The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-09-03
Woman About Town
What She Hears and Sees
washington Herald.)

fWashington Herald.)
'Twixt midnight and the dawn last
night l dreamed
That l could walk the ceiling ana Ihe
wall
With feet secure as flies and never
Naught else that l recall such comfort
seemed.
Aloft l strobe. across the ceiilhS'
To initiate old oak. Gas fixture tall
kicked with all my might. l jumped
and
| ran from room to room and down
the hall.
And horned and tampe and banged
and thumped my feet,
And beat the steam pipes till they
rang a-roar-
I grieved that there was nothing i
could shove
To swell the tumult, but twas rapture,
sweet,
To think that now. as ne'er In life De
fore.
l could pay back folks in the flat
If somebody would only investigate
the matter properly, l feel perfectly
sure that the present unSulted conol-
ton Of financial affairs would be foond
to be connected with the growth or
the vacation habit. Ever since my
butcher notified me that I'd have to
order fish the day before l wanted IL.
because SO many of his customers
more than half of them. he says
are out Of town that he can't afford
to keep fish unless it's specially or
dered, l have viewed this vacation
idea with alarm. It's as bad as a
yellow fever epidemic. Our druggist
hasn't had the books in his ~circulat-
ing library changed for a month, be-
cause NOBODY wants books, and he
says he won't even trv to keep the
library open next summer OF course,
most of the Protestant clergy are
away. II you amt afford to spend
August out of town, you'll have to
preach to yourself. Religion in Au-
gust is a luxury that you have to go
out Of town to find. A trained nurse
came to see me the other day and
spent a whole afternoon doing fancy
work.
we don't have much to do in the
she said. W nurses don't,
and the doctors don't. If people are
sick hey go out of town, or If they
don't, they do all they can to avoid
having to pay for attendance. SO that
they can save money for outings. Lots
of people die under operations in the
fall, because they put them off all
summer. And when / do get a case
why, l fairly dread to be called in
May or June, because | won't be kept
on till my patient is really we'll, and
L Ill De lucky IL / Con nave % wait
for my pay till fall. Some dress
makers never venture to send bills be-
tween May and October, for they
know they won't be paid. People will
neglect their teeth after May /. rather
tha deplete their vacation fund. The
manicure, the hair-dressers, the butch
er. the banker and the candlestick
maker all suffer because e~verybody's
out of town, or wants to go. The an
nual vacation is coming to be the one
~,~- e. - @~Nl@ I1-s- 80
talk about it in February, beforehand,
and talk about it the rest of the year
a~fterward."
1 haven't a doubt in the world that
if vacations were abolished. the stock
market would go on without even an
occasional slump.
That same trained nurse, by the
way, is really a saint, and hasn't the
faintest suspicion of it herself. She
told me, ute casually, that she
all her leisure making things
out of beads. She buys the beads,
but she doesn't give her necklaces and
belts and fobs and things away to her
friends. She doesn't sell them, either.
She sends them all to the Day Home
New York, and they are sold for the
benefit of that charitable institution.
1t hasn't occurred to the nurse that
there's anythin~ praiseworthy in her
We ol ColHB- Wnen L asked ner why
she doesn't sell ner work for her own
profit she looked mildly surprised.
why. l support myself by nurs-
ing" n explained. L do bead-work
just to amuse myself. / can buy a
lot of beads for the price Of an ice
cream soda, and | don't like ice cream
soda, so you see I'm not out any
thing"
The logic-but perhaps logic isn't a
common anon saints.
There was a small boy just east of
the Library Of CONGRESS the other af-
ternoon, and he was administering
well-aimed kicks to 2 PROSTATE and
still smaller boy. Citizen Fixit, pass
ing that way, was Mortified.
Here, youi" he cried. What are
you kicking that little boy for? Stop
The small boy didn't stop it, and IN
his own mind he was justified.
~ guess l know what I'm kicking
MIN fof," he said. I guess he's nv
brother. He amt yours, is he?"
I daresay there is no woman in Ali
than Mrs Pennypacker, Of Austin.
the teacher and writer. whose .Histo-
of Texas is used in all the schools
the State Mrs Pennybacker is
spending the summer in the North
and likes il SO we'll that she intends
Kills. While she was lunching with
friends of mine the other day.
the bringing on of the soup reminded
her OF a story, and while l can't pos
sihly reproduce her delightful Ian
suage, with the softness of the Texas
accent IN It, l can remember the glst