The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-03-26
fore that! CHANGING up, Mr.. Fenton

cAacliy, but the general outline is
good. You'll see"
So he Travelled down the column of
directions, for the bath with bran bags.
almond meal and orris root, the pcdi-
curing, the manicuring, the elaborate
brushing of hair and teeth, the GYM
nastics for the developing of the figure,
the careful examination of each ar
tcle of clothing TO sec if n singlo
stitch be wanting, the hundreds of lit
tic details which it takes so few
minutes to write down, so MANY to
carry out. AS he went on, NIarv's
natural sense of fun came to her res
cue, and, beginning to appreciate the
absurdity of the situation, she held
her peace, adding up as they were
mentioned in turn tho twenty minutes
Tor this, the thirty minutes for that
and her husband drew n long breath at
the end of the evolution of u loveIv
creature immaculate from top to toe.
ut seems to me-" observed She. de-
murely, cas- if cleanliness wcrc getting
ahead of godliness nowadays. Well. It
must be delightful to go through such
thorough process, and yet four hours
seems long time to devote to dressing
every morning"
-Four hours!" cried Mr.. Fenton,
taken by surprise. ''My dear, YOU
must be mistaken. Why, the hnlf
hour for the bath is the longest item
in the lot"
MANY miclslc makes q mucklc,
papa, DEAR" rcjoined Mary, earnestly.
DO you think there is ever a morning
in the whole years round when could
take four hours for the adjoining of nv
own person? Where would your break
fast be, and the children, and the or
dcrs to the butcher and the grocer?
James, what arc You going to do to-
morrow she suddenly asked, and n
dinplc appeared in her check. which
made her look quite young again.
Io-norrow?' he repeated mechan-
icaly.
Yes; at the Office, you know. Any
thing espccial?"
why, no. I have n dozen bills TO
collect for MIR. Snow: that's all. Whv?,,
because 1 want to try little eX-
pertinent. It's not at all original. In
fact, it's rs old rs the hills. Promise
me you will do it,
If it is within reason" stipulated
MIR. Fcnton. His wife had not changed
so much, after all If she had out
grown her neatness, the old vivacity
was still alive III her.
"Oh, yes. This is what want Won
TO do. Change places with me for one
day. Let me go and collect the bills
for Mr. Snow. l warrant YOU that
will get every cent that is due him. and
You stay at home as houselzeeper, cook.
nurse and general factotum."
what perfect nonscnscn crowlcd
the gentleman, taking up his paper
again. II should think you were n
schoolgirl of sixteen. You know that's
impossible.''
But it was not impossible, and Mrs
Fcnton proved it, If not to her spouse's
satisfaction, at least to his conviction.
She had recourse to all her forsal1en
arts of coaNing and whcedling, and at
last, quito worn out with arguing
and shutiling, he had to give in, and
agreed to make fool of himself on the
morrow. The victor went up to bed
triumphant, pausing in the nursery to
leave the big mending basket and to
lean lovingly for a moment over the!
bed where her twin boys lay sleeping
sturdy lads of nine. In the next room
she drew aside little Nlabel's curls and
left kiss on the rosy cheek, and at
length, with deep sigh, she found
herself standing before her dressing
table, taking down the coils of her
hair. Many silver thread had stolen
into the bright brown ripples, but they
still fell to her waist as abundant as
ever, and against the girlish back
ground her face seemed to lose some of
its lines of care. Was it true that she
had been growing careless of her own
Like Il flash there ran
across her mind those words about Mrs.
Van Dusen, and, staring earnestly at
the glass, she felt thrill of simple
pride in its assurance that, with such
clothes as adorned that lady, they
would be more on q par in good looks
than casual observer would imagine.
Then she thought of her husband and
the experiment that was to be tried
and, laughing softly to herself, she
turned out the gas and got into bed,
hearing that unfortunate man in the
cellar below, muttcring like the ghost
OF llamlets father as he put coal on the
furnace fire.
The memory of the following day is
even now hideous nightmare to James
fenton. Never had the Office whc q he
kept books for peppcry and unrea-
sonablc coal merchant involved him in
SO many trying situations. His wife,
true to the arrangement, had presented
herself at breakfast arrayed in her
walking dress, and offered to make sug-
gcstions about curling Mabel's hair,
tying on her pinafore and mending
mitten brought to her just as the ono
maid rang the bell for breakfast. Han
nah wns in the secret, for she had al
ready been to ask his advice about the