The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1893-06-22
About one Woman to other
Women.


and curtains. and crockcly. and best
china. and Bristol brick aud II copper
teakcttle. and stove polish. The woman
loved the house. She WorShppcd every
detail of its belongings. from the ,lii'
hair nowcr-Work in the parlor To the
secured table in the kitchen. II was all
neat. very neat, indeed and shiny, very
bright and shiny. The woman MAS lean.
very lean. indeed; and tall very tall and
bony. She wore spar"-lo"king calico
dress, aud had elbows. and very little
hair.
But she was neat. She wanted to be
neal She wanted to be neat more than
ANYTHING ,l>c in the world. She was
not comfortable. neither were those
about her. But that siguied nothing.
She had always been called the neatrSt
woman in East Mcdiicld, and so had her
mother before her, She was thankful To-
say. 50 that woman was up with the
-un in -uIAmcr. and very much in all
vance of him in winter. shaking the rugs,
and rafting the tins, and taking time
vigorously by the forclock. She scrub
bed, and swept, and g'trDishcd, and
squared every chair t. an exact angle
with the wall
Children. Oh, Yes. there were children
in that house. That is, children were
born there. and they stayed there till
they were old enough to roll their NIUE
bodies down the doorstcps. Ailer Nillch
they lived out of doors mostly.
The man: Well, yes, there was Il
man who was married to the woman
years ago, aud he lived in that house.
That is he slept there. and came in to
meals after he had wiped his feet on two
door-mats and washed himself in the
Woodshed. Yes he lived there. He
liked the children. the ilaky pies, and
the light bscut-and he liked the wo-
man. That is he liked her pretty well.
And he was not without certain pride
of possession in her local reputation of
being the neatest woman in East Medtield.
Yet he was conscious of II vague dis
comfort. Week days he did not mind,
but Sundays he felt rather stiil' and out
of place. He could not seem to sit down
anywhere and stay there. Sometimes
he thought it might be his clothes, for
his Sunday boots squeaked from drying
all the week and the woman starched
his collar so stitl. He always felt AS if
he should choke when he ventured into
} the prim parlor and sat down on the
stuffed chair. 1t might be partly be-
cause the woman would not let the chill
dren 90 in there. and he could hear little
four ear-old Jimmie softly sobbing out
side the door. But he always felt sutlo-
Gated in there, and 50 he would 90 out
to be with the children in the sitting
room. where they were admonishcd by
the woman not to touch anything and
to keep very still because it was Sunday
If he sat down in the canc-scat rocker to
comfort Jimmie on his breast for while.
the woman looked sharply in with the
Injunction not to rock. rocking cuts the
carpet. When he would fain stretch out
his limbs upon the hard haircloth lounge
she would call to him from the kitchen
not to put his feet up unless he took of
his shoes and asked if he had covered
the head of the lounge witha newspaper.
So he generally wandered out to the
barn or into the neighbors. And the
children they kicked, no, swung, their
he, ls-.and wished it wasn't Sunday.
Books: Pmythings: Well, you see
the woman had no time for reading
She didn't believe in wasting time that
way. She wanted TO scour the tins
What would the neghbors say if they
we're to come in and find her sitting
down reading the newspaper? There
was the oilcloth carpet, for one thing,
that had to be washed with "skim milk"
three times week. Some folks didn't
wash 'em but once. but she wasn't one