Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1901-02-14
HELEN'S STOCKINGS.

| nrst thing. what you would thlnk OF q
sho owned 20 pairs Of stockings, with
small hole in the toe Of each one!"
.'Hml-2O pairs; 40 holes to darn" con
mepted the plump, lazy-lookng maiden ]
The deep rocker. "Tell her for me that
think she'd better engage maid, Helen"
But comfortable Mary looked straigh
through Helen and simply said: 'Brn
them down, honey. I'll help you dari
them"
ooh. | have them right here in a basket be
hind this SCREEN" Helen admitted, bringin
them forth with shameless alacrity. Il
tell the whole truth, girls, while | wanted L
see you all, this afterDoon-of course l want
ed TO see YOU or wouldn't have invited yol
still at the same time / did think tina
there would be just five pairs Of stocking
apiece for us four girls, and it occurred to ms
| that if we could get them all done I'd cele
brate by serving you a perfectly deliciou
orange sherbet that's waiting In the freezel
now"
| Even the girl with the special talent smiled
at the frankness Of this bride, and Helen be
gan TO distribute stockings and darning WOO
and needles, without waiting to be urged.
"You knew I'd have some novel form Of
entertainment for you, didn't you, dearsY
she asked. 1T took me long while to think
up something perfectly original, and when
finally hit Oh this / almost shed tears-ii
seemed so hard 10 give up this beautiful
collection Of open-work toes that I've treas
ured so long. | wouldn't have done 1t for
anyone else, you may know.
"Highly honored, I'm sure" murmured
one who was already busily weaving her
needle under and over.
Thought you would be-" rejoined Helen,
cheerfuliy. "You see, it's ike this: |
couldn't put on a stocking with hole in 1t
without shaking all over for fear Of tn,
terrible accident that was going to happen
to me that day and mangle me all to pieces
and leave my remains unacceptable, ex-
cept for one foot with hole in its stocking
which would be left intact and disgrace me
and al my relatives forever That's the
way my mother brought me up. And, on the
other hand, / can't sit down and darn stock
ings so long as have a cent OF my allowance
left to buy a new pair with That's the way
my mother didn't bring me up. But, be
tween these two states Of mind, I've been
very near going barefoot. Now, you
needn't think we're going to vegetate this
afternoon, even if we are taken up with do
nestle drudgery. / have all sorts OF sugges
tioDs for mental activity"
IF this isn't just like Helen" drawled
the lazy girl "She ought to have been one
Of these performers that play the piano with
their toes while they're writing books with
one hand and stirring cakes with the
other. That would have made her prefeetly
happy. She never was content with any
kind Of physical exercise unless she could
keep her head at work on something all the
time. Don't you remember, Helen, that
TO be continued play you invented when
we were youngsters-the one we used to
play going to and from school, or when we
were sent on errands, or doing any kind Of
work together? You called il Theodore and
Theodosia, and you always had a new
phase Of the plot every time / saw you"
"But wasn't Theodore a nice fellow, as
played him?" queried Helen. Il often
wished could meet one that compared with
him Didn't he make love to the queens
taste? All, that was the sort BY the
way, heard the other day of a company Of
men who were asked what woman in fiction
they would rather take out to dinner, and
whom do you think they all choseg Becky
Sharp Wasn't it horrid in them? Isn't
il enough to discourage woman from try
ing to be truthful or angelic or anything
the way men prefer the heartless, deceiving
kind? Well, it set me to wondering what
man in fiction I'd like 10 have take me out,
and. actually, don't you laugh, girls, but
couldn't think Of one j cared to associate
with except that dear old Theodore | in
vented myself! 1t sounds ridiculous, / know,
but you think them over yourselves. can't
recall man in George Eliot or Dickens, or
even Shakespeare, who tempts me the leas.
bit And take later fiction: There's John
Gray in The Choir Invisible / wouldn't
turn over my finger to 60 out to dinner with
him, would You? l think Howells' Mr..
March in his Silver Wedding Journey
would be rather half way nice if he were not
too much engrossed with his wife On the
whole, / guess that's the trouble with all
the heroes in fiction. They're so taken up
with their old heroines that they don't in
terest me at all, when / come to think Of
sitting down for an hours talk with them.
What do you think?"
The lazy girl yawned over the stocking
she was darning. I'm too sleepy to think
at all today" she answered.
(which reminds me-" pursued Helen,
promptly, Il didn't intend to ask you to
think. / knew better The exercise had
prepared for our amusement was to choose
some unexplainabe subject and just won
der about it-not think, you know, and not
to try to settle it, but each tell what we
wonder. Take dreams, for instance. Every
body has wondered about them. Now. III
begin by wondering why it is that, although |
| have had two different homes since left |
the one in the country, where l was born
and spent my little-girl days, still never
have a dream vivid enough to be remem
bered next morning which is not located in
that Old home"
well. / wonder" followed Mary, ''why
certain person whom l respect and admire
when I'm awake always appears in the
worst possible light in my dreams. He's in
variably doing something selfish or unkiHd !
or saying the wrong thing, you know, and |
in real life he doesn't seem to be that kind |
Of man at all. It gives me a queer feeling !
that may be, in my subconsciousness, what. |
ever that is, there's another estimate Of him. |
quite different from the one / consciously |
have-and possibly a truer one, too. won.
der"
The girl with the special talent laughed a