The Blackfoot optimist. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1907-1918, 1911-08-03
Her
Postgraduate
Course

dale. Old-timers could remember
when she was a freckle-faced. pig
tailed tomboy running about with the
rest Of the Lonsdale brood, but that
was before Mrs. Carberry-Cr On
TOOK the child to the city and after
many years returned her as shining
example Of scientific education.
Along with the assimilation OF SCI
entific education Betty had lost her
freckles and her pigtails. The former
had been replaced by peaches-and
cream complexion; the latter by an
elaborate couture that was the envy
of the more simple women folk who
had absorbed the simple rudiments in
the district school and then had mar
ried and settled down to raise more
scholars for the same schools.
Mrs. Carberry Cranston was a fad
dist whose peculiar bent was the ad-
vocacy OF the higher education for
what she was pleased \ to term the
lower classes" 1t was her theory
that as the Indian bureau educated a
rev bucks and squaws as examples to
the rest of their tribe, so might the
womans rights millennium be brought
| about through the liberal education OF
young women from the smaller towns
Cyrus Lonsdale had been willing
| enough to lend one of his numerous
progeny to the experiment IL consid-
Grafton of the payment Of all her ex-
penses, and SO Betty had been taken
away hoyden and returned a fash.
ionable young person.
Martin Stats scowled as he first
caught sight of her. In the olden days
they had planned to be married when
they should be grown up. Martin had
plodded along in his quiet way, re-
gardfng himself as still engaged to
the girl whom he fondly remembered.
When he saw the change that the
cities had wrought he groaned to him.
self In despair, and yet, with his in
herent persistence, he preached the
subject at the earliest opportunity.
Il s'pose I'll have to be getting the
ring now.' he said. Il guess you re-
member that you was engaged to me
| before you went away to be polished
on
Have you not forgotten that boy
and girl romance" she asked with an
elaborate assumption OF superiority
that. to the man at least, masked the
yearning that lay beneath, for despite
her education and her superficial pol
ish. Betty was still tomboy at heart
and even now she longed for one of
those long, delightful rambles through
held and wood that she and Martin
used to take together.
Il can't forget" said Martin. sim
ply. II was hoping that you remem.
Aered, too"
Il do remember" conceded Betty.
but l also remember my mission.
You must realize that this education
was given me that I might be of use
In the community. 1t would be unfair
to my benefactress to settle down to
married life and sinkSmy individuality
beneath yours
What's the use Of knowing how far
the moon and sun are from us and
who lives in Africa, II you have to live
an old maid?" scoffed Martin. There's
Rutb and Theresa and Minnie. They
all married, and married we'll, because
they. learned how to be good house.
Keepers. Your mas a famous cook
and she taught the other girls. It's
better to know how to make good
bread than to know the sort of stuff
your head has been filled with"
That's where you mistake" cried
betty. quickly. Even in the kitchen
education makes me better fitted to
meet the problems of life. know. for
instance. the chemistry of breadmak.
ing, the relative nutritive value OF
the various meats and vegetables. The
science of housekeeping is one of the
most interesting studies. Mrs. Car
berry-Cranston has particularly i'm
pressed upon me. the Importance of
communicating to others these impor-
tant facts"
What Martin said about Mrs. Car.
berry-Cranston and her ideas does not
require repetition here.
But II Betty found learning a salts.
factory substitute for love she did not
show 1t in her manner. People re-
garded her with the awe that her cru
ditton deserved, but she was conscious
that beneath the awe was a good-na-
tured contempt for some of her the
cries. Martin she saw not at all
after that first meeting.
Then came a summons to her moth.
er from one of the married daughters
and Betty was left to keep house for
week. Her father was away on a
business trip and she was left alone
in the big house. Her science of
housekeeping did not materially aid
her in her cooking. There was small
comfort Of knowing the chemistry of
breadmaking when the product was
sodden and uneatable and her knowl-
edge of food values did not aid her
to transform the most nutritious food
into the most appetizing. Before the
end OF the week she was hungry. dys-
peptic and utterly worn out.
No