Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1915-06-10
GETTING MA away
BY BARBARA cooPER-cUsHMAN.


NIOpyrlBnt)
When we finally decided to go to
Chicago to live, Nettie said: well,
We must take the canary and the cot.
fee-urn, and-ma." Ma Just put her
hand up to her face, so-a way she has
and smiled. She said nothing. That
usually mean considerable anxiety
for the family. 1t certainly did this
time.
Pa went first, a week or two ahead,
then ma was to go to finish settling,
and Nettie and I-Nettie is twenty-five
and | am only nineteen-were to fol-
low two weeks later. The main thing
was to get ma off.
Everything went beautifully as far
as we were concerned. Nettie left the
~ofice-Nettie works; she's very clev-
er; l just help ma keep house-well,
as l said, Nettie left the office for a
whole morning to get ma a through
ticket and check her baggage, and we
both saw her aboard the express for
Chicago.
Truly, we nearly missed the train
even then, because ma had packed her
best bonnet. We hunted high and
low for it till nearly train time. Then
Nettie finally concocted some sort of
an affair out of a piece Of Grape that
no one had packed because w didn't
think it good enough.
Well, | think ! told you before, we
saw ma off, Grape bonnet and all.
Then Nettie sent a telegram to pa in
Chicago, saying:
Ma left on the noon train. Meet her
tomorrow. NETTIE.
Nettie and | were pretty busy that
afternoon and evening. Several people
came in, and there were a dozen and
one things to be done about the house.
So that night Nettie and l slept the
sleep of the Just. We thought we knew
where ma was.
Next day Nettie went to the office
as usual, and l was busy sorting out
the papers in my desk when l saw a
telegraph boy mount our steps and
ring the bell. Maybe l didn't hurry
then! | just snatched the telegram
from that boy and tore it open. This
Is what l read:
Noon train is in from New York. Where
is Ma. PA.
ut was signed pa"
Nettie came along the street just
here, and l rushed to her like a maniac
waving the paper at her and shouting
in a high key:
"Pa wants to know where's ma"
Nettie stared at me in dumb amaze.
ment. Then light came, and with it
revelation.
Pat, she has stopped off at Phila.
delphia," declared Nettie solemnly.
l forgot to tell you that mas father,
Grandpa Klein, lives in Philadelphia,
and her brother and youngest sister.
Well, when we got ma placed in
Philadelphia, mentally, we felt better.
However. Nettie telegraphed back to
pa to ease his mind:
Ma left Tuesday. Probably stopped
Philadelphia. Where Ia ma?
NETTIE.
That last sentence she just put in
for sarcasm, but at the end of a week
1t had come to be so well known at
the telegraph office near our home,
that the operator thought that it was
some sort of signal or code phrase.
She used to try different ways Of spell.
ing it to see II 1t mattered. Once she
had 1t, where is maw?" Another
time, where's MAJ" Sometimes she
put an exclamation point after it;
sometimes a question mark. Once she
just had, "W's M" but we knew what
1t meant.
Our telegram became such a daily
affair that it was like the newspaper
or the milk. Every night we had a
telegram for dinner. In the meantime,
where was ma?
OF course, we found out afterward.
Indeed, while we were fussing in New
York, ma was taking her EAST and a
lovely vacation in Philadelphia.
On the arrival Of the New York
Chicago train at Philadelphia, no one
was visible to meet her. So ma went
to the ticket office, got her ticket vail
dated, or extended, or whatever 1t is
that postpones the trip from one train
to another, and then found that she
had forgotten my uncle's new address.
Ma thought a few minutes, and then
went to the telegraph Office, and there
If she didn't trace Nettie's telegram!
She found the address.
Just as ma started up the street, she
was met by a colored maid, who, recog-
nizing her from a picture that she-the
maid-had busted many times on the
mantel in aunts sitting room, stopped
and asked her If she was Mrs. Gilpat-
rick. Naturally ma said yes. She soon
came to the house, and was welcomed
with open arms. 1t seems the telegram
had not reached them, through some
delay or other, so they did not know
about meeting the train.
The family would not hear Of mas