The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-03-26
A WE'LL GROOlED WOMAN
How Mrs. Fenton Taught Her Hus-
band asLesson.

Him.
Mr.. Fenton put down his evening pa
| per and regarded his wife with sigh
| She sat on the other side of the table,
mending her way through n pile of
stockings mountain high; plump, lit
tie woman of forty, none too trig in
| figure, decidedly rufilcd as to hair, but
with a merry twinkle in her blue eyes
and lnothcrliness expressed in every
line of her comfortable person.
'Wcll?' said she, looking up. feeling
with sinking at the heart that some
new complication had come up in the
financial situation, and that she was
about to be treated to views of bimc-
tallism, adding to the feminine mind
But no. Her lord and master had
been led into very different train of
thought.
Its nearly fifteen years that we
have been married, Mary" he unused,
remembering as he spoke that in all
that time he had hardly ever before
scrutinizcd her with such u critical
gaze.
Tell it not in Gath!' she laughed
TIN growing old. but let us keep it n
secret in the family as long as we can"
Yes, you have clangcd-we have
both changed. What vain little
chatterbox you used to BET!
GO Foretprc ct crea aihtr expressed me in
those days. Now '.Sochsct praoveamihp
would be moro like it," cried Mrs. Fen
ton gayly, with Il flourish of her darn
ing needle at the work basket "And
rs for vanity! Bless my heartl l
should like to know when have had
time to be vain!"
81 am afraid you are getting a little
careless, my dear" her husband OBJ
served, congratulating himself on hav-
ing SO easily led up to the discussion
he wanted. Sometimes it has struck
me that you were almost untidy, and
that's sad mistake for woman. If
she has the air of being we'll groomcd,
she possesses u very great charm"
MIR. Fenton wore prodigious whislsers,
Dundreary-lilkc, and they hid blush
which rose to his face at the conscious
ness that he was quoting the newspa-I
per article Uer6atm ct Merdtin. But his
wife had no such protection, and the
rich color visibly dyed her very brow
To be called untidy is cruel stab
from ones better half. but she re-
strained the Indignation on her lips
and tried to ask quite calmly:
Whom should you call particularly,
we'll groomed woman, now? OF course.
1 suppose there are three hundred and
ninety-ninc of them in the four hun.
drcd, but among our ncighbors? 1t
would help me to find model you
know"
There had been moments in their
welded career when Mr.. Fenton had
felt that the workings of feminine in
tellcct were quite beyond him, and this
was another of them. At what was
Mary driving? 1t was impossible to
suspect her of jealousy, for from that
faint her sweet nature. was absolutely
free. So, rather in the dark, he re-
piled hclplcssly:
"Um-ah. We'll, Mrs Van Duscn,
now. She always seems to me what
you would term we'll groomed-a fine
figure of a woman and dresses mighty
we'll"
Mrs. Van Duscn spends $1,000 n
year for dress where L spend, perhaps,
sl5o. She buys her figure from an cx-
pensivc corsctmal1cr, but it is useless
to mention that to man. She has no
children, three servants, and nothing
to think of but fixing herself up. I am
not complaining, James, dear. You re-
member you brought up the subject
yourself but when you compare me
with Robert Van Dusen's wife you
should consider the difference in our
circumstances. I have many, MANY.
cares and my days arc full to the brim. y,
The rough head bent over the hole
which was being filled with a careful
lattice-work of black yarn, and tho
needle went in and out steadily. IL
the mendcr's eyes were dim nobody no.
ticed it.
"But it takes very little time to keep
ones self in ncatness and order. Just
hear this, now, my dear. a very good
article; very sensible, too"
The cloqucncc Of Cicero, the rounded
periods of Junius would not havol
moved Mary Fcnton Mt that moment
1t took all her wits to keep down the
bitterness in erhenrt. Without wait
ing for encouragement, her husband
read on:
The woman who has an air OF being well
groomed has very great charm for al men,
lie Skipped this sentence. Why expose tho
writer TO charge Of plngiarsln?l Really,
ladies, you should mt least try the experiment.
and may well devote n littlo time each day to
the cultivation OF exquisite personal detail Mt
the expense OF some of your frivolous amusc-
ments First, do not rise TOO early. Break
fast In bed on cup OF coffee, a roll, perhaps u
little fruit, and plan your toilets for the day."
Up went Mary's eyebrows and sar-
castle smile played about her mouth.
Three children to send to school at
nine o'clock, and breakfast to get be-