The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-22
SALT OF THE EARTH.

even thlhk or IL with any composure but
now-if l had known that I should ever feel
anle TO ten the whole history to you, actu-
any sInlllns over parts of It, 1 suppose 1
shouId nave feit less bitterly at the time.
And yet l don't know. 1t never comforted
q. me very much, when a child. to be told
that cut finger wouldn't be hurting bv
the time / was twice married. pain is main
WhlIe 1t lasts it hurts, even If YOU do for
get some of the pangs by tomorrow.
In the case Of Hal and Wilbelmina T was
ooubly distressed by the miserable feeling
that had, as 1t were cut my own finger:
and you know to be suffering with only
yourself to blame makes everything lust SO
much harder to bear
OF course, though you have never heard
all the story, you know that Wilhelmina
was at one period, our cook Time does
much for us, my dear, but it cannot and
Ooes not spare me a pang as l make this
plain statement. Yes, she was our cook.
my dear, and while my share of blame
came later, the engaging of Wilhelmina
schroeder as a servant of our house seemed
at the time the right thing to do. 1t came
about in this wise:
Wllhelminas father was a plain, thrifty
German farmer. He lived up the county
road on his own farm quite prosperousIy
until ne indorsed a note for a friend The
friend failed, and Schroeder was called upon
TO pay heavily. The first thing he did on
nearing this bad news was to drive down
10 our farm and ask counsel of my dear
husband; for, as you know, everybody in
the county comes to him for advice when
in trouble. Schroeder wanted to mortgage
his farm and work oft the claim by de-
grees, but my husband does not believe in
mortgages
Make your sacrifice now, Schroeder" he
said; don't think of mortgaging. You will
never catch up with life again if you do.
Sell, and buy a smaller house somewhere in
the neighborhood. You can then hire out
yourself and your team by the day. Don't
spend the little capital you have"
was afraid ne might have offended
Schroeder by suggesting that he should work
as A hired man; but my husband said that
ochfOder was too sensible for that, and so
II proved. Within week he had moved
into a little house not far away from us,
aad not only was he at work himself, but
we neard that his three daughters were also
loA king for what they called Service
places" Schroeder had no sons
AS 1t happened, shortly after Schroeder S
visit l received letter from my Mary tell
ing me that she and her children were COM
ing to stay with us for a time; and the very
DAY the letter came my cook gave warning.
When the cook gives warning in the coun-
try you know what that means. I felt quite
distracted.
Then I thought Of Schroders girls. and
wondered il one of them would answer as
a cook. When L suggested this plan to my
husband his amendment was that we should
take all three of them into our service.
AS they have never lived out before, it
would be easier for them to start together"
he said. Our second girl has been unsat-
isfactory; send her away. and turn over
the whole establishment to the Schroders."
That would mean taking an extra wom-
an l said: Can YOU spare the money!
Better than Schroeder can" said my hus-
band, laughing; and, besides, you won t
find three women any too many after
Marys children come"
SO it was settled, and my husband drove
down to the little house, engaging the three
girls that same afternoon. They were very
glad to come, and [ to have them. In fact,
] was never so comfortable in all my house
keeping as when I had those girls with me
-Wilhelmina as cook and her sisters work
Ing about the house. They had been splen-
didly taught. l really had to raise my own
standards of cleanliness to meet theirs, and
pretend that l was used to the furniture be-
ing moved out and swept under in place of
being only swept up to-yOu know what
cried when Mr. Schroeder came over some
months later and very abruptly took his
girls away from me- He was ION his feet
again. he said, and able to keep his daugh-
terS at home, where their mother, who was
i'll needed their services have never seen
Mr.. Schroeder but that one time He talked
with q strong accent, and was a round
faced, honest-looking Dutchman, with
large, Illuminating blue eyes. Wllhelmlna
inherits her eyes from her father but not
her beauty; that comes to her from her
mother, whom l never saw but once, either.
She CHANGED to hear one day that VIII
helmina had hurt her finger and so could
not milk the COWS. which was one of her
duties, and her pleasure as well. Neither
of the other girls understood milking.
knowing this, Mrs Schroeder came over,
very kindly offering to help us by under
taking the milking herself. She proved q
beautiful mixer my husband said. and I
could see that she had been remarkably
pretty woman, but had grown stout and
SRI only time
I ever saw her closely. Even then l was
glad to note that Wilhelmina had not the
same tendency to heaviness, though | al
most believed her beauty could stand a
grea,er handicap.
So much did l admire her that while she
was with me in the capacity of cook, was
so foolish as to find excuses for myself to
visit the kitchen She did look so pretty at
her work You know, dear what a weak
ness I have always had for beauty. You
remember how long l bore with a certain
other cook, the one who drank just be
cause she had such a pretty face. Ii was
the same way with Wilhelmina. I don't
mean that there was any reason for clSsat-
in every way. Indeed, she had and still
has a lighter hand for pastry and cake man
l myself I loved to watch her with her
sleeves rolled up to her pretty white elbows
kneading dough or sweeping. with her light
curly hair twisting out from under her
mob cap, her blue eyes earnest as II she
were always saying her prayers.
I shouldn't have felt blameworthy if L
had kept my admiration of Wilhelmlna to
myself, Dul my OiO lOllSut was ~ ioleo
what must l do but prate of her beauty to
others
| told you it was her duty to milk the
COWS and she had a healthy farmer s.
daughter enjoyment of the barnyard.
used to note the little added spring. IN her
gait when she stepped from the kitchen
door sill to walk down the barnyard path
10 the open-air work she loved. My own
Mary was pretty. enough, yet knew that
she could not compare with Wilhelmina.
1t was not only that the girls face was
beautiful but her 1.-the, noble walk was
something that to see simply delighted your
eyes
The barnyard path passes near our old
west porch you remember, where we used
TO sit together an hour or so after supper
to watch the sun SET the boys and my nus
band smoking and all of us chatting over
the mast day Every night sitting there,
used to watch Wihelminas feet tripping
by, helping TO wear the path, ana see nst
figure cross the setting sun. Every inS5t
1 used to say "Oh. Mary, my child 40
wish you had Wlhelmina's figure ana
then thew would all laugh at me.
How foolish l was to do TINS never
awoke to realize until one night, only d
week before Schroeder came so unexpectedly
TO take his daughters home, looked up 10
see Rowland also craning his neck around
a porch pillar to see Wilhelmina pass. u
course, I never called attention to her after
that but felt vaguely troubled. Hal was
sitting beside Rowland on the night ! speak
of. 1 noticed that he did not even raise
his eyes. They rarely do the same thlnS
sons born of one woman so unlike as mine
People have always said that Hal was
my husband faVOrite. That was only De
cause he was so little a favorite with 9TH
ers He has ever been shy and hated COM
pany of any kind. as YOU know. He is in
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