The morning call., 1892-05-15

The Two Grandmothers.
speetively Charles maternal aud paternal
grandmOthers. Kate had brought back
glowing accounts of the pleasant fortnight
she had spent among her new relatives.
with each If whom the young couple had
spent a day or two, and since then close
correspondence had been maintained be-
tween the two families, so that / really felt
quite we'll acquainted with them all, and
was prepared 10 adopt both the old ladies
. on sight.
They were lovely old ladies. and felt
quite proud of them the first evening l con-
lemplated them sitting before the fire in our
pleasant library, talking over The incidents
Of their respective journeys. 1t was early
IN October, and particularly warm, lovely
weather, even for that season. The hills
were brown ana bare and the roads into the
country dusty. but the city lawns were
green and bright and city gardens full OF
beautiful flowers. Cold winler had set in
very early that year in the East and Grand
mother Best felt as though she had come
into new summer and was full OF wonder
and admiration. Grandmother Bennett
had quite the air Of an old settler by virtue
of her three weeks residence 10 Summer
land, and took great pride in enlighteniDg
the more recent conner TegardlT the won
ders and delights of CALIFORNIA; climate.
though she could not resist the temptation
sigh and shake Of the head, that life here
was very mike that Of New England and
the people had much TO learn.
Grandmother Bennett as tall and rather
spare. with irongray hair parted smoothly in
the middle and waving like bands of satin
back from her temples, to disappear under
the ribboned edge of a dainty cap, Of which
she had an apparently endless variety. She
wore pretty, soft gowns, made rather
plainly, and most of them OF delicate,
clinging, gray material, and was fond of
white lace at her throat and wrists. Grand
mother Best was short and slight. Her
hair was snowy white. aud she wore it in
little fat curis on either side OF her hand
some face. She never hid it under cap
not she, and she was very dressy. indeed,
being fond OF soft silks, and thick, noiseless
satins. She had taught school in her
young days, before she married Charles
grandfather, and had ideas upon the sub
jet of education. Both had lovely New
England compiexions, that even old age
seemed TO have been unable to more than
soften and whiten both had piercing dark
eyes and Ugh aquiiine noses; each sat very
upright In her chair and spoke with crisp
infection, broadening the vowels, ignoring
the letter ~" where it should Tightlully DO
recognized, and sounding it very distinctly
where no such letter appeared, as after GER
tain voweis, and at the end of words end
ing in "a" and having more than one Syila-
bic, and both came, in a very short space Of
time. TO have unutterable opinions upon the
conditions Of life in California.
1T is becoming bad enough. even in New
England" | heard Grandmother Best con-
tide TO the other oil lady one day, as / sat
busily writing in the library. but out
here my. my, it seems as if everything was
going 10 ruin" A lugubriouS sigh was all
the reply Grandm other Bennett was able
10 make at the moment. just then, how
ever, Flaxen, Charles and Hates little
6-year-old daughter, passed the house on
Puss, MY pony, going at gentle canter,
and both the old ladies were excited in an
instant. Look at that chlldW Grand
mother Bennett exclaimed. shell get her
meek broken. IL is terriblei terrible! Rid
ing astride, too. The idea of letting girl
go around like that. she is becoming
regular tomboy When / was a child girls
were taught to sew aud make themselves
useful abont the house. Why, at her age /
had made an entire shirt for my hODored
father, and | used to stand upon a little
stool and dry dishes when | was only
little older. Mrs. Best, do believe that
holse Is running away with the child; just
look at the creature"
This alarmed even me, and ! sprang to
the window to see FlaXen coming up the
drive at slow amble, the pony coming TO
a stop before the door without word of
command. FlaXen was the only child Kate
and Charles had mad. She was very deli
cate, and the DOCTORS commands were to
keep her out Of doors as much as possible,
and we had regarded 1t as a special dsp0-
silion OF providence that | had succeeded
in finding a pony for MY own riding so
gentle and intelligent that there was really
no danger In the ehid's riding her around
the block, which was as far as she ever
went. | had often seen Flaxen strike the
animal blow that, had | been on tue
maTa's back and given her such one,
would have sent her flying along the road,
but with the baby as her rider the blow was
absolutely nnDoflced. She would never
travel faster than slow canter under those
circumstances. Since she had begun to ride
we were delighted TO notice FiaXen's daily
increase in strength and health All this |
explained very carefully to the Two grand
mothers. but fear my words were wasted,
and lett them, exclaiming to each other
ON the degeneracy of the aye.
A few DAYS later, as l lay resting on The
library lounge, L heard Grandmother Ben
nett say 10 her companion as they sat
soemAly knitting:
"Do you know, Mrs. Best, am afraid
Charles Isn't very forehanded." Grand
mother Best nodded sad assent. Il won
dered II you'd noticed" she said, and then
the first old lady continued, speaking in an
Undertone and with somewhat mortified
air. why, saw IA man bringing coal in bags
yesterday, actually in bags, aud there
couldn't have been more than ton in the
whole lot. Indeed, | don't think the bin
holds much more, and there isn't the ghost
of a cellar to this house"
" ] saw it" was the reply. 81 wouldn't
say word TO Charles for the world, but
I'm afraid Kate isn't good manager. A
man came with potatoes the other day and
she bought few pounds, just think of it,
buying potatoes by the pound and apples
the same way; and she buys butter in little
rolls. roll nearly every day l should think,
and everything to correspond. IL seems q
dreadfnlly shiftless way to live. and in such
lovely house, too"
Yes, yes" said Grandmother Best, Il
really feel almost afraid it's asking too
much of Charles for us to stay here all win
ter without paying board, and yet i don't
know what to do. and with such lovely
house as this is / really don't understand
it,"
1t was evident the old ladies were not
aware OF my presence on the lounge in the
curtained alc0ve, and / was little ar loss
TO know what TO do, not liking to discomfort
them by suddenly appearing before them,
SO tried hard To go TO sleep and not over
hear what they were saying. / think Il
must have caught little nap. during which
/ missed a good deal of the conversation,
but presently heard s'After all there's no
place like New England. bad as il is getting
to be. My mother was a perfect house
keeper. They taught girls to do things prop
erly in those days. Why, we would no moro
have thought OF living as people do now
when 1 first came here l thought L
should give up. Why, | went into the