The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1913-01-30
KEEPING UP WITH BESS
BY ANNIE sEIGERsAcHER.

| After the stout woman had Topped
| into the nearest armchair, scattering
about twenty-feur Christmas bundles
On the floor as she did so, she heaved
! even a deeper Sigh than one would
naturally have expected under the cir
/ cumstances.
What's the natter" asked her
| friend you look as though you'd
! lost pounds and pounds from worry"
Il think ! have replied the stout
woman, rather feebly. You see, it's
Bessie. Bessie's my favorite niece, as
! you know, and she's burdened with
over-indulgent parents who give her
| everything she wants before she
knows that she wants It. Now, how
10 It possible to please such girl
with any kind Of gift! She has jewelry
| BY the pound and she gets enough
candy every Christmas to feed an
| orphan asylum So whenever Decem-
Der comes around I begin to wiring
my hands and say, What under the
shining sun can / get for Bessie"
That's the way l got my first gray
hairs! I get a fresh irstallment Of
them every Christmas"
! She was calming down now. Her
friend had politely assumed an air Of
! deep attention.
| After hours and hours of brain
! raekingSeEynrt,a went on the stout wo-
man, "Ifeund out that BESSIE wanted
a Princeton pennant., There was one
| Princeton pennant left in the sport
| ing goods section the day / went to
buy Bessie's present and ! wrestled
for it with two husky youths, middle
aged woman and half a dozen giggly
| girls. ! got it, too, although in the
process l lost three perfectly good jet
buttons and sprained my wrist.
That night Bessie's beau brought
her an atrocious big Princeton PEN
! nant about three times the size of the
one had worked SO hard for. Sweet
OF him, wasn't it,"
] go on begged her friend. Your
thrilling recital makes war story
look as fiat as plug hat that's been
sat on. What happened next?"
Bessie came over to my house one
| day." said the stout woman, land
| raved about an embroidered shirt
! waist of mine that some poor soul had
| spent six monts making. Well, that
gave me an idea and l Immediately
! started to make Bessie one like it in
! six days. l embroidered until l saw
and l counted stitches in my sleep.
Even my football playing son. who
| reels Off signals in his dreams, became
alarmed at the symptoms that / dis
played. My family rose in wrath
when l brought the thing to the table
at dinner and embroidered between
courses. AHG then when the waist
was nearly completed Bessie casually
announced tAat she thought embroid-
cred shirt waists were getting COM
mon and she wouldn't wear one for
anything"
Dear, dear!" murmured her friend,
sympathetically.
| Il felt like telling Bessie that if she
changed her mind again she wouldn't
get any present from me-" said the
stout woman. But next morning
etdIt CO O1I Oh TIC WdIpdtus OH opuASu
| up in my Oldest clothes, so that l
/ could grab bargains with the best OF
! them. / ran into a sale of jewelry
women six deep fighting over lit
tie SO cent reduced from 81 coin
purses, and all trying to get waited
on at once. 1t took me half an hour
to get next to the counter. Really, it
was cruel the way climbed over pe0-
pie, but 1t was for . worthy cause.
Anyway, got there, found the coin
purses all gone. took another half hour
getting untangled and had to pay s.
for the same thing in another store.
After I'd been patting myself on
the back for about day for having
solved the problem / met Bessie on
the street She hailed me, and then
broke into lamentations. What do
you think, Aunt Helen? she said.
Uncle Billy brought me another coin
purse last night, and had three al
ready
When came to was in drug
store and Bessie was rubbing my head
and cooling, You shouldn't worry 30
over Christmas. You know you do too
much, anntie'
Yes. know, Bessie said. What