The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-07-03
TALES OF TWO SERVANTS.
THE WAYS OF SUBURBAN "HELPn
ARE PAST FINDING OUT.

wrong occasionally. by the way, how was that
time'honored and time-dishonored proverb ever
invented No ono ever know, much loss had q
calling acquaintance with, n best regulated
FAMILY So the proverb must bo purely tradi.
uonal. At any rate, 1t is settled that things do
60 wrong.
So far so good. One evening Mr.. and Mrs.
o'rephon were sitting In what they called their
drawing room, he smoking and she sowing or
uoing some other housewifely thing. when
4 visitor came. The visitor was two per.
sonH' MIR. and Mrs. Klaus, II you care to call
them so. Atter tho usual Interchange Of tho
usuai remarks, and after Mr.. Klaus had refused
politely hut firmly Strephon's offered cigar
Strephon's cigars were infamous in tho place
where he lived-tbe conversation reached the
point at which Mrs. klaus had intended 1t
should arrive. and she began:
I've come, Phyllis, to SEQ what you can say
about Mary Regan. who used to be your cook.
She referred me to you"
Used to bel" cried Mrs. Strephon. used
to bel Why. Mary Regain is my cook now!''
but she came to mo to-day" said Mrs.
Klaus, "and told me she had left you. and that
You would her. In fact, / engaged
her, and she cooked the dinner for us tonight"
Twas a good dinner, too" saidsMr. Klaus.
Mrs. Strephon thought q moment.
well, this was Mary's day out, she said at
last, 'and sho hasn't got back yet, so / don't
know where she's been in tho meantime. But
under the circumstances, l don't think l care to
recommend her to you"
Mrs. Klaus acquiesced. and In the excite
ment of the moment Mr.. Klaus accepted one Of
Strephon's cigars. Then the visitors went
homo to discharge their new cook, MIR. Klaus
murmuring reEretfully: "She was u darned
good cook. you know"
When they'd gone Mr.. and Mrs. Strephon
looked at one another, but said nothing for
some time. Finally Strephon. swore gently to
himself.
THANK you said his wife. That's just the
way I feel"
Then they discussed the matter from various
points Of view. and finally locked up the house,
having decided that the self.discharged cook
would not return to them. But she did. She
came up the back way. intending doubtless to
be well in the house before the Strephons know
about her escapade, and once in the house she
could have denied everything. But fate was
against her and for the Strephons. The gate
opened outward, but when Mary reached It she
was in a mood: not, to remember little details.
Broad effects. SO 50, long on a. they We're broad
leaned against the gate and tried to open It.
As 1t wasn't built that way her attempt was a
failure. Then she lifted up her voice and
howlcd for help. She made such a noise that
Strephon. who had intended to view her from
afar off and address touching language TO her,
was uONOul u kO uONua III buOn uGE uOH " KSL
through the gate.
Its simple enough when you know how"
he said, with much more kindliness of manner
than the occasion seemed to warrant-for which
he was properly, reprnved by Mrs. S%trephon later
and then he showed her into where Mrs. Sire
phon was sitting. What passed between the
two Strephon never could remember. Phyllis
was indignant; 80 was Mary. When q cook
gets indignant and is also very much intoxi-
Gated. her language is something either to re.
member, all ones life or else not 10 remember at
all. 1t is enough to say that Mary was deeply
Rrieycd, ii never entered her head that the
people who paid her wages had any rights that
drunk II she got Of angrier iS and angr aeT and nd's ssrieSead
louder and moro loudly. Finally. Strephon
went VEN. toward her and t99k her by the arm !G,.,
hev the law on yees for laying a hand on mei'
mv ,shqs p FEno said Mdu strsSP9 60!R k Id@ AL, e LAWYER Yer
cause strephon had left the law:l You pack
your bag and get out of here without another
been warned. You are a trespasser. and il
YOU don't a, 70 at once have a right to put you
The woman was taken aback by strephon's
unexpected knowledge of The law, and packed
:%Sh, MOI" sad the man Of the house.
Not at all" said Strephon. you left us
without giving notice. You don't even get
But the ex-cook could not understand polite
ness. even Of ~Strephon's, brand. and started
away very angry. Sho missed the top step and
slid rapidly down O steep place into the mud,
and there she lay. cursing. until S%trephon again
called her attention to the fact, which she
seemed to have forgotten, that she was q tres
passer and liable to be fired out quickly II she
didn't go. Tlren at last she became quiet; and
she must have gone. because she wasn't there
the next morning.
The next day but one she had strcphon sum-
strophon and Mrs. Klaus spent an hour in the
Justices court, but Mary didn't appear. SO she
That is one of the things that happen even in
tho houses that aren't perfectly regulated.
What must happen, then. in the best regulated
familiGsi Perhaps it Is as well not to push this
Now. that's the story, Of Mary; this is the
story OF Kate. 1t is much the same, but with q
! difference. Kate had left one family in friend.
! illness, because she couldn't do the work, and
had gone to- another family to do everything eM,
Kate worked daily less and less, and complained
Ono day when the family came down to break
room In the hall. it being the day whom the din
ing room was to be cleaned thousckoeper know
G TsT SrS Ssy a. w ia Darn. 4Fi GSSm s1 Rs fe'9 hsd TO % e eas
tho furniture back. Later in tho day Mrs.
Common told her to sweep tho dining room.
"Oi amt goin' to take the furniture out O
VANCE and he'd to put II bsck, an it's meself
thatll not put IL back Rgin."
Mr.. Commoff was about to discharge tho
woman then, and there. but his wife persuaded
want to worry about getting a new servant just
then. But that evening came in a friend, who
wanted to know II Mrs; '9mmoG would recon-;
with her for q long time. On inquiry, Mrs.
Common, learned that Kate had agreed to go 70
tho baby and everything else that she hadn't
done for her: Naturally. it rather surprised
her to know that the woman who had Just es.
capped being discharged should have gone to a
friend and given her as a reference: but she
told the friend the facts in the case.
Where Kate spent that night did not appear
to the But early in tho morning she
came to the house. Now,..Mr. ColnmOf, as a
rule, goes carly to town. and Kate reached tho
house about ton minutes after his usual time
for beginning 10 run for the train. But this
morning. for some reason. he was late In lrav-
ing. Kate walked In. Just as the best of cooks
appears each morning TO get the missus's Orders,
as II She had never thought OF changing her resi-:
dence. But when Mrs. Oommoff remarked
With asperity that she thought her proceedings
rather strange, the woman turned upon her.
.h An nr,d Is it .Tne sSxiDt that S1,ns yersGlf 2 LADY,
maxim her lose a good situation, Oh, it's yer:
self that should, he ashamed, tnkin' the bread ont
Of a hard WOrkin' Qurrl's mouth It's ma that