Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1904-09-21
distant cousins come and bring the,,

distant cousins come and bring their
friends, utterly unexpected, though
can look for them most any time, and
and keep home from church. and
make 1t the hardest day in the week,
do wish they would be more consid-
crate"
well, there Is new rule in order
now. and shall expect you all to din
| ner one week from tomorrow We
will decide in the meantime who can
| best entertain us the next time. and
the invitation can be given in an off.
| hand manner at dinner and no male
| 5ipei will suppose for moment that
| he IS being managed said clever Mrs,
Fletcher. Clever. because she knew
| she was the one woman of the group
! whose pocket book aevsr was empty.
and who could furnish the first dinner
and give the others chance to save
up In the meantime for the day when
they should serve.
She knew perfectly well that she
should talk the matter over win
Ned. and was sure of his cooperation
In anything she wished. for he was
one OF the husbands who did not need
managing. and ii the other men could
have known the blessing of such COM
radeship as existed between him and
his wife. sane. loving. considerats.
they would have wished for it in their
h@ D,,t ;,,t.
ton was against 1t. and so perfect con-
| fidence was an unknown quantity In
their homes. Only in little things. but
the fineness OF the gold was dimmed.
the beauty of the home-lite impaired.
to the extent that mutual confidence
was imperfect.
Was the combine successful? Most
| emphatically SO. as any one of them
would tell you. could you see her per-
sonally, The minister congratulated
himself because three of his teachers.
who had been wont to take vacation
through the warm weather. alleging
that they simply could not care for
the classes and Sunday dinners. did
not even suggest substitute. and
the very infrequent Sabbaths they
were absent he secured Mrs. Fletcher,
| who had no regular class. to fill the
vacancy.
Rested. cheerful women ready for
the next weeks work. instead OF
dreading 1t. was partial result. and
four we'll satisfied households through
ont ho
combination.
One day Mrs. Raynor asked Mrs.
Fletcher how she came to think OF
such delightful arrangement.
well, | did not exactly think of 1t.
it evolved as most things do. When
my sister and both lived in the same
city. it was an understood thing that
every other Sunday only one should
get dinner. One day | thought how
nice 1t would be to enter into some
such plan with a neighbor: gradually,
as | thought 1t over. decided that
| four would be the right number. nei-
ther too many nor too few, and select
| ed you three to help me, as first
choice. II for any reason either Of
you had thought 1t impossible. should
have selected some one else. for was
determined to try 1t, and equally de-
termined You should enjoy it If could
persuade you"
We'll, can say right now that I
never enjoyed summer more. Some
way, that free coming in made me
feel as if was free from RESPONSE
bility for time. and gave me strength
to rest, for 1t takes strength to do
that" and she laughed little con-
STRANGELY.
h 1T certainly d9s $. ,, and it takes
or pencil. Once having down ve ~a