The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1909-01-09
HOW BE KEPT HOUSE.

that in the sad days before their mar
riage he had been used to keeping
bachelors hall, and that the pretty
little home would be safe in his care.
Still, there was shade of anxiety in
her mind on the morning of her re-
turn.
"Did you get along all right at the
house?" she asked when her husband
met her at the station.
eyes, fine"
sDid you get many mealsat homer"
"Some. 1 couldn't eat much"
"You poor old dear, it must have
been dreadfully lonesome for you"
''It was. This is our car" said
Jack, who did not seem to take an in
terest in the subject of his housekeep-
ing experience.
Mrs. Jack studied his profile as they
sat side by side on the car and decided
that he looked tired and thin.
"How sweet and natural it all
looks? 2" she said, as Jack unlocked
the door of their dwelling.
eyes, the house is still here" he
remarked, enthusiastically.
Mrs. Jack inwardly bewailed the
fact that the best of men, like her dear
old Jack, were painfully lacking in
sentiment. But as she stepped into
the hall, where the dust lay apparent
ly half inch thick on the table and
hat-rack, her own rejoicing at coming
home weakened little. When she
entered the living room, where over
flowing ash trays filled her nostrils
with unpleasantly antique odors, she
gasped, "Oh, Jack !"
But Jack. seemingly unconscious of
any discordant note in the usually at
tractive room, said: 'I'll have to
hurry downtown, dear, or I shall be
late at the Office.
Go he did, leaving Mrs. Jack to
explore the rest of the house alone.
She went first to her own room.
Hardly waiting to remove hat and
gloves, she began trying to straighten
out the chaos she found. She hung
up trousers and coats and put away
shirts and then made up the disorder
ed bed.
"Poor Jack How he must have
suffered in this untidy place." she
said to herself.
Then she went into the guest room,
where daintiness was always the pride
of her order-loving heart. She fairly
groaned as she beheld the beautiful
lace spread she had herself crocheted
lying in a crumpled heap on the floor
and one of the pillow shams, which
matched so prettily, wadded into the
wash basin, mildewed and showing
only too plainly that it had been used
as towel. The bed, like the one in
her room, was unmade, and stray
collar and pair of socks were proofs
to the indignant wife that her hus-
band had had the temerity to use this
best spare room.
Wishing to know the worst, she
penetrated into the pretty chamber
sacred to the long visit of her sister,
and was Mortified to discover dirty
pipe reposing on the little white desk
and tobacco scattered everywhere.
The bed, too, was pulled to pieces, as
if a hot night had made the sleeper
restless.
"How could Jack have smoked in
here when he knows how Claribel alb
hors tobacco?" Mrs. Jack asked her
self.
Bv the time she had made the tour
of the dining-room, kitchen and PAN
try she came to the conclusion that
never again would she trust her be-
loved belongings to the tender care of
Jack. On the dining-room table was
her best damask cloth, generously
splashed at one end with coffee and
stained at the other with great spots
of grape juice. Soiled dishes-her
frailest china-were piled up here and
there through the rooms. A large
turkey platter with small, dried-up
chop on it, graced the top of the gas
stove, rubbing elbows, as it were, with
huge iron skillet in which were the
musty remains of some much fried po-
tatoes. Rusty knives. forks and
spoons lay in the sink with "a pot of
half. cooked oatmeal. Two venerable
fried eggs on a saucer, fanked on
either side by bottles of soured cream,
stood on one window sill, while on
the other was the coffee pot full of
grounds.
Mrs. Jack gazed for a moment at
the scene. Then she dried her tears
and, holding her skirts high above the
greasy floor, walked out Of the kitch-
en- and into her own room-the only
spot in the house which as yet had
been brought into semi-order. She
donned her freshest and most becom-
ing frock, and, going out of the house,
locked the door on what seemed to
her a reign of terror and confusion,
and presented herself at her husbands
office in time to go to lunch with him.
Have you got everything straight
ened already?" he asked, with a well
coming smile. "You found things
pretty shipshape?"
"Shipshape - repeated Mrs. Jack,
sarcastically. "The ship must have
been struck by a typhoon."
"I suppose it was little mussy.
1 really meant to go around there
yesterday and fix things up"
"Go around there What do you
mean?"
"Well, you see" answered Jack,
looking for the first time embarrassed,
latter 1 had slept in all the beds and
got a good many of the dishes dirty I
thought the best thing to do was to
move over to the club, so / stayed in
the house only three days after you
left"
"Oh 70 was Mrs. Jack S only audi
Bile comment, but as she looked at
lack she said to herself that he was
not really SO thin and tired as she had
at first thought.-Chicago Wea0s.
SUNDAY School Teacher-"Would
| ,,o,, not 1ika RI dwell in Heaven