The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-05-15

The Two Grandmothers.
spectively Charles maternal aud paternal
grandm0thers. Kate had brought back
glowing accounts of the pleasant fortnight
she had spent among her new relatives.
with each II whom the young couple had
spent day or two, and since then close
correspondence had been maintained be-
tween the two families, so that ! really felt
quite well 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 | con-
templated them sitting before the fire in our
pleasant library, talking over the incidents
Of their respective journeys 1t was early
IA October, and paIticnlarly 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 winter had set in
very early that year in the East, and Grand
kmOtheT Best felt as though she had come
9tO new summer and was fnll Of wonder
nd admiration. Grandmother Bennett
al quite the air of an old settler. by virtue
I her three weeks residence In Summer
md, and took great pride in enlightening
ne more recent conner regardiI the Won
ers and delights of CALIFORNIA; climate.
hough she could not resist the temptation
a let her listener know, by an occasional
Isgh and q shake Of the head, that life here
was very unlike that of New England and
the people had much to learn.
Grandmother Bennett as tall and rather
spare, with ir0Dgray hair parted smoothly IN
the middle and waving like bands Of satin
back from her temples, to disappear under
the rbboned edge of dainty cap of which
she had an apparently endless variety. She
wore pretty, soft gowns. made rather
plainly, and most of them of a 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 a 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
feet of education. Both had lovely New
England compilations, that even old age
seemed to have been unable to more than
soften and whiten; both had piercing dark
eyes. and high aqniiine noses; each sat very
upright IN her chair and spoke with crisp
infection, broadening the vowels, ignoring
the letter ~ where it should rightluily DO
recognized, and sounding ii very distinctly
where no such letter appeared, as after GER
tain vowes, and at the end OF words end
ing in "a" and having more than one sylla-
Die, kDu OOtn Cdtbt, III a very SAi0i space Ol
time. to have unuttefable opinions upon the
conditions Of life in California.
1T is becoming bad enough, even in New
England" | heard Grandmother Best con-
fide 10 the other oil lady one day, as l sat
busily writing in the library. But out
here, my. my, it seems as il everything was
going 20 ruin" A lugubTi0us sigh was all
the reply grandmother Bennett was able
to make at the moment. just then, how
ever. Flaxen, Charles ami Hates little
6-year-old daughter, passed the house on
Puss, my pony, going at gentle caDter,
and both the old ladies were excited in an
instant. Look at that childI Grand
mother Bennett exclaimed. She'll get her
neck broken. It is terriblei terrible! Rid
ing astride too. The idea of letting girl
90 around like that. she is becoming
regular tOmboy. When l was child girls
were taught to sew and make themselves
useful about the house. Why, at her age l
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
hose 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 a slow amble, the pony coming 10
stop before the door without word OF
command. FIaXen was the only child Kate
and Charles had had. She was very deli
keep her out Of doors as much as possible,
and we had regarded II as a special disp0-
silioD OF providence that | had succeeded
in bnding a pony for my own riding so
gentle and intelligent that there was really
no danger in the child's riding her around
the block, which was as far as she ever
went. / had often seen Flaxen strike the
animal a blow that, had | been Oh tue
mares 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 nnnoticed. She would never
travel faster than slow canter under those
circumstances. Since she had begun to ride
we were delighted to notice Flaxen'5 daily
increase in strength aud health. All this |
explained very carefully to the Two grand
mothers, but fear my words were wasted,
and lett them, enchanting to each other
on the degeneracy of the aye.
few days later, as lay resting on The
I library lounge, l heard Grandmother Ben
nett say 10 her companion as they sat
s0lemnly knitting:
DO You know, Mrs. Best, l am afraid
Charles isn't very forehanded" Grand
mother Best nodded a SAD assent Il won
dered If you'd noticed" she said, and then
the first old lady continued, speaking in an
undertone and with a somewhat mortified
air, why, saw man bringing coal in bags
yesterday, actually in bags, aud there
couldn't have been more than ton in the
L
holds much more, and there isn't the ghost
of a cellar to this house."
" saw 1t" was the reply. 81 wouldn't
say word to Charles for the world but
Pm 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. Ii seems
dreadfuliy shiftless way toliye. and in such
lovely house, too"
Yes, yes" said Grandmother Best, II
really feel almost afraid it's asking too
much OF Charles Tor us TO stay here all win
ter without paying board, and yet j don't
know what to do. and with such a 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 ale0ve and / was little at a loss
to know what to DO, not liking to discomfort
them by suddenly appearing before them,
so tried hard to go 10 sleep and not over
hear what they were saying. / think
must have caught little nap. during which
/ missed good deal of the conversation,
but presently heard: ''After all there's no
place like New England. bad as it 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 more
have thouQhL of living as mamie do nOW-