Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1909-10-22
THE ENLIGHTENMENT
OF MRS. TUPPINS
By GEORGE WESTON.

ssses eseesssesssssssesssssss
Curiously enough, Mrs. Tuppins
hated the country and Mr. Tuppins
hated the city. They could not agree
at least Mrs. Tuppins could not. for
it happened that the Tuppinses lived
in the co1ntry, on the old Tuppins
farm; and although this was an ar
rangement that suited Mr.. Tuppins
to T, it did not suit Mrs. Tuppins
to any alphabetical designation what
ever.
Mrs. Tuppins was city born and
bred, while as for Mr.. William S.
Tuppins, | need only say that S stood
for Silas. At the age OF twenty-nine
Mr.. William s. Tuppins had left the
farm to SEX his fortune in the city;
at the age Of thirty he had returned
to the farm, bearing no other fortune
than Mrs. Tuppins. And as for his
experience in the city, I will say no
more than this: the morning after
William returned TO the farm, which
the hired man and his wife had been
running on shares, he went to his
work whistling for the first time in
a year, and wheL with a stick he
scratched the backs of the little black
pigs. and listene' to their grunts Of
ecstasy, it seemed to him that sweeter
music mortal never heard.
But as for Mrs. Tuppins, It did
not seem that way 10 her at all. She
looked with a sigh of regret at her
Ligh-heeled shoes and her long silk
gloves, which were never intended
for walking over bottom meadows or
picking blackberries out of the briers.
She missed the II, Iwds and the lights
and the shops and the cars. In short
she grew to hate the courtry; and
she did not hide her feelings, either.
as William soon found out.
We'll" he said one evening, ''the
potatoes are all in"
Mrs Tuppins shifted.
"And the Jeets-...-he. continued.
Mrs. Tuppins shifted agaln.---
TOO cold out here?" asked Mr..
Tuppins. Shall fetch you a shawl
or something?"
mo, said Mrs. Tuppins, distinct
ly, "I'm not cold
Tomorrow" said William, 81
think I'll start them putting a new
lining in the upper spring"
Mrs Tuppins shifted again. and
when William looked at her he saw
that her eitifed little nose was point
ed most disdainfully at the poor old
country moon.
why. what's the matter?" asked
William.
William. she said you know
the way you like the country"
yes"
''The pigs. the chickens, the COWS,
the horses. the hay, the corn, and the
barn. and the pond. and the ducks.
and everything know the way
you like them all?"
Yes
"well-that's the way I like the
city"
That was how the difficulty began.
William in vain argued that he was
not worth his salt in the city; in vain
he enumerated sll the advantages of
country life-the fresh fruit and
eggs. the fresh air, and the milk and
the cream an1 the vegetables, TO say
nothing of the freedom from worldly
cares.
To all these eloquent arguments
Mrs. Tuppins had a simple question:
William. you know the way you like
the country?" To which William
could only miserably answer, Yes. "
well. then. said Mrs. Tuppins.
that's the way like the city"
No-' among the fowls which chuck
ed about the Tuppins farm-yard there
was a certain speckled hen known
as Old Spotty, and whether or not it
was because she took offense at this
familiarity do not know, but the
fact remains that Old Spotty began
to sulk add keep to herself.
Il can't make out what's the mat
ter with her" said Mr.. Tuppins, one
morning. seeking for a subject OF con
versation that would be pleasing to
Mrs. Tuppins Doesn't seem to
take any interest in life at all. Just
mopes round al, day and pecks the
other hens when they come near her
Somehow Mrs. Tuppins felt inter
ested for the first time since she h-d
become member of the farming pop
ulation. AS soon as breakfast was
over, she went ont and looked at the
diseonsolate fowl.
Old Spotty looked back at her dis
consolately enough. and Mrs. Tuppins
at once sought the advice Of the hired
man. and began to pamper the hen.
Now. even if one wished to do so,
one could not single out a hen from
a flock and pamper that particular
one-the other hens would see that
no faveritism was shown. You could
not. for instance, throw a handful of
green stuff at one hen and expect all
the other fowls to stand off at a re-
spectful distance and watcn the
favored one with an envious eye.
That is not the nature Of poultry.
So it happened that Mrs. Tuppins.
striving to alleviate Old Spotty's dis-
consolation, nempered all the hens.
with the result that they scampered
toward her. ciucking in friendly ez-
eitement, whenever she showed her
self in the yard This secretly tick
led Mrs. Tuppins. although she pre-
tended the contrary
And here IS another thing; one
cannot keep going into a barn to
get corn for the chickens without pat
ting the horses and saying so boss"
to the cows
It is an utter impossibility. as every
one knows who has tried 1t. And
from patting a horses back it is only
a step to patting bis nose. and of
course one cannot at a horses nose
long before one begins to PASS a car
rot or two. and from that to Jumps
Of sugar is the shortest of distances.