National Baptist world., 1894-09-21
Then there's Mrs. Mu1ligan, you

didn't charge for the stun, md she q
poor wildly, the mother of six It is
'pauperizing the masses again, I'm
told She works ten hours a day, six
days to the week. The end of her am
bition is to keep off the town. and
she does it; and if Lydia Mary or Maria
Clendennin had one-tenth of her grit,
we might thank our stars. What's my
coarse, scratchy cotton cloth balanced
against the CHEEKY uplift she gives me
every time l see her?'
whats this friends hobby? She
doubtless holds the cure-an in her
hands," said Aunt Martha.
Yes" answered the girl with sigh,
sit is patent process of taxation this
time which is TO even things up-or
down. In the new order of things
every laborer will own his home; chub-
by cherubs will replace puny babies;
selfshness and vice. rum and gambling,
even laziness will flee away, and, pres
to! there's the millennium like magic.
She drew beautiful picture of domes-
tic bliss. You could almost see the
kettle steaming on the fire, and smell
the tea and toast; and then she sat
down and we all clapped-and-and-
came home"
Another club to be form ed, con-
clude, said Aunt Jane, dryly.
No, only another committee. |
felt the symptoms in the air, and SO I
hurried off for fear of infection. But
what is to become of me, auntie? |
belong to seven organ izations now,
trying in one way and another to lift
that awful incubus, the masses. The
committees and subcommittees and
auxiliaries make me think of those
jelly-l1ze pOlyps floating about in
warm south seas. A bit breaks off
here, there and on eve ry side, and
away they go, brand-new independent
creatures, ready to divide up into hun
dreds more. I'm so tied up with red
tape daren't sew a butt on on a Dor
cas- petticoat without consulting a
chairman. I'm just discourag ed; there's
such a mountain and my pickax is SO
small"
Aunt Jane was very quiet. The
room was still. A lump of coal settled
in the CRATE. The clock ticked loudly
on the mantel. A pinkish glow spread
over the snow in the winter sunset
light The peace of it all was stealing
into the troubled heart, the heart of a
true woman feeling her way.
At length Aunt Jane spoke.
"When I was a girl" she said,
leagues and wOmen's clubs weren't
the fashion. Women were wives and
mothers and sisters then; now they
are presidents and secre retaries and del
egates However, the temperance
movement made great stir and was
caught in the swirl. Being of the
society of Friends, I was used to
women speaking, when moved to it by
the Spirit, but all the machinery-the
bylaws, the parliamentary terms of
our temperance society-was new to
me and most fascinating.
''Thee knows Cousin Sarah Grant,
Maria? We thought her very old-fash
iOned and DarrOw-rninded because she
took no active part in our society.
Four boys she had then in round
abouts, and she thought her temper
ance work was there, Solid, fine men
they are, as thee knows, and all total
abstinence.
well. it was bitter cold day. All
the morning l had kept close to the
fire, writing long paper for our next
meeting. It was full Of statistics and
long words, and was calculated to tell
the society great deal they already
knew, just tingled to talk it all over
and show my public spirit in contrast
To lon Of
picked my way over the snowbanks to
her house. In those days on Saturday
morning thee might look for lady in
her kitchen, and sure enough / found
her there making coffee by the gallon.
The horse-cars ratified past her door
every ten minutes, and as each one
rounded t.e corner out ran little jim
Riley with a can of hot coffee. Those
poor drivers she said, must have
something hot in such stinging cold
weather, else they'd slip into the rum
holes l said not a word. Somehow
my statistical paper didn't seem SO all
important. l went home and it shriv-
eled into black cinder in the CRATE
fire.
'Oh, Aunt Jane, I'm so glad you did
something silly. l only wish could
wipe out my mistakes as easily. But
l must do something to straighten this
crooked world, or simply loathe Maria
Clendennin."
Keep at it, child. Keep at it till
thee die, and after, if the Lord so
wills But don't peer at thy work
through telescope, and don't spread
thyself out too thin. Clouds of steam
putting from the locomotive look very
pretty. but the work is done down be-
low with the pressure on one point.
And, dearie, don't thee worry thy dear
head about the masses. They are Gods
masses, after all, and He'll do His part.
Thy part is to shake thy bit of the
mass asunder into atoms, and put thy
self, thy whole self, into the atoms
where they touch thee. That work,
begun, never stops. Loosen the red
tape bit where it ties thee down, and
take up for motto the brave old Eng
lish words: DO the next thynge.' I've
been working on it every day these
fifty years past, and there's always
been a next, and there always will be,
thank God."-N. Y. Post.
Great Compliment.
She had rejected him and it made
hin, cora or6 he Eiolxinr