The herald., 1898-08-14

OVER THE Chatting DISH


They were gathered in the hall bed
room of the third floor back, and the host
ess, balanced on the edge of the wash
stand, was making Judges over the flame
Of the solitary gas jet, while In the dim
light that consequently pervaded the room
the girl whose yearly income is written
with four figures was brewing tea with
the aid of a o'clock kettle.
1t was Sunday. Sunday may not be a
fashionable calling day in that society
which capitaizes itself in the newspapers,
but in the smaller and more obscure sphere
in which the business woman moves it is
the one day of all the week when she may
put to practical test the joys of the ''gabble,
gobble and GIT" as dear old DR.. Holmes Is
said to have once described fashionable
reception.
| ''Where do you keep your stewpan when
you're not using it?" queried the girl who
had pumped herself down among the pill
| lows on piece Of furniture that served as
a couch by day and a bed by night.
I'm my hat box" answered the hostess,
giving the bubbling brown mass another
stir. ooh, my, no, no; not with my hat. 1t
doesn't make much difference where that
goes, butI don't dare be careless about the
stewpan And that keyhole is plugged You
see, got ready for you"
Funny people, these landladies, aren't
they?" put In the girl who occupied the
one rocking chair. cts problem to me
whether 1t is the business that ruins their
tempers or whether it is the ill-natured
people who naturally turn to keeping
boarders Some day, when l have had all
the stenography l can stand, and when I'm
widow and have some furniture and
(vaguely) other things, I'm going to run a
boarding house of my own. and it will be on
brand-new principles. First of all, therell
be no men in it-only girls"
Count me out" came from the pill
lows.
ooh, but there'll be halfdozen little par
lors, with chatting dishes and comfortable
chairs, and every girl can have just as
many callers as she wants and no questions
asked"
"Queer. isn't II, how landladies object to
taking women to board?" remarked the
girl who was making tea. II feel like a
criminal or something worse when fate
compels me to change my quarters The
| catechism some women put you through is
enough to drive one into matrimony in
sheer self-defense, and the humility that
one has to assume is notifying to ones
pride. Landnadies never ask men those
questions, or regard them with such ILL
concealed suspicion; but ], for my part,
Judging from what l have seen of the
young man who inhabits boarding houses.
| would rather have a business woman every
| time"
1.-THE men don't mess as we are doing
now said the girl in the rocking chair.
80, bother, they do, too. Look at the
chatting dishes every man is setting up for
himself, and think Of the way in which
Welsh rarebits and angels on horseback
can scent up the premises. Why, man
told me not long ago that he kept a gas
stove, a kettle and a saucepan in a trunk
in his closet. and served up regular suppers
at midnight to his cronies, and the land
lady never suspected him"
"And think Of their nasty pipes and bad
smelling tobacco ashes"
but girls don't do their laundering In
the bathroom, and iron on the window panes
and bureau mirrors" protested the tea
maker. That's one of the ISLANDERS put
upon us because of those nasty, miserab Bile
ways in which married women who board
try to economize so they can get new silk
petticoat. Those women are responsible
for ali the trouble, anyway. A business
, woman is no more trouble as boarder tina n
q business man. She's away from the house
just as much as he is, and when she is a I.
home she isn't raising. Ned with a lot of
rowdies, or pertaining the lace curtains
with tobacco smoke.
mo, the business woman makes the very
best kind of boarder. but she doesn't beeir
| to get her rights. If she has men friends
who come 10 call on her the old women in
| the boarding house Immediately put her
down as a bold, bad thing; and if she
doesn't they dub her a grabbed old maid
and leave her out of their stupid whist par
ties, so that she doesn't have any social life
at all. Something ought TO be done about
it."
"But what are you going to do?'' re-
marked the voice from the pillows
"Get q fiat. hire maid and snap youy