The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1905-12-07
Arthor of Lord Allinsham. Bankru]

CA1ChlluS CREEK uOC Tar from ler
sylvan bathroom of the early morning.
How she was to sit on the ground
all day and yet preserve properly
pedagogical demeanOr was the first
question to be settled. That there was
nothing even remotely resembling a
chair in camp she felt reasonably as
sured, as paw was sitting on an in
verified soap box under pine tree, and
paw, by reason of age and infrmity,
appropriated all luxuries. Mrs. Vel
lett, with her usual acumen, grasped
the situation.
I'm fggerin',' she commented, that
there must be easier ways Of governin
than sittin' up like prairie dog while
you're at it"
Mrs. Yellett took a hurried survey of
the camp, lessening the distance be-
tween herself and one of the light
wagons with gait in which grace was
entirely subservient to speed; then,
with one capacious wrench of the arms.
she loosened the spring seat from the
wagon and bore it to the governess
III.
difficult, under these circumstances, to
explain to Mrs. Yellett that without
that symbol of scholastic authority, a
desk. the wagon seat was useless: new
ertheless Mary set forth with all her
eloquence the mission of a desk. Mrs.
Yellett was genuinely depressed Had
she imported the magician without his
Wand-Aladdin without his lamp? She
proposed 4 bewildering choice-an in
verified washtub, two buckets sustain
ing the relation Of caryatides to a
board, the sheet iron cooking stove. In
an excess Of solicitude she even sug-
gested robbing paw Of his soap box.
Mary chose the washtub on condition
that Mrs. Yellett consented to sacrifice
the handles in the cause Of lower edu-
cation. She felt that an inverted tub
that was likely to seesaw during class
hours would tend rather to develop a
sense Of hunor in her pupils than to
contribute to her pedagogical dignity.
The camp, as may already have been
Inferred, enjoyed matriarchal form
OF government. Its feminine dictator
was no exception to the race Of auto
Gratis in that she was not an absolute
stranger to the rosy byways of self
Indulgence. There was a strenuous
quality in her pleasuring perhaps not
inconsistent in one whose daily tasks
included sheep herding and ditch dig
glng, varied by irrigating and shearing
in their proper seasons. Under the cir
cumstances it was not surprising that
her Washtub bore about the same re-
lationship to her real duties as does
the crochet needle or embroidery hoop
to the lives of less arduously engaged
women. 1t was at once her fad and
her relaxation, the dainty feminine ac-
complishment with which she whiled
away the hours after a busy day spent
with pick and shovel. Of all this Mary
was ignorant when she proposed that
Mrs. Yellett saw Off the tub handles
in the cause of culture. However,
Mrs. Yellett procured a saw, vet the
hand that held it fingered in it's descent
on the handles. She contemplated the
tub as afectionately as Hamlet re-
gartling the skull of "Alas, poor Yor~
ickv'
"This,' she observed, "is the only
thing about camp that reminds me I'm
woman. I'd plumb forget it many
time if it warn't for this little tub.
The identity Of a woman is mighty apt
to get mislaid when dooty compels her
to assoone the pants cast aside by the
nGPhnrl1 of fhn ~ 49,
or death. It's ben six years now since
paws done thing but set round and
wait for meals" Mrs. Yellett sighed
laboriously. mot that I'm holdin' it
agin him none. When a man sees
eighty it's time he bedded himself
down comfortable and waited for the
nacheral course Of events to weed him
out. But when the boys get old enough
to tend to herdin', irrigatin' and the
work that God Almighty provided that
man might get the chance to sweat
hisself for bread, accordin' to the
Scriptures, I aim to indulge myself
by dom wash Of clothes every day,
even if I have to take clean clothes
and do 'em over again.
AAC pOOI SOV meuLS IeQOer leart
could not resist this presentation Of
the case. .-..
1--WE won't touch the handles, Mrs.
Yellett," she laughed. I'm glad vol,
told me you had q personal sentiment
for the tub. There are some things I
should feel the same way about-my
hoe and rake, for instance, that I care
for my garden with at home And that
suggests to me why not dig two little
trenches for the handles and plant the
tub? Then I shall have an even f1rmer
foundation on which to arrange the
the-the educational miscellany"
The suggestion Of this harmless ex-
pedlent was gratefully received, and
the "desk" duly implanted, whereupon
Mary pathetically sought to embellish
her "class room" from such scanty ma
terials as happened to be at hand.
hemstitched bureau scarf that she had
tucked in her trunk in unquestionine
faith in the bureau that was to he
part of the ranch equipment took the
q