The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-09-10
LUCREPIA'S GOOD TIME,

nature was a marvel to the wise
women. 1t time she grew to be little
girl who never tore her pinafores and
who "practiced" faithfully, although
other children lurked beneath her win
dow daring" her to come out and play
kongaloW. Her brothers and sisters
asked her to do their tasks and Sc
cretly regarded her as soft for her
pains.
During her short married life she
fetched and carried her husband as
would a spaniel and took his rough
words with the same doglike submis-
siveness. When Mark Farley died
frank people said none too soon-her
youngest sister, Maud, came to live
with her. Maud was big and raw
boned, with ashy blond hair and a
temper which would have tried the
meek ST. Francis. At first Lucretia's
friends hoped that she would be eman-
cipated by her sisters marriage, but
as Maud Slipped from twenty to thirty
unwed the, hope died.
Meanwhile Lucretia continued ito do
her duty. She visited lhypochondriac
and cross old people, who poured into
her patient ears all their symptoms and
complaints. She really felt guilty
when she made call at a pleasant
home where the family asked after her
health and how her flowers Were
blooming
When her neighbors were i'll Iucre-
tia sat up with them every third night,
and if they died she put the house in
order for the funeral and lent her
Grape bonnet to the chief mourner. In
fact, it grew so shabby she had to
have IT made over before she let Mrs.
Ransom take it to Kansas for her son
in-law's obsequies.
She was president of the Dorcas So
ciety and many a time she wore
shabby shoes and cotton gloves that
she might give a child a cloak. She
made a special effort to go to prayer
meeting during very wet or very hot
times, when less conscientious people
thought up an excuse for staying at
home
There came a spring when she felt
strangely weak and listleSs. Her feet
Jagged as if she were dragging a ball
and chain and her hands were so thin
that her rings dropped from her
lhSCIS. kO1lc SlUppSu- at ILL., Sptil SSoh
Office one day on her way home from a
church meeting.
He pushed his glasses up on his fore
head and looked at her attentively; he
felt her pulse and asked her many
questions which seemed to have no
bearing on her case.
Nothing much the matter, is there?"
she asked.
ooh, no." he said briskly, writing a
few hierogliphics on his paper pad.
"Ill give you tonic and l want you
to promise to do what 1 tell you to-
"All right" said Lucretia, for she
was used to obeying his orders
''Have a good time," he began; "stop
visiting Mary, Yost and those other
sick folks. Buy some good clothes, lie
in bed of morning, let Maud see to
the house. Play cards. Say mean
things about your neighbors. Be as
selfish as you can. Don't put yourself
out for anybody
rs that quite right, doctor?'' Lucre-
tia objected.
1T is a prescription" he returned
'just as I tell one person to take hot
' baths, tell you to be selfish and lazy
though you haven't much natural
ability"
''Poor little Lucretia,' the doctor
thought, when she was gone. He had
known her since a child and he recOg-
nized in her recital of symptoms the
beginning of a hopeless disease.
Mark Farley was brute and Maud
is tyrant and the whole town i'm
poses on her. I'll try to give her Il lit
tie good time, though it's Il late start"
Lucretia .endeavored to obey the
doctors orders as to taking life easy
just as conScientiously as she took her
tonic before meals, but it was hard to
reverse the habits Of a lifetime. The
first morning when she heard the
rising bell she thought OF the doctors
command and concluded she would
have her toast and coffee brought to
her. She was half terrified at her au-
dacity. Maud came in, her face redder
than usual from recent scrubbing.
Aren't you ever going to get up,
Lucretia?" she asked, sharply. and
f poor =Lucretia huddled on her clothes
and went down to breakfast like q
naughty child.
But during the day she made some
progress. Mrs. Lynn sent word that
Jimmy is having fits and would Mrs.
Farley come over?'
i am very sorry she said TO the
messenger, hut I'm not WELL so [
can't go" Her conscience hurt her
sorely afterward, for she had seen
Jimmy drought all his previous fits
and it seemed cowardly to desert him
now. In the afternoon, however. she
went to Miles Dry Gaeds Palace
and bought herself two sill, gowns and
a pair OF .high-heeled slippers. In her
heart she had always loved French
boots, but she had mortified the flesh
by wearing broad toes and common
sense heels.
She had alsoread literature of an up
s lifting tendency, not so much because
she enjoyed it as because She thought
she ought. Now she read the silliest
novels on which she could lay hands,
and even subscribed for paper given
up to jokes and g1bes.
She spent long afternoons playing
casino with Jimmy of the Fits. Poor
Jimmy was not an accomplished
player, and he suiked when he was
beaten. so here Lucretia ahd a chance
to be unselfish while pursuing pleas
nre and she always let the boy win.
a n j