Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1901-06-24
THE STORY OF sEDALIA.

There was calm in the coming Of
| Sedalia. There was balm and healing
blessedness. There was the boon of
peace. Domestic affairs emerged
from their chaos OF disorder and
moved with rhythmic regularity At
! ter feeling upon our necks the stiff
reins of many maid of all work we
discovered that those Sedalia welded
were silken and that she was gentle
on the bit. Indeed, we were apt to get
our metaphors mixed when we spoke
of Sedalia, for while it was the aspir-
ing young lawyer of the family who re-
proved the sporting individual for
such phrase it was the daughter of
the house who likened Sedalia to a
great rock in weary land. The pa
terfamilias jocularly decided that she
was good for the preparation of hui
man natures daily food.
So Sedalia adopted us, and we were
duly grateful for the honor. To be
sure, she had her peculiarities. She
couldn't abide a body trackin' up her
floor. So few were the feet which
trod thereon soon after the sound of
her scrubbing rush had ceased. And
she resented-as rejecting upon her
capability-the anxiety which brought
the mistress of the house out into the
kitchen before dinner Her interest
in the health Of the HOUSEHOLD became
vivid-almost aggressive. One must
render account for heavy eyes or fail
ing appetite. The boarder feared to
meet her piercing gaze. Much as he
relished her waffies he shrank guiltily
from meeting her eye. And yet he
was the most harmless of boarders-
the most innocent. In regard to wom-
en- his life was oiank white page.
While he had cared in the course of
his fifty years for several women he
had never been conceited enough to
fancy that any woman could care for
him. He lived in his office, his books,
his few old friends. The daughter Of
the house called him the alliterative
artist not, she explained, because he
painted portraits in his leisure hours,
but because he was proper, peculiar,
sing.
But then no one paid much attention
to what the daughter of the house
| said. She was at the age when enjoy
| ment of athletic games sweeCened her
| life, and her perpetual exposition of
the aforesaid delights made melan-
choly the lives of others
The first day that Sedalia bent her
| eagle eye upon the bachelor-Mr.
| Alexander Trimmerth by name-that
individual perceptibly WINGED.
| He looked up from his delectabIe
breakfast in slightly iervous apprenen-
sion.
"You-you spoke to me?"
Sedalia continued to regard him
with judicial gravity
"No-I didn't But I Wilt you
don't mind. How's your liyer?"
Mr.. Trimmerth gasped. He hastily
set down his coffee cup.
"My-my' he faltered My
"Your liver" repeated Sedalia. 'It
| doesn't seem to me that the whites OF
your eyes have got a real healthy
look. They are kind of yellow
! That was the time the small boy dis
tinguished-and disgraced- himself.
eff the whites are kind of yellow,
| Sedalia," he ventured, why don't you
call them the yolks?"
But Sedalia was not to be diseon-
certed. Although her interest in each
and every member of the household
was unusual, it was Mr.. Trimmerth
| whom she was apparently most anx-
ious to keep in perfect health. To tell
the truth, he rather resented her soil
citude, and as weeks went on this re-
sentiment deepened. He spoke of it to
the head of the house with something
approaching CONSERVATION.
'Why, she moved the hot biscuits
out Of my reach this morning, as
though l were a child he gasped.
Said they were real short suppose
she meant rich-and said they might
bring on another headache
"You have not been having so many
headaches lately" he was gently re-
minded
mo! I dare say she's right in the
main. But can't say that I like her
everlasting supervision"
She's a capital cook" declared the
landlady.
I'm not denying that But she's too
conscientious. She takes an interest
in me because she thinks she ought
to. That's the trouble with her