The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-10-06
An Anxious Mother.

SO l cut open the pages with trembling
fingers, and almost dropped the paper
| in surprise at finding my pseudonyTn dis
played among the answers TO correspond
ents.
Anxious Mother:-It is. as you say,
most unfortunate that your son should
! Unexpectedly decide 70 come home, just
| when you have Invited an attractive
niece whom you do not regard as an
eligible partie. With little tact on your
part. II should be easy to prevent the
young people from forming an attach
! ment, but on no account should you
| warn them against so doing. or endeavor
% keep them apart A spirit of OppoSl-
ton is unfortunately inherent in young
people, and 10 act as you suggest would
/ only have the effect Of stimulating a
derire for the forbidden fruit. Your
wasest plan is ITO impress upon them both
the necessity of giving up their favorite
/ pursuits-She her painting. and he his attn
letics 1--WE quite agree with you that foot
/ bah is a brutal game)-so as TO be COM
pany for one another. In this way you
viii infaHibly check any desire for mucn
( compani0nship Dc not fail to write US
! again The clotted cream which accom-
/ panied your letter was excelleat. and
ministered greatly to our creature com
| forts
The wisdom Of this advice seemed so
evident that 1 had no hesitation in acting
upon it. Things seem so much clearer
! when you see them in print
! 'Addie.' j said to my niece, Il am
afraid that it will upset your plans dread
! fully, but there is no help for it-Charlie
| is coming home tomorrow"
OH said she, cheerfully. THAT will
| be nice for you, won't 1T. auntie?'
Yes" said 1. '>of course it will be nice
for me But ] was thinking of you.
| de.yr x1rcyo tod tn Ia hdF
aggrieved, you see, at the outset.
| u don't see why it should be trouble
| to me, aunt1e." she answered Il am
very curious to see Charlie again, after
all these years, He used to be such a
nice boy. am sure shall like him. 3"
He is still very nice l informed her
with an appearance of candor; but
! am afraid he will be rather a drawback
TO your painting. You see, my dear. young
men expect such a lot of attention nova
| days"
DO they? I've generally found it the
other way" She laughed mischievously.
Il dare say you nave, Addie'' replied
gravely. But you see the case is diff
ferent when a young man comes home
to a mother who has always spoilt him-I
fear I sighed.
"A little spelling is good for young PEG
pie, if they're nice naturally, day says"
she assured me. Tom always had foolish
theories about such things.
You see," I remarked, deprecatingly,
''he is used to having his convenience
studied in all the arrangements of the
house"
Am I an arrangement" she inquired,
| laughing again What shall l be ex-
pected to do?"
We'll" 1 apologized, Charlie is rather
fond of company, so expect he will want
you to go out with him a good deal. /
fear that it may rather interfere with
your painting"
"Oh. 1 can always get UP in the morning
and make up time" she replied, consol-
ingly.
'He may ask you to go and watch him
training 1 said, shaking my head. HE
runs round and round the long path, you
know, and likes some one to take a watch
and count how many times he goes
round"
''Oh, well, that won't make serious
inroad on my leisure! He can't run all
day
He may even want you to go to a lot
of football matches That you cannot be
expected to do" i said firmly
''Oh, how delightful" The foolish child
actually clapped her hands. Il love foot
ball above everythingr I don't know
what the women of the present day are
coming to.
Anyhow, am afraid you will find poor
Charlie a terrible distraction I must con-
TESS, too, that he is rather given to teas
ing"
So said she, with a mischievous twin
kle in her eye, "am II
Il do hope you will not quarrel" 1
begged land that you will give him as
much of your society as you can. l want
the dear fellow to enjoy himself"
Now, don't you worry, you dear old
auntie,' she replied, shaking one finger
at me. Charlie and 1 are going to be
great friends. I've a way. wild the men,
don't you know"
cap straight again. I'll go and look up
my fnery to charm his eyes" She
tripped off. singing Charlie is my darl-
ing" and l Vainly tried to feel quite salts
fed at the success of my plan. More
over, I could not resist a feeling that I
was not acting quite straightforwardly
with her. Poor little Addte, She is a
bonny girl. If only Tom hadn't been SO
improvidenti
Well, Charlie came home and took us
all by storm as usual, and from the first
look which he gave her 1 began to have
my fears. 'Of course, mother. he said
when 1 told him that she was used to a
lot Of attention and would expect him
TO accompany her in her painting excur-
sions. Isn't She a jolly little thing? I'm
awfully glad 10 find her here
He took her out for four hours the next
morning. and she timed his running and
stimulated him TO fresh exertions in the
afternoon. In the evening he taught her
bezique, and she tried to make him learn
a song. l almost cried when I found that
they had arranged a similar programme
for the next day. The day after that she
went to see him play football, and the
next day he took her out from morning
till evening to sketch the old abbey. and
SO they went on.
At the beginning of the second week
however, the advice of the editor Of the
Domestic Journal began to justify Itself
They came home from one of those hor-
rble football matches, gloomy and silent
and didn't speak to one another all the
evening. The next day she went out alone
to her painting. and ne trained without
assistance. After dinner she went 70 bed
with a headache, and ne went out TO play
billiards. I am sorry to say that ne had
not returned when l retired for the
night,
This state Of things continued for sew
eraI days. and sent a letter To the Do
nestle Journal. which called forth the
following reply:
Anxious Mother:-We are glad that our
plan has met with such; complete sue
cess, but We had no doubt upon the sub
tect The clotted cream IL much appre-
ciated. and we shall always be pleased
to hear from you
l lay back upon the sofa with a graft
fed sigh and dropped the paper on the
floor with a view 70 a nap. Sometimes
feared Il was only @ lovers quarrel, and
OF course II they were really in love.
couldn't stand in rlleir way or wish them
to part: but 3hss answer had set ny mind
ar rest I was just composing myself
% sleep. with the rugs tucked round ne
when ! heard Charles voice from the