold off until after
Sunday to allow her to wear her new
dress to church But Mrs. Whitcu1nb
was not even amused by the thought Of
the upper spheres obeying Miss Angles
wish relative to her new gown. She
had often put up the same petition to
the weather god in reference to her
crops, and the thought had never &C.
Cured to her that it was in the least I'M
reasonable.
There was Il tennis court at the side of
the Wood mansion, and Mrs. Whitcumb
found d certain resource in watching
the play. '.Mintie's beau came over
every afternoon except Sunday, and it
seemed as though the Woods were hold
ing public festival. for the benefit of
the neighborhood. Miss Mayhem did
not spend much time with her sister-in-
law. After family affairs had been
talked over they did not seem to have
very much to say to each other, and
gradually the invalid faded out Of OBJ
servation at first it was one Of her
"bad spells that confined her to her
bed for two or three days, and then she
continued to take her meals in her own
room passing from the bed to the couch.
Her chair by the sitting room window
was empty, and the school children
missed her nod and smile as they passed
/ by.
The whole house. was open to Sister
Martha, all but this shaded room, and
when she knocked there the door was
sometimes locked and there was no re-
! sponse Ann cooked her best dishes for
the visitor, who, rather than take them
alone, ate with her, in the neat kitchen.
Mrs. Whitcunb did not mind eating
with Ann. She always shared hen
meals with her own help at home, but
! her visit on the whole was turning out
lugubrious. Nobody had asked her tc
tea or to spend the day; she looked
eagerly in the Little6eld News to see il
her name had appeared among the ar.
! rivals Yes; there it was at the head OF
the column of town items, "Mrs. Josiah
Whitcumb, of Bath, is spending few
days at the old Mayhem homestead on
Golf street.
Every body in Littlefeld had read that
announcement without it's raising a
ripple on the surface, for the Little
feldians, as a rule, took the village
paper solely to read the locals" contain
ing facts they all knew in advance; such