The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-04-25
AN EXPERIMENT


that most of the evil manifested in a
mans character resulted from an i'm
perfect realization of the defect on the
part of the man himself He had a
habit Of throwing off little gems of
thought like that
You mean that conviction of sin
must come before repentance" said
the patriarch, whose weakness was
telling people what they meant. That
reminds me Of an old neighbor Of mine
back in Iowa." he continued. Did I
ever tell you about Zephaniah Com
stock?"
Yes" answered a chorus of listen.
ers. The commission man added.
Very often"
Then I'll tell it to you again for
fear you might forget" said the patri.
arch. "Zephaniah Comstock, as said,
was neighbor Of ours; that is to say,
there were only three farms between
US. He was one of these men whose
mouths seem to be drawn across their
faces in a straight line with a fine
nibbed pen. and he had what you might
call the financial nose.
He was wealthy for those days and
by the communitys standard Of wealth,
and there wasn't q better-appointed
farm or fatter and better-cared-for
stock than his in three counties, but
he was about as stingy mean as they
ever make EN- to his womenfolk.
They didn't have a decent dud to their
names hardly, let alone any sort of
convenience for making the homework
easy or anything to make the house at
tractive. There were just the two of
'em-Mrs. Comstock and her daughter
Sarah-and they did the cooking,
churning, ironing. washing, baking and
sewing for the whole layout, including
four small kids and two hired men.
But If Mrs. Comstock wanted a patent
churn, dress pattern, bolt of sheet
ing or anything beyond the barest ne
cessities, it was like pulling teeth to
get EN- out OF Zephaniah. Those
women just logged 1t from early till
late with makeshifts and worn-out ma
terials, but If there was any late i'm.
proved farm machinery on the market
or new food for cattle Zephaniah
wasn't happy till he got 1t.
1T had gone on that way for years,
when certain Mrs. Waterman
stopped off there one morning and
stayed to dinner. She was an old
schoolmate of Mrs. Comstock's and
had just moved into our section Of the
country. Well, she naturally expected
that there would be what they call a
company dinner, but there wasn't.
There was fat fried pork and potatoes
and boiled green's and all the dessert
was squash pie. This was set out on
an old. frayed red-andwhite checkered
tablecloth, and there wasn't piece of
plated ware on the table. 1t seems to
me that Mrs. Comstock wept about It
on her old friends bosom when the
men had gone out to the fields again
She said that Zephaniah wasn't stingy
at heart, but that he didn't quite real
lie how the house looked, being as he
never visited
Mrs. Waterman went away with
| the firm intention of bringing Zepha
niah to realization OF his cussedness
She brought the matter up under the
head Of general business at the sewing
circle the next week They had quite
discussion over it and the result OF
1t was that Mrs. Waterman made a
second visit to Mrs Comstock.
She got there about two O'Clock
and found Mrs. Comstock over her
| tubs. AS soon as she had got her
| breath she impaired the cheering in,
formation that the whole blessed sew
ing circle was going to break in on her
| about supper time with it's husbands
| as little surprise party Mrs. Com
stock turned pale and fell back into
rocking chair-a thing she didn't
often do.
My dear. there isn't a thing to eat
In the house, except just what we al
T., ways have she said Not so much
as glass Of jell or anything. Not a
decent white tablecloth, even. Zepha
niah always says he doesn't believe in
| fixings and foolishness and
| "'Cheer up says Mrs. Waterman, 4
know just what to do. was all fixed
for some company that didn't come
today and I'll just drive back and bring
over what I've got and a few dishes
and things at the same time. It won't
| take me more than an hour
| 1T didn't. for the reason she had EN-
all packed and ready. AS soon as she
got back she turned up her dress Skin:
and rolled up her sleeves and pitched
in. and by the time the surprise party
arrived supper was ready for 'em.
That table was sight 1t groaned
| The sewing sircle had been busy. and
there were seventeen different kinds
of pies. cakes and preserves; all In
the gayest and most glittering china
and glass dishes. There were two Of
the fanciest lamps blazing their ligh,
over cold sliced ham, beef, chicken and
Grated plates. snowy damask napkins
and tablecloth; there were pickles anG
beaten biscuit and balls of butter and
shining silver. 1t was about as gaudy
and mountaineering a show as ever
happened. And just as they were sit
ting down Zephaniah came in from the
field in his shirt sleeves. II he didnt
come to a realization of his shortcom
ings them"
Reformed. did her" said the com
| mission man.
Reformed nothing!" said the patri
arch. He just sat down and ate like {
] h0o -