The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1899-11-15
SOMERSET PA, WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER Is 1899

/ viii uO jest Nuat you Tell mc 70,
sez she, standin' before me, tear
! streaming down her white cheeks, he
work-box in one hand, and the oncom
pleted slipper a-danglin' in the other.
"Well," sez I, 'the first thing to d.
to put them aside" sez I, a-mo.ionin
20 the slippers, two-thirds Of which WI,
not done; "and them too" sez I, pint
in to the delicate cobweb-work hangin
over the sides of her work-basket.
Lay them asidev' sez she, in won
derin, horror struck axents; "thes,
Christmas gifts ?n
And / leaned back in my chair ant
looked Indifferent, and sez /, al knew
you wouldn't do what 1 wanted yo,
to-"
"Oh, 1 will, 1 willF' sez she. "I viii
do it." And she went to a side table
and laid the work-basket on 1t and
throwed scarf over it. / see she meant
bizness, and she come back and sol
down on low stool at my feet and
leaned her pretty head against my
knee, and 1 smoothed down the clus
term curls on her pale forward and
went on.
"Now," sez I, ''the first thing you
do, you go to the book store and buy O
handsome copy Of rs Marriage a Fail
ure? for Louis Arnold, and some other
nice book or piece Of useful silverware
for his mother. Wrop these oncom-
pleted gifts up In silk paper and put
them in the draw; and as you shet that
draw up, shet up in 1t all your cares
and anxieties for Christmas; keep in
your mind only the beauty and blessed
ness Of the day, and its holy and hal
lowed meanin'. Keep this cobweb-
work you have done for yourself as q
motto that means Il will never do 1t
agin,' and buy of some poor girl that
wants the money some OF this hem
stitchin' and tattin' and drawwork you
want for your relations, and do them
up, ready to send away, and put them
in draws; and when you shet them
draws, shet up all anxieties for them.
Then" sez I, 'all this Off your mind,
bathe your wore-out eyes and pale face
in some good pure water, go to bed at
nine, and get up in the early mornin',
fresh and vigorous and go into the sun
light and drink down the esweet air like
a healin' cordial"
The weather wuz wonderful for Oc-
tOber; Injun summer had made the
country beautiful; the roads wus hard
and smooth as summer roads. See /,
''FOrgit all your cares, put on the pretty
dress you wuz maxim the last time /
saw you, and go out for long ride"
"Oh," sez she, al don't ride the
wheel any more"
"Why?" sez |, wonderfully.
"Oh, Louis don't like TO have me.
He thinks it's unladyhke and unwom-
anly."
DOu ne rue SeL L.
"Oh yes-he has to for his nerves.
He thinks that ridin' a wheel has al
most cured him. He used to be dretful
nervous and weak. He can't bear bein'
shut up in the house all the time"
"Well," sez I, didn't you think that
it helped you to ride? Your ma told
me that you felt like a new creature
after you had had your wheel for a
month
"Oh yes" Aunt Samantha" sez she,
''it did help me more than can tell,
and you don't know how / have miss
ed it; have felt that it would have
been such help to me while 1 was
maxim these Christmas gifts"
"Well, why under the sun and moon,
to say nothin' of the stars and meteors,
haven't you kept on with what you
knew helped you SOP"
"Oh, Louis doesn't approve of my
ridin', and he wuz bitterly opposed to
my wearin' short skirts; he considered
it immOdest, and had jest about as
soon not go at all as to go in my long
skirts. The last time l rode, to please
Louis | wore my long dress, and right
in the middle of the village my dress
wound round the wheel, and it wound
my dress nigh up often me, and fell
over onto my head"
al suppose he considered that more
modest ?" sez I, dry as a chip.
"He is dretful opposed TO short
skirts" 8 she; he talked awful to me
about 'em."
"Why don't you insist on his wearin'
his bath-rObe on his wheel? Let him
try it once and then see. Why didn't
you say that you wuz shocked at the
sight Of his long limbs, and favored the
Eastern garb for men? Your dress wuE
modest and mejum, it come to the tops
of your shoes, and you wore divided
skirt Of the same cloth; you can tell
him, from me, your dress wuz jest
twice as modest as his'n."
"Oh," sez she, "I wouldn't think Of
criticism his dress"
"Why not, as long as he criticises
yours? But as for your dress and his'n,
they're both all right. And now do
you, within the next fifteen minutes,
don that gsrb, and go out on that
wheel, and take good long ride"
"Oh, / don't feel as though 1 should
go right against his wishes. I have
done everything | could to hold his
love"
"You have done too much," sez !,
coolly. "And now, Elinor Pogram, do
you brace up and have little gump-
ton. Get right onto your wheel and
go out into the sweet air and sunlight;
and if you meet Louis Arnold, jest nod
at him as cool as a cowcumber, and go
right on and foller it up next DAY and
next, or as long as good weather lasts.
'tI believe you rusted and tired out
your faculties a-bendin' over yorr fine
work from day to day, and he didn't
find your companionship exhilaratin'
and inspirin' at all He is bright
chap" sez /, 'you know, and he will
seek bright inspirin' company"
She looked up gratefully as 1 abused
her and excused Louis, in real wom-
anly way, and left the room to put on
her short bicycle rig. 1t was dark blue,
braided with white, and a coquettish