The age-herald., 1901-03-25
"Aint if De Trnf2u

Speaking of conventions. one is attract ed by charming little story, "A Farm CTS Wife Makes Visit written by Mrs. Lucy Lea Bell, daughter of Col. Sumpter Lea of Birmingham, who was one of the ablest and most distinguished members of the Alabama Constitutional Convention of 1875, when he was citizen of Dallas. Colonel Lea is hale and hearty, and is stronger than ever he was, though he Is now totally blind. And 1t says much for the human kindness of that great heart ed and pious man that he is in his blind- ness the happiest mortal in this valley.
 In the little story, which appears in the Atlanta Journal, the chief-man- -about-the- place watched the wife's prolonged pre- parations for her days journey on her months visit with ''rueful countenance, . as probably every helpless and defensa- less husband has experienced
 'It was that time of the year when cooks in our part of the civilized world, are as scarce as hens teeth, and I pom dered long on the subject of ways and means for providing one I left behind me with hot bread and fresh butter, for the cooking of coffee and meat were among boasted accomplshments-in my absence.
 T mentioned my anxiety about his well fare to this chief-man, and he actually resented my attitude of uneasiness. say ing that he could keep house without any trouble; not to bother about him.
 -"As the chief-man had, by suggestion rather than words, caviled at woman's s ovd i,,I culine sex upon mental pedestal of ca- pacity and achievement, so. so, thought l. my fine fellow, a little Experienced right about now will not be amiss.
 "A list of pleases' beginning with feed the chickens, was hung by the chimney with care for the benefit of an absent-minded man, and my sense of duty was fully satisfied, so I bade fare- well for a season to my household gods and went to my girlhood's home. The first letters from the 'man-aIl-alone' were brave enough, and had little to say of hardships, but in about two weeks something was wrong, evidently, and my correspondent said he was doing the best he could, but the house and prem ises lacked my 'skillful touch a 'wom- ans hand, etc. Finally toward the end of my sojourn he admitted that he would like to have a good square meal again, and though he drank cream every day it was not very 'flllin''
 "On my return I was met with warm welcome from man and beast and fowl, and went to work-my woman's work. Ye gods and little fishes! Even dish washing must have been a serious un- dertaking with the late chef, for he con- fessed, under pressure, that he had only washed dishes at rare intervals. and just scraped them out, as saving time and la bor. One of the neighbors suggested, on hearing his disinclination to dish wash ing. that Maybe he didn't mind eating after himself , = i.r,,7.. a
 The touch of feminine hands soon re- stored order and my energies were ap- piled successfully to the preparation of good all-around square meals, at regu- lar hours, and all went we'll .t
 "The discipline was wholesome, and 'he-of-the-pleased countenance, while at meals no more discourses of the delicious biscuits of his boyhood, but in honeyed accents praises my feathery bread as he gorges himself with the various vi- ands of my making.
 " Woman, says he, woman is mans helpmeet And I say to myself, in the language of an ex-black cook of mine: 'Ain't it de truf? "