Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-03
fall on the range, and to kape her sniv-
cling to herself and I'll be cooking yez all

fall on the range, and to kape her sniv-
cling to herself and I'll be cooking yez all
the best dinner we liver etT'
The lady had been examining the oven
and the top Of the range; she saw that no
harm had been done. and the soup and the
fish were safe. Jones could be trusted with
cold. She laid her hand on the woman's
shoulder. She fixed a commanding but not
stern eye upon her Put your head under
the cold water faucet" said she; Zones,
scald her, and brace upl Then you cook
the dinner, and HedWig you wait on her,
she will be all right directlyr'
She gave but few directions about the
dinner, saw them all at work, charged
somehow with some tingles Of her own cleo
trio confidence, and went upstairs She
walked through the hall, frowning with
thought; but she entered her drawing room
smiling, and told her guests the whole story.
They had come to dine. with the resignation
of elderly men who dine out ,ften, and who
expect little Of new house, where neither
the cooking nor the wines are famous.
They frightened up little at the story
which she told well-perceiving at least
the prospect of some amusement for their
trouble in coming. you see," she aided.
"it is an open question whether We shall
have dinner or not"
The result of her candor was that by de-
grees an easy gayety took possession OF
that staid and celebrated company. and by
the time the butler appeared to announce
dinner the hilarity had so Increased that
his formal sentence was greeted with ap-
plause, while each successive course OF a
really admirable dinner Qor the cook kept
her world excited warmer and more
demonstrative enthusiasm. From that &C.
casion of peril dates the lady's fame as a
giver of feasts f1t for epicures mental and
astronomical. And she did not discharge
the cook; she did better; she reformed her.
characteristics.
The western girl is not nervous. She is
does not strike her as the sign Of a higher
nature neither does 1t so strike her mother,
who is prone to associate any unusual SEN
sitiveness with a disordered liver and to
insist on a dose Of blue mass. The modern
neurotic enchantress with her pallid and
hectic melancholy, her languor, her facile
and transient emotions and her cynical
flicker Of wit, does not in the least enchant
the western heart; the young men do not
long to adore her, and the young women
have no desire to be like her; even after a
life In cities there remains In the character
formed in the west an inefaceable, vigorous
simplicity Of motive and view. Perhaps 1t
is the far-reaching effects of the youthful
calomel. I shall not venture to hint that a
calm and not too inquisitive conscience,
which is feature of the western girls ma
tcre, a conscience incomprehensibly stupid
and lax, according to the New England
standard, owes any of it's inefficient tran
quillity to the owners firm nerves. / would
only plead that IL the western conscience is
gcod-natured, 1t is not all good nature; it
can make rules and punish their infringe
ment The primitive, simple canons Of
right and wrong are sacred to her. She
tries, In her girlish, ignorant fashion, to be
tender and faithful and honest. Though she
is a girl, she has a glin,mering sense of
justice, and, although she is not a man, she
has a notion of honor. She may be criti-
cized as a maiden, but she is an irreproach-
able wife, and she becomes the most devot-
ed of mothers. Her virtues and her charm
will make him a happy man who shall win
her. Her faults-but 1t does not please q
western woman. who loves her. to indicate
them; indeed, am not quite sure that see
them clearly. OCTAVE TdANET.