Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-06-29
remarked Mr.. Mitchell
mildly will be the Glorious Fourth"
u Lizzie says her wisdom tooth's

mildly, will be the Glorious Fourth"
u "Lizzie says her wisdom tooths
been aching her dreadfully," rejoined
Ma Mitchell, with apparent irrelevance
But it wasn't irrelevant by long shot, as IA
Mitchell's answer evidenced at once:
''Wel, my wisdom tooth amt achin' darned
Bit and it tells that there old gun has got to DO
fired off tomorrow morning at o'clock, same AZ
always"
Ma looked at his lean old nutcracker face with
all the majesty she could add to her porty figure.
well see about that" she remarked grimly
"Uh-huh!" groaned Lizzie, adding twinge to
her tooth by sheer power of the imagination
Cant she git it yanked out! inquired
Charles, Fannie's oldest, hopefully.
His grandmother reduced him to terrified
silence with look. At that his mother, who
submitted meekly to her dependent position OF
widow with three children earning their bread in her
parents house, bridled the one provocatlon
which could inspire her to defy Ma.
"You needn't try to kill him. Ma, with them
ewes of yours" she announced. '1f Lizzie had tho
sense she was born with, she'd have that old tooth
out long ago"
Fannie" returned Ma, "for old married
woman you seem to have the shortest memory about
who's head of the house, of any impudent thing L
ever saw. When I was your age my children didn't
dast put their oar in when grown folks talking
I don't wonder you could get along with your
husband, if you your house that way"
"My husband" retorted Fannie, with nice
adjustment of the barb that aimed it to rankle in
some wholly unexpected place, chad happy home,
and that's more than yours had, far as can
remember"
"You let me out of this" interposed Pa rising
and making for the front door.
Behind his tired old form, he sought the
cool stiffness of the evening" the raucous quarrel
rose to its due climax then broke in daughter Fan
MES usual rush Of sobs and tears. The scene and
the words would not pass from his thoughts. as
commonly such incidents did.
Fannie's pitiless blow had struck him more
deeply than it did Ma flash Of recollection illu-
minated the two-score years of the tanning his high
spirits had suffered at Mas relentless hands.
For Pa Mitchell, when he wooed and won his
wife, was a game sport and rousing, cheerful
liver He had taken his sedate bride by the gallant
attacks of a dashing lover, and, until Fannie was
born, he had never suspected the steady, change
less unfolding force of character that lay dormant
in her, awaiting, in Fannie, only motherhood to
assert itself in every phase of her existence.
Perhaps if he had fought her from their first
small dispute over the ruling of their lives he might
have preserved at least joint authority But he
one of your fond, good-natured, admirng souls who
fall in love once and for ALL and accept any fresh
facet of the jewel they prize another ray OF
beauty. Ma, to him, all the more adorable in
her frmness and her dignity. Thus had his simple
nature helped to rivet his shackles upon him.
He still chung to the fiction of his independ-
ence still told himself that he need only assert his
authority to run things his way. But he never did
it-except on the Fourth of July And he had
descended to base subterfuge, unworthy of man,
for that.
Down in his serene old heart Pa Mitchell hadn't
the smallest belief that burglars would ever honor
their Door little dwelling with visit But when
Ma put her broad, unyieding foot down all FIRE
crackers, squibs and even torpedoes ne liked to
crack on the doorstep with Charles and Horace and
Daisy he had the sensation that ne was reduced at
last to the mere apology for a man. And no
rebelled the of insisting that the salute to
the Glorious Fourth from the deep barrel of the old
cap-and-bal gun must be observed.
It hung. always loaded, over the dining-room
mantelpiece. Ma regarded it with mingled horror
and trust She relied it, in Pas expert hands to
blow any gang of burglars into kingdom come; but
she lived in chronic apprehension that it would go
off or blow up or do one all of the countless
other dreadful things loaded gun can do If you
much as look at It,
PAS secret-often poignant-shame that
he had never told her no burglars would apply
What he did aver, his conscience clear was that
every frearm must be shot of at least once year,
to make sure it's in working order. And. although
he had to wage battle for his rights and the guns
every occasion, once year he did ire 1t of, tho
Fourth of July being the appropriate occasion
Between Fourths Ma called bis attention sterny to
such items in the newspapers recorded the fstal
ties incident to the discharging of that hadn't
been fred for generation.
This year their second daughters toothache
putting into Mas hands powerful argument. Pa
Mitchell realized its force only too we'll How like
an unnatural father he would appear if he raised
such racket next morning and strained poor
Lzzie's already tense to breaking pitchl For
man who all his life had cherished sublime faith
in Providence he dangerously to infdeity
when with SIGH he trudged back into the house at
bedtime thinking of the deal his Providence was
giving him.
Breakfast on the morning of the Fourth was
a grewsome feast. Lizzie appeared with her jaw
hound nm in q towel and the odor of arnica riotoua