Evening journal., 1892-09-23
SISTER MARTHA.
BY AUGUSTA LARNED.


As It turned ont, not many people !
called on Mrs Whitcumb, aid no one
for the first day OF two except Miss
Forbes, a weedy womm, who wore a
deprecating set smile that looked as if it
had been painted on. Miss Forbes was
on the church social committee, and It
was part Of her duty to visit strangers.
Ann showed her intp the dining room
and opened the inside wooden shutters
Just a crack to let in a 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 q book
agent to the subduing gloom of the
place and called Mrs. Whitcunb down
stairs. 1t 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 q 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
Jet trimming on tho silk that had been
put on almost entirely with view to
social calls and the invitations to tea
she was to receive IN Littlofeld.
Il was therefore awkward Cor Mrs
Martha that she had arrived in town
at a slack timo for entertaining, when
the summer languors were hardly over
and the fall stimulus and energy had
not awakened. There arc 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 a kind of dreary wondering reigns,
and the brisk emulation Of "tea fights
and receptions Is not known. Mrs.
Martha mad lighted down on one Of these
waste and barren places. and IL looked,
after three or four days Of stagnation,
very much as if the new black silk with
its bead trimming and the red artihcials
would be wasted or the desert air. She
had gone 20 church on Sunday in all her
glory. and had been greeted with u few
mods and smiles from old acquaintance
but it was communion Sunday, and Mrs
Whitcumb did not commune, and there
was bat little opportunity for gossip an(
inquiries on the church steps after meet
ing.
To be sure. Mrs. Wood had called II
greeting across the road TO her. TIT
Woods were all rather noisy, out-of
door kind Of folk, and fulfilled most o
their social duties over gates and fences
The house was so near she could catcl
the drin Of conversation from the win
, dow. for the family all had shrill, hig
voices Il was cdifying TO hear Angi
Wood. though the country was sufferin
/ from long dry time. express the wis
l that the rain might hold of until afte
] Sunday to allow her 10 wear her ney
! dress TO church. But MrS Whitcurh
= Wa not even Ginused by the thought Q
the uppsr spheres obeyfng Miss Angie
: wish relative TO her now gown. Sh
he'd often put up the same petition {
y the weather god IN reference TO he
/, crops, ard the thought had never oC
CURED to her that 1t was IN the least VI
n reasonable.
= There was a tennis court at the side {
= the Wood mansion, and Mrs. Whitcum
y found a certain resource in watchin
the play. Minutes beau" came Owe
/. every afternoon except Sunday, and
= seemed as though tho Woods were hol,
ing public festival for the benefit {
= the neighborhood. Miss Mayhem d
not spend much time with her sister-ii
. law After family affairs had bee
2 talked over they did not seem to hay
- very much 70 say to each other, an
~ gradually the invalid faded out of o
- servation. At first it was one of h
- 'sbad spells" that confined her to h
. bed for two or three days, and then 81
- continued to take her meals in her Ov
as room, passing from tho bed TO the couc
!, Her chair by the sitting room windo
'. was empty, and the school childr'
=. missed her nod aud smile as they pass
-. By.
= The whole house was open TO Slst
" Martha, all but this shaded room, ~
-, whom she knocked there the door W
u sometimes locked and there was no l
- Spouse. Ann cooked her best dishes I
le the visitor, who. rather than take the
h- lone, ate with her In the neat kitche
he Mrs. Whitcumb did not mind eatii
ne with Ann She always shared
% meals with her own "help" at home, b
lo her visit on the whole was turning o
ne luguDrious Nobody had asked her
tea OF 10 spend the day; she look
Ou eagerly in the Littlefeld News TO see
her name had appeared among the
a. ." rivals. Yes; there il was at the head
A- the column Of town items, "Airs. Josi
Whitcumb, Of Bath, is spending a f
days at the old Mayhew homestead
Golf street"
Everybody in Littlefeld had read Il
announcement without its raising
A.. -. 1 ~