The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-07-21
The Epening Story
The New Dining Room.
(By Fanny Gray.)


When Mary Clark married Wilfred
Ayers, she realized in the depths or
her heart that they were miles apart
in some ways. But life was lonely lor
her, and the strength of the big, huik-
ing man had it's appeal, to say nothing
of the fact that she had only bit of
money laid by, while he had not only
good farm and farm lands, but
tidy sum in the bank, left him by his
father.
Mary had lived in a little house on
an out-of-the-way street of the village,
going out to sew or taking work home
as best suited her customers More
refined and sensitive than most of her
neighbors, she longed for the good
things of life which were denied her,
and, in her simple way, had given her
humble home an air of gentility not
common to Greenville.
| When Wilfred first showed a pref
erence for her, she had been inclined
to scout the idea of marrying him:
But a better acquaintance had proved
| his sterling qualities, and the nearest
thing to love she had ever known for
| any man had grown up in her heart
Also, she reasoned that his money
would allow her to crafty some of her
| repressed ambitions, and she expected
to remodel his views to meet her
ideas.
But there are two sides to every
| question. When the two were mar
ried and settled down in their farm
house, Mary found that the habits of
middle age are not SO easy to change
You cannot teach an old dog new
tricks, at least without a struggle
Wilfred had been brought up by a
good and conscientious, but perfectly
commonplace mother, who had no
ideas of her own, and believed that
what had been good enough for her
parents was good enough for her
Wilfred had breathed the atmos-
phere. He also believed in letting
well-enough alone. Anything out OF
the usual. or different from what he
was accustomed to was putting on
frills, and this he could not stand for.
So Mary had to feel her way. But
she was a determined little person,
and step by step she brought about
changes so skilfully that Wilfred
scarcely realized what was happening
until the thing was accomplished, and
then it was hardly worth while max
ing a fuss.
After some weeks of effort on
Mary's part, the farmhouse took on a
new aspect. The 'beSt room was
open all day and every day, with new
screens at the windows, and the sun
shut out during the heat Of the day
| with awning blinds. A small gas
range had been installed in the kitch-
en- beside the big coal stove. OLD
carpets had been taken away, and cool
mating rugs had taken their places in
the bedrooms. And, wonder of won
ders, there was a brand new bath
room
changes she scarcely knew. herself;
but, by the use of persuasion and in
finite tact they had been accom-
plished. She had shed some tears in
the process which Wilfred knew
nothing about, and it is quite possible
he may have used some words not in
general use in polite society when Out
of reach of the house But the re-
suits stood, and, if. truth were told,
Wilfred secretly enjoyed the new
regime.
However there was one point on
which he stood firm as a rock. Mary
had approached it from every angle,
but he would not bulge. She could
not make him give up eating in the
kitchen! There was an extra room
between the kitchen and the sitting
room, which Seemd to serve no par
ticular purpose. 1t was not large,
and, having north windows, had been
shut UP in winter by Wi1freds mother,
and used a sort of storeroom. Mary
had planned to turn this into a dining
room ever since her arrival at the
farmhouse, but Wilfred was up in
arms at each new attack she made.
He always had eaten in the kitchen,
he liked it, 1t was less trouble for every
one, he wasn't going to buy new fur
niture, and go forth and so on. All
through the early part of the summer
the eating in the hot Kitchen had gone
on, with Wi1fred in his shirt sleeves at
the head of the table. Mary's soul re-
belled, but. as it seemed the one thing
she could not gain without an open
fight, she resolved to bide her time.
Her one consolation was the china of
old blue Cantonware, brought from
overseas by Wilfred's grandfather.
With the beginning of August, the