The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-09-04
THE SMITH FAMrLY's OUTING.

MtS. SIIlILH was III a fluCln0uS mood. On this sultry August morning of which
 I write her very soul was sick within her of the never ending routine of do- mestic duties. She was so tired of the l numberless demands on her time and l patience, so tired with the monotony of it all, that she longed to get out into the beautiful country, where broad stretch es of land and of sky would unfold themselves to her vision, where she
 might listen to the song of birds. and where kitchen sights and sounds were things unknown.
 Mrs Smith was a nervous and highly impressi0nable woman, and she had ideas. She believed that life was given to us for other purposes besides the
 mere eating and drinking and it made her almost desperate at times to feel that life was slipping away from her with so little accomplished. For one
 thing the regularity and promptitude of the meals to be prepared, day in and day out, through all the oncoming
 years, troubled her. It was as if she | were goaded by invisible whip and spur.
 Mrs. Smith was tired. bodily and men, tally tired, and needed the refreshment | of change of scene and people.
 | So when Mir Smith announced at the | table this morning that he was obliged to go away on business which would de- ! tain him for few weeks. Mrs. Smith had an idea. We will close the house
 and go away, too," she said, and when l Mrs. Smith spoke in that decided tone
 results usually followed.
 Trunks were speedily brought from
 store-room and from attic, and prepa-
 rations for the fitting were actively be- 1 gun. Hattie, who had just graduated l from the High school, and who was a most discreet and sensible girl, should
 go to Maine. It gave young people the l needed eelf-rellance to travel alone and l be among strangers. Besides it was a good way of studying the geography of l ones country to visit different parts which was one of the many reasons l why Maine was selected for Hattie | Mrs. Smith and the two younger chill | dren, Bob and Elsbeth, were to go to a I farmhouse up among the Connecticut hills. But "the best laid schemes O mice and men gang aft a-gley," as Mrs. | Smith discovered. The day before they
 were to have gone Hattie was seized with violent cold which developed symptoms of pneumonia, which necessi- l tated the unpacking of the medicine chest for the needful remedies. And
 such medicine chest as it was! There
 were pills and pellets galore; there were powders and plasters in abundance, and there were bottles of murky fluids bear | ing directions, "to be shaken when ta-
 ken" In short it was an embryo drug
 store, being the product of both schools.
 Mrs. Smith did not propose to isolate 1 herself in the country miles away from apothecary or physician. and with wise | forethought, had provided herself &C., cordingly.
 ! Before Hattie had recovered sufTi- ciently to travel Bob came in one day with bruised and bleeding face, woe~
 full and disreputable looking object in- deed. While Jumping over the wires which were stretched around the neigh | bors' lawns to protect the grass from
 the feet of passing and mischievous boys he had stumbled and fallen upon i the hard brick walk. Mrs. Smith was equal to the occasion, and bathed and bandaged the boy to her hearts content. 1 But going away from home with q boy
 whose face was in such 6 battered con- dition was not to be considered for an instant. Why, he would be taken for an infant pugilist, and no right-minded 1 person would be willing to receive him | into thp hnsorn If i1ar fa f,aiIy
 l At last the Fates seemed propitious,
 and day was finally appointed for the leave taking. But the carrier brought | a letter from Mir. Smith that morning in
 which he stated that his business had
 been completed much sooner than he had anticipated, and he would be at
 home that night. Well" said Mrs. Smith, "We will at least have one days outing. "--She was resourceful woman
 We will dine out and then ride out into the country" So they went to
 a hotel, where they did justice to
 a most excellent dinner The dining room was so pleasant, the food so we'll
 cooked and daintily served, the tables
 so immaculate with their center pieces
 of bright flowers and the maids in at
 tendance were trim and tidy. In short that dinner was a complete success.
 Bob, who was a manly fellow, in spite
 of his proclivity for vaulting over wire fences, carried the family purse and
 paid for the dinners with man-of- -the-
 world air, which was most amusing.
 His freckled face, on which the tender new cuticle showed in patches, fairly glowed with pleasure. Now and then
 he would say, We are having good time, aint we, Map
 Then the family went to the depot and
 sat awhile on the benches watching the surging stream of travellers constantly passing to and fro. This was amusing for time, for Mrs. Smith liked to study character as portrayed in the human face, and had a habit of judging people by their physiognomy. When they
 emerged from the building and took the car for Hamden they had quite a trav- eled air, which the hackman speedily recognized.