The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-02-26
DAILY SHORT STORY.
IN A BLIZZARD,
BY OLIVE ROBERTS BARTON.

] katrine Wharton was being talked
about. Tongues and fingers were flying
at the Ladies' Missionary Band. The big
stove in the parlOr at the church was
sending out great waves of welcome heat
| for outside . blizzard was raging. Mrs.
Milton. on the floor with an immense
pair Of scissors in her hand, was cut.
ting around a shirt pattern laid on red
flannel
What ] want to know is Mrs Milton
paused and waved her scissors with a
| Patrick Henry gesture. why she won t
come. 1t looks mighty queer to me.
sometimes think 1t must be a guilty
conscience
The Rev. Mr.. Washburn raised his head
from the sermon he was preparing in
his study. The door was slightly open
and the words Of Mrs. Milton had Al
He frowned and pushed back his chair
impatiently. He had an idea that he
knew of whom they were talking, and II
hurt
The Rev. Mr.. Washburn was not half
so formidable as his name sounded, nor
so old. In fact he rather shuddered
whenever he saw his name in print. and
he generally opened his mail with the
gummed side up. His hair was very
Wavy. he liked hot pancakes with lots
OF syrup. and his mother. when he was
at home on visit. called him Sammy.
His brothers called him Smootch.
When the Rev. Mr. Washburn frown-
ed he was not very forbidding. but some
way or other no one ever seemed anx-
lous to be the subject of that frown
Mrs Milton. unaware of it, went on
VI course. when a woman is living
all alone she can't be too careful Nat
urally when her uncle died and left her
the house and little money to live on.
she left her work in the city and came
here. All well and good. But how do
folks know what kind of a person she is,
coming here a perfect stranger. unless
she tries to prove she's respectable ?
Shes been asked to join every society
In this church and has refused. Ana
I've seen her with my own eyes through
the parlor window, playin' cards by her
self"
The young minister was not listen
ing now He knew without hearing
that the ladies of the church were
hostile to the Independent young
woman He was thinking of the time
a few weeks before when he was in
bed with a serious illness. The nurse
and sickness had made extra work
which was too much for the house
keeper. Then Katrine Wharton had
to the preachers house and washed
dishes. cooked. baked. scrubbed porches
and ironed. Once she had washed the
clothes. Others Were kind and willing
but none had shaved as she had done
for the young man away from home
The lowered voices in the ladies'
parlor caused him to shudder. He
knew perfectly well that all this was
being discussed. The propriety of her
attention to the sick man had been
questioned by all the ladies of the con-
gregation.
He dropped his pen. The sermon
was no longer possible for that day.
He felt that he had done wrong in
not taking up her cause and acting
as her champion. Yet little things
had held him back. There We're times
when her happy-go-lucky defiance Of
the proprieties made him almost be-
lieve the ladies were right At other
times he felt like telling the women of
his flock. with clergical tact. that they
ought to be ashamed of themselves.
Then again. when he saw her regard
ing him with frank amused eyes, he