Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1907-10-31


There's nothing lost, assure you,"
replied her husband from the depths
of his Review. 1.-The New Woman
doesn't spoil in half a moon, does
she?"
I'm more anxious to know some.
thing about the new servant. hope
she won't marry and leave just as
soon as she becomes invaluable.
was boasting so Of Katy only last
week"
"Oh, no; she'll not be the marrying
kind. can assure you"
"Indeed!'
"'Pon my word, believe the most
bird's-nest-like affairs in the world
are household matters. Same slavish,
slow methods of work. I'd get you
anything in the world il you'd only
turn over new leaf and show some
interest in labor-saving appliances.
don't blame a domestic for marrying
or escaping the serfdom of the kitchen
in any way possible. It's little better
than treadmill. If l had to get along
In the office as you do in the house, my
help would desert me, too. How long
would my stenographer submit to do
all my work with a goose-quill penn"
There you go off on your usual tan
gent again, Reuben" she sighed.
How often have told you that most
of the household machinery advertised
Is so disappointing?"
Mrs. Schofield shook her head in
credulously. She was used to her hus-
bands vagaries, as she considered
them. Hadn't she tried patent wash
ing machine, and didn't it wear out
her clothes2 Hadn't an agent induced
her to put in self-turning meat
broiler, and hadn't it burned up her
husbands breakfast and nearly set
the house on fire? Hadn't she been
swindled again and again by oily
tongued agents with button-hole ma
chimes, rug machines, stocking darn
ers carpet-cleaners, bread-cutters,
porch-scrubbers, silver burnishers-
everything which gullible creature
could be blarneyed into buying-ex-
cept a dish-washer? She drew the
line at destruction Of her precious
china. Not one piece of it should ever
be sacrificed to this Moloch of modern
invention.
So intent did she become in her re-
Elections upon these experiences that
she lost consciousness of her skeptical
husbands presence, and, indeed, of
everything except the hired girl ques-
ton which had boen uppermost in her
mind for fortnight.
Suddenly the bell rang. She arose
and went to the front hall door. No
one was there. Then muttering i'm
patiently over the steps her mistake
had cost her, she made her way to
the kitchen door.
Who's there?"
Good evening, Mrs. Schofield.
trio bell outfit with an annunciator
would soon pay for itself in the steps
it saved?
The voice was pleasantly modulat-
ed, yet it spoke with briskness and
assurance which indicated an agrees
sive owner.
Oh, dear, another canvasser! she
felt sure, instead Of an applicant for
Katy's vacant place.
1--WE heard the batteries freeze and
leak and are so much trouble" she
politely answered the caller, as she
seated her, dreading another combat
with an agent
IF neglected." admitted the other,
"but the real trouble is infinitesimal if
made part of a well-regulated sys-
tenn
But servants are so apt to be neg
lectful, and one can't think of every
thing ones SELF"
you speak of the old servant. She
was creature of muscle alone, and
unframed for thinking. But now it is
different"
Then" went on the caller, "the
electric doors are the thing between
dining room and kitchen. They open
automatically when you step on the
mat, and avoid all the rattle and bang
of opening with the elbow when tray
of dishes is in the hand, or kicking
with the foot"
How persistent she is?" thought
Mrs. Schofield. "She really means to
fit out the house, ! guess"
"And the dumb walters are run In
the same way now" went on the talk
er, as If unconscious of causing any
annoyance. Really the ttelg now is
the disappearing refrigerator. Mod
eled after the vanishing gun carriage,
| suppose. No reason that the appli-
ances Of war should surpass those of
peace and domestic happiness. 1t
saves both space and labor. You press
the button and electricity does the
rest. Intelligence supplants brute
force"
She paused an instant for breath.
and Mrs. Schofield shook her head
negatively, intimating that all this
dlation upon the subject was of no
use. She was about to urge an en-.
gsgement and seek to free herself of
her loquacious caller. when again the
stream of her volubility began:
"Then the electric irons. Did you
ever happen to see the computation of
how many tons of unnecessary lifting
one did In lifetime, transferring the
old-fasbioned laundry iron from the
table to the range and back again? It
Is astounding what handicaps fema g
labor has submitted to. But nov
brains are enjoying your long-talked-
OF triumph over Drawn. You have the
electric lights and day current, so
the electric irons are settled fact, |
suppose. and for that matter the elec-
trio coffee heater and chafing dish"
Really, must" feebly attempted
Mrs Schofield. wondering II the wo.
man would be satisfied with less than