Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1900-07-26

The South Door
BY Margaret n. Eckerson.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES

such a model in all respects, tina
\ uIIes Hewitt felt his excessive pride il
it a perfectly justifable thing, and as h'
strolled about it this sultry July morn
ing, surveying it from all points o.
view, he could not restrain his oft-re
| peated encomiums: Admirable! Ad
mirable Fine! None better in 'the
country" Then, as he espied Esther, his
wife, looking for early apples in the or
chard below, he called in his soft, slow
voice: Come up here, Esther"
The call troubled her. She had no
time to spare, as this was very busy
morning, crowded with work, and the
girls, Ria and Ella, were engrossed with
preparations for a picnic at Point
o'Rocks, on the lake, that afternoon.
As for the barn, how thoroughly she
knew it, from the shining COW that
served as a weather vane to the founda-
tions. 1t had been the staple of Giles
conversation for months, and she could
not tell how many times she had meek
" followed in his wake to survey its
conyeniences.
Esther, do you hear me?" The soft
voice was distinctly peremptory. Giles
Hewitt always expected his women
folks TO come at his bidding.
She put down her basket filed with
red astrachans and went reluctantly up
| the hill
Il want you to see how well these
| doors work now" said Giles, leading
the way to the rear of the building.
What a grand view these doors
framed! 1t always struck her with a
sense of loneliness quite ineXpressible |
in words. She drew long signing /.
breath as she looked on wood and |
meadow, dimpled dells and swelling f..
hills, church spires rising whitley from |
bowery hamlets and a river winding
afar like a silyery ribbon. Northward a
blue lake glittered like a jewel in an
emerald setting, and in the west a cir
clet of hills vanished delicately like
dream into the softly tinted sky.
How beautiful" she said. 1T rests
me just to look. l could sit here and
look, just look for hours! Oh, Giles, if
the house only stood here on the hill,
and l could only see all this from the
kitchen door!"
The house is in the best place,
Esther, sheltered from the north winds.
don't understand why you are always
saying that"
She sighed. Yes, know, but such
view is food and rest. Oh, know you
think me silly. Yes, am truly glad
you have such a big, convenient barn, /
so many nice labor-saying things about
it; it must be good to have things as 1
you want them;" she began to plait her
apron hem neryously. Il was thinking
that now the barn is finished and all the I
crops so promising and the hay crop is
so large, that you will be willing to let
me have the door eut through the south |
side of the kitchen. You know how {
long have waited to have it doneY"
She looked so wistfully meek, stand $
ng there with a timid, deprecatory r
smile on her lips. She had never been a G
woman-no one knew
that better than Giles. Nevertheless, d
he felt annoyed and angered. He had t
not called her up hera 10 discuss her S
whims. a
You know" she went on, 81 just
want a common door with a glass sash, j
and then I'd like a little stoop running l.
to the end of the house. | could do the d
out there, and lots of little h
kitchen is SO small and hot t
and it won't cost much. johnson cal c
'ulated he could do all l wanted for S
$40" {
Johnson" his tone was distinctly t
angry. s.
"You see, Giles" she plated the apron {
overland over quite frustrateda at his per- II
,eptible annoyance; ''it was when he .
came down TO the house one day for a II
drink Of buttermilk-and you know 5
what a hand he is to jolxe-he said: r
This Us a sort of unhandy kitchen, Mrs.
Hewitt; you'd better move up TO your c
barn and have II airier and u
handler Then I told him how want
ed door cut through on the south and 4
we talked it over and he figured it up .
and"
Good heavens, Esther!" cried Giles. D
~ 'NaAN'A ~ AAStNA LlltEs never I
knew such a gadhy as you are. You get a !,
an idea in your head and harp on it u
eternally. Door door, Door,' You G
'an't think or talk anything else; and
now, after all the barn has cost and the Il
necessity for economy, one would think d
you would have some common sense. =.
But, you are a Royal" !,
He sneered as if thus branding her =
'ignitied that her people had been ex- l.,
.ravagant and wasteful. Then. noting "
he quivering Of her lips and the tears =,
yelling beneath her lids, he was more
fingered than ever and went on irately;
For 40 years my mother used that ;,
dtchen and never heard her COMPLAIN. "
'ut some women want the world, and !.
laving that would cry for the moon. =
Don't you say door TO me again"
She turned away without a word and @
vent down the hill to the orchard bars :
'he wiped her eyes before she tool, m =
he apples and trudged back TO the =,
louise. The girls must not see the 7