The Columbus journal., 1893-06-14
MRS. GRANTS TROUBLE.

such a strong flavor of the ridiculous
that no one thought of the
tragic element it possessed. She was
growing stout. She had always
been prettily plump, but in the fifteen
years which had elapsed since her
day she had gained flesh so
yet SO imperceptibly that she
had never realized her increasing
weight She might never have done
so but for the chance remark of 9
careless friend, who told her that an.
other acquaintance, wishing to dis
tinguish her from her sister-in-law,
had spoken OF her as ''the stout Mrs.
Grant," What, me?" she had ex-
and her friend had remarked
"Well. you are little
stout, you know" The poor woman
made no answer; but when she
home she went straight to
her room and studied herself in the
long mirror. Yes, there was no
doubt of it, she had grown stout.
From that day she began to be
sensitive about her weight, and con-
she frequently heard (or
thought she did) sighting remarks
about it One evening her husband
told her that it was harder to en-
brace her than it had been ten years
before, and her little boy added:
'.Yes, and mammals chair is getting
too small for her, too," meaning the
little rocker her husband had given
her on her first married birthday.
Somehow the remark stung her, and
for the first time in his life the child
was told mot to talk so much. "
Both husband and child were sur
prised. for how could they know how
she suffered every time her growing
size was mentioned? Not even the
pang which she, in common with all
her sex, had felt when she first heard
herself spoken of as "still young" y"
mad been half SO sharp as this later
one. Another time her least little
girl. the baby, hearing her aunt and
grandma discuss the subject
IN her mothers absence, asked
her: ..Is you goin' to
be big like Aunt Sukey (the colored
mammal" She shed
bitter tears over that innocent ques-
lion; and when, her dressmaker, who
had fitted her ever since she had
worn Iong dresses, told her that "she
wasn't as easy to fit as she used to
be" something very much like de-
,pair entered her soul She was full
Of life. strong, we'll and only 36, yet
she felt herself relegated to the ranks
Of the ..frumps" every time she
thought of herself as Stout And
here was no hope for>ner of course;
her grandmother had died at the age
Of 80 years, but she had been an un-
xieldy burden to herself for the last
twenty years OF her life. To be sure
her form was still good, her skin
fresh and sweet. her hair abundant
md glossy, and her hands and feet
slender; but then, all these charms
would go. of course, and she would
grow red-faced and clumsy.
She felt as if her heart would
break. Once she limited something
Of her trouble to her husband, but,
nan-like, he laughed at her for
mountains out of mole
lills," and his ridicule hurt her SO
much she hardly noticed his affec-
tiOnate assurances that she was not
-eally too stout at all. With her
mother it was tho same, and even
The family doctor told her he thought
it was constitutional, and he could do
little to help her. even if she grew
to need his assistance. which at pres
,nt she did not Then she tried
dieting. but she only grew weak, and
her Wedding dress (Which she had
tried on regularly ever since she had
begun to worry over her size) still
refused to meet. much less fasten.
And when her last hope had failed,
she shut up her trouble in her own
heart and-grew morbid.
BY degrees she took less and less
trouble with her personal appear
ance, for what did it matter how she
looked or if her clothes were stylish,
when she grew stOuter every day.
Then her sunny temper fed, and.
though she never became actually
ill-tempered. she was often sad and
unlike herself. The children began
70 be silent in her presence, and her
husband went oftener to the club
nights. ..to get some one to talk to. ~
he said. All these changes she laid
at the door of her ..cruel defOrmity.' -
rs she bitterly termed it, and life
seemed to her to have lost nearly all
its joys Even the pretty, soft voice
which her friends had SO enjoyed
and gloried in did not seem the
same. for she continually thought of
the fast-coming time when it would
grow husky, and she would have
trouble with her breathing. Be-
sides. how could she stand up and
sing for people when she knew they
were smiling at her large waist.
Soon she ceased to 60 into society at
all. and people did indeed talk about
her. but not because she was stout,
What on earth is the matter with
that pretty Mrs Granit?" they asked.
and no one knew. But the poor lady
among her. friends one
good soul, who knew by sad, if oppO-
site experience-she was painfully
thin-how severely it was possible to
suffer because of a fancied personal
defect. and she intuitively devined
the cause of the sadness which
echoed in Mrs. Grants voice and
shone in her eyes. And SO, being
one of those patient saints who. un-
der a plain exterior carry angelic
hearts and 60 about the world doing
all the odd deeds of kindness every
one else leaves undone, and for which
there is no rcward-but virtues OWL
she set herself &c work to maze
Mrs. Grant happy. And the way
she accomplished her kind intention
was As follows:
First. she called upon her friend
and asked her to sing at a musicale
to be given at ner house, and pressed
her request on the grounds that
everyone else would be sure to sing