Daily Kennebec journal., 1905-09-01

1t was half-past i've when Theodore
finished ironing Molly's pink rufficd
lawn and crept wearily W to her room.
II had been such lard day-even
aside from the ruffleI Lawn. The chill
dren had been rebel,ious and Molly
saucy, and Hannah Ann had burned
the bread, and grandmother had
wanted to do so many things And in
stead Of appreciati1g Theodora's care
for her she had gone oT upstairs by
herself all the morning appearing al
dinner time with red eyeiids. Grand
mother ought to knog that she couldn't
do things now as she -sHd to when she
was younger-why would she keep
wanting to try?
As for the pink :lffle0 lawn, it
seemed to Theodore that the day had
been fun of it. 1t Was foolish for a
girl to have q dress that was so much
trouble to do up, but when she had said
so, Molly had been angry. and declared
that she would do 1t herself-she could
do II as well as anybody-TheOdor:l
never gave her chance TO show thae
she, could do anything. And Theodore
had answered dryly that she guessed
they would not begin cxrel ailments with
that dress. since Molly had 1t, the leas-
she could do would be 20 take care OF It,
Then Molly had grown very red am
declared that she would never wear IN"
old dress again anyway-The0dora hai
spoiled II for her; AMI she had banged
the door behind her and gone away 10
Lydia Collins for comfort. Molly was
always going over to Lydia Collins.
OF course, after such a beginning,
everything was bound 10 go wrong.
Hannah Ann had offered TO iron 1t, ana
had her feelings hurt by refusal
(Hannah Ann ought 10 lave remem-
bered t..at she scorchel Betty's white
dress only the week befor'--after that
how could she expect to b, trusted with
the pink lawnO; and the starch had
stuck. ard Miss Grovcs had come over
while Theodore was In the midst OF 1t,
and stayed and stayed so that the skirt
dried and had to be fused over. and
the worst OF 1t all was that when 1t was
finished 1t did not look so very we'll.
Molly would probably tell Lydia Collins
that Theodore need not have made
such 4 fuss over 't-she could have
done 1t as well as that herself.
And / should think that she might
Theodore sighed, wearily. She dropped
into her little rocking chair beside the
window and looked ;oit INTO the cool.
s,In-iIecked leaves of the big maple.
She was too tired to dress for supper;
she felt as II she never wanted to think
of supper as long as she lived. She was
,,eal al. thr.ltIUh A hnT hparf When
in, February that dreadful. unbelieving
thing, had happened. and mother-the
soft-eyed mother who cauid never be
persuaded 10 stay even night away
from home-had left them to such ter
Tlble loneliness ii had seemed to Theo-
dora that the one thing she could not
do was to go back 20 boarding school
and finish the year. When father had
finally persuaded her that 1t was wisest
and best, the way just then that she
could help the most. her thought day
and night had been af home. of all that
she must do and be there. What let
tiers they had all written her! To be
SURE fathers letters had said that Aunt
Alma was with them anG was doing
everything for them; but the children's
letters were different. Molly had de-
ctared that she cried who.e bucketfulS,
longing for Theodore to come back:
and Bob wrote her tnat Aunt Alma
could not help fellOw lit with his
erithmetic and Betty that she loved
her dear Theo Il thousand million times
better than Aunt Alma; even grand
mothers tremulous fingers never failed
to send Il message of love and longing.
And now she had been home five weeks
and tried so hard-She had never tried
20 hard over anything IN her life. And
what was the result The children
werc careless and disohedient, Molly
impertinent. grandmother unreasoa-
able. and somebody's feellhgs We're BE-
ing hurt every hour. ThsodOra did not
cry-she was not the crying kind" but
she drew sharp. hard breath. and fine,
worried lines Crept into Ecr forehead
md about her mouth. At seventeen
there are so many things yet to learn;
Theodore never guessed that she was
learning life.
There was a rush and scramble under
the big maple. and then the sound of
Mollys clear voice
We'll. you two children are a pretty
sight! What do you suppose Theodord
viii say when she sees y3u?"
The next voice was Bob's Don't
care-Theo's always scoding" and
Betty's sllvery little sirgsong followed
Betty always echoed Bob: 'Theo's
cross today: she is-just as cross as
Cross!"
Molly laughed. Theodora never could
understand how Molly could laugh so
much.
"1heo's the head of the household"
She explained. that's why. Dear me,
but It's so awful! ! never saw any
body change so. If Theo's cross. Bet
~, Id advise you to change that dress
before she catches you in it,"
There was another rush and scram-
Die. few laughing shouts, and then
only the soft STRINGS of the maple
leaves in the hush of the summer af-
ternoon. But 1t did not seem still to
Theodora; the air seemed echoing
with the unconscious cruel words
Theo's always scolding-as cross as
cross-nT. but it's awful, So that
waa what they were thinking about
her. Had anybody ever failed so Mt
tefly before? Nobody understood nv.