The Winslow mail., 1915-06-12
Shining Examples

ShtnIh9 examples
"Will you please tell me-" said the
bride, whether you ever had a shining
example held up to you?"
There was a rueful turn to her half
smile as she spoke. Her more expert
enced friend, who had been married
five years, nodded appreciatively.
"Yes, indeed! And / broke it right
up, you can be surei" she affirmed
Ted began on the glories of Alices
tart's and then extended his praise to
her pies and her biscuits-you see our
families were close friends and we
visited each other a lot-and finally
he even compared her system of house
keeping with mine. She gave such en-
tertaining evening affairs, he observed
and served things so attractively, and
so on! took it all without revolt and
said nothing, for Ted never meant to
hurt my feelings. He merely wanted
me to do as we'll as Alice. But he al
ways failed to remark on the things
that I did better than Alice. That was
what irritated me most!
"Ted's thoughtlessness continued un-
til | concocted little plan. | dealt
the cards so that we should spend our
summer with Alice and Fred. OF
course 1 never divulged the fact that
it was for any other purpose than mu-
tual pleasure, but had deep designs!"
The older woman paused and gazed
meaningly at her friend.
"AIice is one of those rare souls" !"
she continued, "who will never con-
slider her own reluctance when she
feels that she should tell you some
thing for your own good, no matter
how painful. She goes right at it. AL
so, she had hand for managing things
and not merely evening functions, eth
er. Of course, Ted had never discover
ed this characteristic, and l never ar
gued with him about her, or explained
my opinions.
"The educational process began the
first Monday morning at the cottage.
We had been up late Sunday night, and
Ted was yawning and counting the
half-minute or more he might have be-
fore he had to get up when Alice called
from the hall, told him to hustle if he
didn't want to miss his train. She in
formed him that Fred had been up an
hour and that this was the third time
she had called him.
"Ted muttered to me that he had
reached the age of discretion and felt
able to guide himself about getting to
his office; and thereupon turned over
and went to sleep again.
"When at length he made his ap-
pearance Alice gazed at him with the
pitying, forgiving smile one bestows on
children who have been naughty-sort
of a coals-of-fire smile. Ted writhed
under 1t. And then she informed him
sweetly that as he had missed his
train and had two hours to wait he
could split some wood and plant the
geraniums. He'd have loved to do it
if he had thought it up himself, but it
was most trying bit of work, super
intended by Alice. And she kept her
eyes on him, too. He was told just
how to lay the kindling so that it
would dry; exactly how to spread the
plant roots and how to prune the
leaves, and all that. And it was I'll
good, sound advice! Alice certainly
knew; but Ted didn't want to be told!
However, he kept himself in con-
troll that time and by the next Sunday
he had half forgotten it until Alice re-
fused to let him have two cups of cof-
fee. She told him that it would hurt
him and that she never LET Fred have
more than one. She added that she
couldn't see what 1 had been dream
ing of not to have set my foot down
earlier.
81 gasped. l could feel Ted getting
to high pressure. So l told Alice,
quietly, that | felt Ted to be the best
judge. l explained that we didn't very
often dictate to each other and that
I'd found that usually things worked
out best when Ted had his way. OF
course, was jollying Ted, but the poor
fellow needed 1t.
Needless to say this was the crisis.
That night Ted actually begged my
pardon for ever holding Alice up to
me"
The little bride shook her head and
interrupted sadly:
"No, you see," she said, "your
scheme won't suffice at all, because it's
my mother whom Billy holds up be-
fore me-and l never could change his
mind! She treats him better than |
do and I wouldn't want him not to
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