The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-06-06


give her my share of the soap. But
it would be cheaply got rid of that
way. Yes" exclaimed Infant, with
sudden recklessness, 81 would rather
buy soap, and pay out money to have
this dirty stuff carted off, than ever
smell it again while I live. Let US
make new rule, and give our fat
and ashes to the Robbs. They have
farmed for us ever since father died"
Infant pleaded, "and whatever you
say, Rilla, know you have the great
est confidence in them"
"The poor-house wagon is never
going to call for me" said Rilla, de.
cidedly. "You can go and build
fire under the kettle, while l carry
some more water to pour on the ash
hopper. That I've is strong enough
to bear up setting of eggs, but we
may need some more little weaker"
"Rilla, | am as firm as the ash hop
per itself. You can't shake me any
better than you could our brick
smoke-house. l won't help make any
more soap-especially on rose day"
added Infant to herself. II don't
see any sense in it,"
"But you can see sense in spelling
dozens of good roses to load yourself
up with like mad Ophelia. You
feel above all the associations of
wash day, though the Princess Nau
sicaa didn't"
"Oh, Rilla, don't feel above any
thing. merely feel under that soap
kettle, and as if it would crush my
soul out, as the shields crushed Tar
peria, if l didn't throw it off,"
"Well, I am going to make SOAP"
said Rilla, whitening with intense
disapproval of the liberty her twin
proposed to grasp. "You are not
minor, and if you were, I'm not your
guardian. But if you propose to go
by yourself and leave me to myself,
we both know what belongs to us, and
it is easily DONE"
This time-worn hint, which in her
girlhood used to startle and distress
Infant so much, made but the slight
est impression on her hearing now, as
she leaned over the veranda railing
to look at the roses. There were
such abundant stacks of them: she
might cut and pile them into pyra
mid almost as tall as herself. Such
smooth, sweet tea-roses, such crimson
velvet-petalled Jacqueminots, blush
and white SO fragrant you would be
willing to drown yourself in a sea of
their scent; yellow roses piercingly
delightful, Prairie Queens creeping
all over the front of the house, old
hundred -leaved varieties, having al
ways in their depths reminder of
grandmother's chests and long, long
past days. There were eighteen dis
tinct families of roses, each family
mighty tribe, marshalled before In
FAINT on lawn and dewy stretch of
garden. 1t was rose day. She would
not let herself think of anything else.
Rilla would not come to the en-
powered dinner table which Infant
prepared 80 carefully, and to which
she called her sister exactly as the
clock struck twelve.
Rose day never interfered with
Infants duties. Her conscience &C
quilted her of Sinking. Often in
dead winter-time, when the snow was
piled up, and Enos Robb's family
settled down to the enjoyment of
colds and rheumatism, she fed all the
stock herself.
Rilla turned her back on Infants sew
eral approaches, and dipped I've with
a savagely noisy gourd to quench
Infants voice. Slugs and ants in the
roses, and even mildew, were no
drawback at all to rose day compared
to Rilla. Habits of endurance become
proof armor to ones sensibilities in
the course of life, however; SO Infant
wandered off and absorbed the beauty
of that day almost as completely as if
she did SO with Rilla's approval.
There was remulous heat over the
meadows. The huge and strictly
tended garden was world by itself.
Beyond that stretched their orchard,
having a run of clear water winding
through it, all thickly tufted along
the margins with mint.
Infant stepped upon the spongy
lichens of the fence and rested her
arms on the top rail, while she looked
along the narrow country thorough
fare. The sweet green world was
dear enoughto be pressed in her arms.
Mingled mint and rose scents were
satisfying. The noble strength of
their Norman colts pasturing in the
stock meadow was beautiful to the
eve. Infant loved to hear the pound