Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1903-04-23
After the Farm.


THAT Mrs. Brown experienced a
l shock on coming out on the back
porch and seeing her daughter La
vinia absorbed in conversation with a
man, and that man PARROT" Smith,
is putting it mildly. Though a wo-
man of remarkably strong nerve and
even temper, an uncommonly deep
and shrewd woman, as her neighbors
could testify, she had to grasp the
railing in front of her, so surprised
was she at the sight.
Surely the world is coming to an
end!" she gasped.
When Lavinia saw her mother, she
took hasty leave of her admirer, and
went toward the house, looking guilty
and confused.
1t was a chilly evening in autumn,
and the big, warm kitchen, with the
supper table set out in the middle of
the well-scrubbed floor, looked CHEEKY
and inviting, but it failed to raise La
vinia's sinking heart, as her mothers
gaze confronted her.
AS she crossed the threshold, she
would have almost forgone the pleas
ure of having a gentleman ask if he
might come to see her Sunday night
if that pleasure was to result in a
gaze like this. She knew she had a
right to receive the attention of this
admirer, but that knowledge was of
singularly small avail to her.
HAS that man buried his third?"
her mother demanded in an awful
voice.
"He has," answered Lavinia.
when did he bury her?"
"'Bout two months ago." came the
detected answer.
"Oh, gracious Lord! Oh, Lordy,
Lordy, Lordy!" she exclaimed in a
terrible burst. II never, I declare l
never!"
At this moment Lavinia wished she
could sink through the floor to escape
her mothers wrath. She knew that
nothing she could say would do any
good, so she said nothing, and tried
to hold herself so as to be as little
aggravating as possible. She was
UNNECESSARILY surprised and ~unutter-
ably relieved when her mother sud-
denly and Unexpectedly dropped the
subject and said quite cheerfully:
swell, supper is ready, Laviny.
Come on, an don't stand there ar
outlying about nothing all the even
ing. If you amt hungry, I am"
Mrs. Brown vas shrewd. What she
said to herself was:
IF l go again that PARROT Smith
she'll stick up for him all the more,
SO I'll hold my tongue" She could
do it, too, being an exceptional wo-
man.
Poor Lavinia! Two tears rolled
down her weatherbeaten cheeks at
the kindly, though gruff words. She
had been working in the harvest field
all day, and was cold, hungry and
tired. For years she had taken a
mans place on the farm, and it was
a mans old, faded coat and hat she
now took off and hung on a nail be-
hind the door, where long ago her
father used to hang the same coat
and hat. She proceeded to wash"
before sitting down to supper, just
as any farm hand would do.
Her mother, engaged in "dishing
up" the wholesome food and pouring
hot tea, had NJ time to notice her
daughters troubled countenance, as
she tried to grasp the problem Of
this, her first love affair. Her moth
er's amiability continued through the
meal, and eve afterward. When the
evenings work was done, and the
two women sat down to read or sew,
the gentlemen" were not mem
toned.
Layinia thought with a burning
neart Of Sunday night. What would
her mother say and what would her
feelings be on that occasion? No
matter. For onc she would brave
her mothers wrath and indulge in
the luxury OF "sunday-night compa-
n.y."