Daily inter mountain., 1900-12-24


Flora has always had temper, or
rather a will. If Flora ever gets set or
| anything, she seems to turn into a sort
of human fortress, and all the kings
horses and all the kings men can't make
much of an impres sion on her. yet 1T was
through this very will that Flora came
to marry Albert Eddy. am F'lora's aunt,
and | know all about it. There isn't any
harm in my telling. l have heard Flora
tell it herself dozens of times.
1t was quite late in her life before
Flora was married, though she was real
| good looking, and considerably well-to-
! do. 1 don't know why the young men.
| did not seem to care much about ner;
| perhaps one reason was she never SEEM
| ed to care much about them perhaps
! another was. that she always acted kind
! of settled down, and satisfied. Fiora's
| eyes never wandered around in search
c,f husbands, and she used to sit as
| straight as a gun in meeting, and never
| turn her head. But then she didn't have
| to, to see the minister He was the one
she married. However. she used to look
| at him just to hear the sermon, and she
never hung behind after meeting to see
him, nor had any questionsSbf conscience
| that she needed spiritual advice for like
a good many women in the village. She
| just kept right on in her own way. When
| he came to call on her, she turned the
| mats and the tides, and the pictures, and
| her apron, just as she did for other call
| ers, that she wasn't real intimate with,
| but that was all. She'd sit and talk with
| him calm S aclock.
You see, this habit that Flora had of
| turning things to keep them nice made
| quite little talk in the village. though
| she wasn't the only woman who was a
| nice housekeeper, who did that. 1t know
| lots of women, now, who never have
| their mats right side out, unless they
have particular company but Flora car
ried it a good deal farther. Why, I've
| been into Flora's house, when there was
hardly single thing that was right side
| out. She had a new carpet in her par
,lor. and she put that down wrong side
| out to begin with, because it had a blue
color on the right side, that she was
| afraid would fade, and all her mats were
turned, with the sewed ridges of the
! braiding showing, and the pictures, all
back-to, and the tides and the table
cloth. and Flora's apron. She was very
thrifty and splendid housekeeper.
Som esaid she was the best housekeeper
in the village. She couldn't bear
speck of dust or anything out of place,
the dishes nher buttery used to look
! as if they Were fairly grown to the
! es wrong sdeaufdetoa srdl etoain shrdlu
| shelves. She used to keep even the
! dishes wrong side out or rather bottom
| side up, the plates all piled on their faces
| and the cups and saucers turned over,
and the covers of the vegetable dishes,
and the covers of sugar bowl and tea pot
, set in the wrong way.
When Flora had a particular caller,
| like Mrs. c. F. Belton. who is the richest
woman in town, or the minister, she used
to fly around and straighten things.
! Luckily her house was set high, and she
could see long way down the road, and
had sCne time, but anyway she had to
work quick. I've been in there when she
! spied somebody coming, and helped her.
! The way We would whop over those mats
/ and the table cloth and the tides, and
the way we'd clap over those pictures,
and George Washington would loom up,
and Daniel Webster, and little vase
of flowers in pencil that Flora had done
| when she went to school. and Flora's
mothers portrait. was a caution. Some
times used to think she was dreadfully
silly to make herself so much trouble. I
used to tell her that there wasn't any
| she had enough to buy new ones Wen
| those gave out, hut she wouldn't listen to
! me
I've always done it, she would say, as
| if that settled it.
Good land, Flora,' said once. ITS
lucky you haven't always stolen, and
committed murders and drank, because
| do believe you'd think that was reason
enough to go right on. and make it good
! and respectable" But she couldn't see
any sense in my looking at it that way.
A person with such a will as Flora hardly
ever knows it, the not knowing it max es
the will last. l guess
Well, she kept right on living wrong
side out. and up side down. to save things
and it seemed to get worse and worse.
| l remember once l asked her why she
didn't walk on her head so as to save
| her shoes, and she felt real sort of hurt
about it. She was wearing her stockings
one side out one day, and the other the
next, because she thought they would
wear better and that made me think
OF :.
Finally people began to whisper that
the minister, Mr.. Albert Eddy, was call
ing pretty often on Flora, and l joked
her about it little. She blushed and
didn't act as if she minded, and that
very afternoon when we Were sitting
there in the parlor, / saw him coming
down the road. Land, here he is now
Flora" said l.
She didn't say anything, but she col
ored and sort of laughed and then we
both began to fly around to turn things
right side out. Flora whopped over the
mats. and l swung around the pictures
and by the time the doorbell rang every.
thing was right side out except Fora's
apron. She had clean forgotte nthat
When she came in with the minister.
saw rigt away that she had it on wrong
side out, it was ruffled too, and that
made it worse. l rose up when the min
lister came in, l thought i wouldn't be
in the way, but l hated to leave and not