The Savannah morning news., 1903-03-02
THE TROUBLE In
THE LADIES' AID
By MARGARET BUCHANAN YEATEs.

We never had any trouble to speak
of in the Ladies Aid until that St.
| Louis milliner came to Berryville, an
after that we never had nothing but
trouble until she left. Twas a shame,
! too, fer the Ladies' Aid Society of Mt.
| lions Church had been runnin' along
| cam an peaceable ever sence things
| settled down in Southwest MizZourA
after the war. an old Mt. Zion got
opened up again.
| Then two or three years ago Jim
| Chapman started up whut he called a
| department store, an seat to st. Louis
after a young woman to run the mill
linery an Dire ssmaking part of it..
| Anybody'd a thought it wuz Queen
Victoria if they'd seen that st. Louis
lnilliner when she first come here.
She said she wuz French an that her
name was Madimysell Sara Dutong,
but the only sign l ever seen of her
bein' French wuz always calm st.
Louis st. Looey," like she couldn't
talk plain. For all the rest she talked
common Mizzoura talk like everybody
else, an l always did mistrust that her
name was nothing but Sally Dutton
after all.
However, we all wanted to be po-
lite, sc most of US called her Madi
myself, an l never in all my life seen
sech airs as that young woman put
on. She wuz mighty dressy, an wore
lots of jewelry an fine clothes an
always had her front hair frizzed up
until it was a sight.
OF course Madimysel went to
church at Mt. Zion-strangers always
do, it bein' by far the leadin' church of
Berryville-an' after a while we asked
her to join the Ladies' Aid, but we
seen right away that we had made
mistake, fer she begun to make
trouble as soon as she Joined.
Fanny Lou Baker wuz one of the
leadin' girls in Mt. Zion, an an Off
Ger in the Aid, an a sweeter or a
prettier girl than Fanny Lou never
lived in Mizzoura, accordin' to my
way of thinkin'. She wuZ always
mighty nice to strangers, too, Fanny
Lou was, an she went out of her way
TO be pleasant to that St. Louis mil
liner, bein', as she said. furriner, an
so far from home.
But noticed from the first that Mad
myself always acted sorter disagree
able whenever she Wuz anywhere near
full. couldn't think whut wuz the mat
ter until l noticed that Madimysell wuz
settin' her cap fer Fanny Louis beau.
John Holt, an then, of course, the cat
wuZ out of the bag.
John an Fanny Lou had been keepin'
company fer a couple of years, an
everybody wuz lookin' fer EN- to be mar
ried pretty soon, an everybody thought
1t wuz a good match. John wuz post
OF krlI ell
the town folks liked. an l saw right
straight that that ST. Louis milliner
wuz maxim dead set at him.
Sure enough, 1t wuzn't long before
John Holt begun to go with Madimysell
little once in a while, an even taken
her buggy-ridin' two Sundays hand
runnin', though found out afterwards
that that wuz accidental, so to speak
'Twuz about that time that Madimy-
sell Joined the Aid an our troubles be-
| gun. First she wanted to change the
name to Saint Somebody's Gid, whut-
| ever that may be. but we soon settled
| that. Then she wanted us to give UP
plain SEWN an let her teach us fancy
needlework, an some wuz In favor of
1t, but l said no, an meant it, too,
an bein' as / wuz president of the Aid,
that scheme fell through, too Then
| other things come up, gettin all the
Madimysell gainin' all the time more
| an more of a followin among the
younger an the weakened sisters. I'M
| til the Aid wuz near about split in
| two.
When things were about at the worst
| in the Aid, we decided to give SUD-
| per to raise money fer new carpet fer
| the church. an it wuz plum scandal
! the way some of them women acted
1 Graf = g.. IL.
| all of 'em church members, too. There
wuz one meetin', I recollect. when ]
| RELY believe some of 'em would have
| lit II they hadn't been women folks
| We had decided to have the supper In
the Town Hall, an wuz tryin' to make
up our minds whut kind OF eatin' to
have. but 1t seemed as if we jes
| couldn't agree. 1t wuz the last OF
April. an mighty warm fer the time OF
the year, an a good many wuz in favor
OF ice cream, but some, an Madimysell
spechully, wanted to have an oyster
supper.
At last Fanny Lou got UP in her
pleasant way an moved to have ice
cream. Fanny Lou wuz school
teacher, an always talked sorter soft
an proper. She hadn't more'n set
down when up jumps Madimysell an
says:
|
in her head. II move we have an oys-
ter supper. Ice cream is so common
and countrified, an oysters are so
much more of Il rarity" says she.
| Fanny Lou was on her feet in a
minute. an she never even looked at
| Madimysell
Madam President" says she. 81
would like to remind the ladies of the
Aid that the oyster season is about
over" says she. Il suppose that in
st. Louis and other inland towns
where oysters are a rarity, they don't
know what the season is an are glad
to get them at any time, but many of
us are from the eastern cities. and
do think we would care for oysters at
this time of the year, especially when
1t is so unseasonably warm"
An Fanny Lou set down as sud
dent as she got up. I could tell from
the sparkle in her eyes an the color
in her cheeks that she wuz mad all
over. Fanny Lou could be mighty
spunky sometimes.