The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-12-29
TIE EVENING STORY
His Magic Honsekeener.

bells in the old church tower tolled the
death of the parents of John Lester,
his spacious farmhouse burned to the
ground He built temporary home
out of sight Of the charred ruins of the
old home. In the heart Of the woods
near the bank of the river that ran swift
and deep in boundary to his farm, he
took up his abode. He kept his hearth
in hermit fashion, but he was not as
proficient in housekeeping duties as in
the tilling of his soil. and it was now
the season Of planting time.
Stories most distressing to the kindly
country folk were told of his making
a clean sweep occasionally through his
house, the accumulatiOns landing on
the back door step, or vanishing through
the cracks of the floor; also of a weekly
washing Of dishes and a pork and po-
tato diet.
They Hospitality opened their doors
and their services to the sole survivor
of the Lester household, but he had a
way Of drawing about himself the magic
circle which no one ventured to cross.
He was too busy through the day,
and too tired al night to feel lonely
There was a supreme reason why John
preferred his solitary life.
One night when he came home from
the fields he paused on his threshold
and stared IN amazement at the trans
formation wrought. His camping out
place had become a coy little home
Everything from the sanded floor to
the tinware on the pine table was as
spotlessly clean and white as soap and
water could make them. At the win
dows were dainty muslin curtains; the
table, spread with q snowy white cloth,
was set for his supper. A loaf of home
made bread, and a flower stamped pat
of golden butter added their touch to
domesticity.
In a haze of wonder John Mechanical
~ filled the kettle, lighted the fire and
perpared his evening meal. Then he
went into the adjoining room. This,
too had been touched with a magic
wand. and arranged in as orderly
fashion as a hospital ward. The win
dows, curtained in muslin, the bed
covered with a spread, and a little silk
lined work basket adorned the table.
When he sat down to supper he was
scarcely conscious of what he ate. In
kaleidoscope procession there passed
through his recollection his mothers
friends and neighbors, but though the
housekeeping and the bread and but
ter might suggest the buXom matrOns
of his acquaintance, 1t was some way
borne in upon his slow working
brain that the other things were the
handiwOrk of a maiden Eve1 if the
white curtains could be possibly
charged up to one of the simple farm
wives there was still that workbasket
lined in delicate blue to retUte the
theory. mol The workbasl1et would
have convinced any jury, as It did
john that a young woman-one with
a dormant shade of coquetry-had en-
tered his home that day.
The white curtains ana the blue
lined basket would adjust themselves
to but one person, and that one he
feared it could not have been. Buried
in his memory was the love of one
woman, who had said him nay.
He reused himself from his specu-
.tWhoever it is he thought grinly
twill soon be disclosed. The folks
about here are not the kind that hide
their light under a bushel."
He looked obviously at the supper
table. 1t seemed to him that he was
under obligations to restore things 70
the order in which he had 1ound
them. Clumsily he washed the dishes
and set the room to rights half angry
with himself for doing so.
They'll be leaving me kitchen
apron and dish towel next, he
thought sheepishly.
In the very veil of smoke that
hoated upward from his evening pipe
he saw a vision of a hearth and home
presided over by a goddess, young and
fair. But his pipe went out, and he
awoke from his dreams.
The early dawn, with the SOUNDS OF
choring, found John sturdy and prac-
teal again: yet as he went up ana
down through the burrows all the
gray, sunless day, his thoughts eagerly
turned to his home-golng, ana what
the evening would bring forth.
He felt his heartbeats as he lifted
the latch The same order prevailed;
the cloth laid for supper, and IN the
center of the little round table was
glass filed with flowers, not the sweet
smelling garden flowers nor the Stln
blooms of house plants so popular IN
country homes, but handful OF hoW-
ers of the wood.
The week went by, each day spent
in hard. eager labor, his thoughts and
homes concentrated on the evening
hour. Always he found his little nome
well kept, the table set with some dei-
icacy, and everywhere was the lnVlsi-
bic. invincible touch of woman's
hand.
He might easily have come home
unexpectedly by day, or fingered IN
some concealed place to watch Tor ms
magic housekeeper, but ms cnlValfy
withheld him from seeking to discover
the identity of the one who wished 10
do her good deeds in secret.
suddenly a bright idea occurred IN
Tohn The next morning after break
fast, he reset the table Tor MS evening
meal. taking pains to make 1t look as
it had each night of the preceding
week. even to the flowers, except that
two covers were laid and two chairs
SET at opposite sides of the table. Would
shelf it were she-accept the un-
soo1ran Invitation and all it implied?
When he came home in the late al
ternoon. a queer little spasm OF pain
fupged at his heart. Surprising it were
not she. after all!
He opened the door. The room was
ernDtv. and the table set as he had left
it. but there were the same traces OF
bousekeeping. Suddenly he looked at
tn . table and started. BY the side of
the plate he had set for her was
f1ower-a wood-violet. He had given
her a bunch of those blossoms once.
and shyly told her they were the color
Of her eyes. This was her answer All
III roon1-the poor, plain, empty, lit
fIe room-seemed filled with the radi-
ance of the message of the violets.
When the sun had slipped into a golo
and crimson setting, John made his way
through the woods and came out into
- hat