Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-08-22

concluding remark on the subject, You
will be wanting to spend money on the
shebang and then it'll all peter out"
The girls worked with will all the
next week, and contrary to prophecy
they didn't ask their father for q cent.
What little they had to have Lucy
spent out of small sum she had tuck
ed away. They cleaned out the little
cottage themselves. 1t was In pretty
good order already and was furnished.
There were three rooms on the ground
floor They turned the parlor, which
was the largest, into the tea room
proper. and made sort of serving
room of the dining room. The small
piazza. they decided, would hold three
tables Tables and chairs! Those
were the difficult things to arrange!
Finally Lucy had bright idea. She
would go to the Woman's club and ask
to hire those which the club kept for
it's garden parties, etc. Mother loaned
her best white and gold eggshell china,
which seldom saw the light of day and
agreed to supply the first little biscuit.
She was dabster at making delicate,
tiny ones that fairly melted in ones
mouth. There was plenty of home.
made jam, to which Lucy felt she had
some right, having made it. Il
Two or three days before they were
ready Lucy put sign out on the lawn
near the street. announcing the open.
ing of the tea house. Half mile down
the road was motor repair shop,
which she felt would play into their
hands, as sometimes the owners OF
cars had many tedious moments to
pass ~
The first afternoon she told herself
they really must not expect any one;
but her heart beat high with expecta-
ton just the same, as she and Florence
In white muslin dresses and dainty ap-
rons, waited In the cottage. Each
table had bunch of flowers in a glass
tumbler, and there was great bunch
of buttercups and daisies in jar on
the piazza.
A man and woman driving through
the country In buggy were their first
guests. motorcyclist and one large
automobile party made up the list for
the day, and they thought 1t very en-
couraging, even If father did sniff bit
when told. Fred Emerson dropped in
around six o'clock, just to cheer them
up, he said. But 1t was noticeable that
the cheering process lasted all through
the prosperous season which followed.
The tea house was great success
on the whole and when the time came
to close it and Lucy counted up the
exact profit, she was highly elated, and
began at once to plan for the next
yaer
Her surprise was very great when
her father told her that the cottage
was no longer his to dispose of. 1t had
been sold, and she must apply to the
new owner for a lease, that owner be.
ing Fred Emerson.
For some reason, which she didn't
comprehend herself, Lucy felt shy
about going to him. But one day when
she was alone at the cottage, putting
away the last things for that season,
Fred appeared. Lucy began at once,
Father told me you had bought the
place, Fred. want to know If / can
|, have it again next year, and what the
rent will be-"
1t isn't necessary for us to know in
just what words Fred told her that the
house was hers on one condition, and
that he had been determined to own it
and install her as mistress ever since
the first day he watched her moving
about in it, looking so sweet and
dainty serving tea to her guests. She
must have accepted the condition for
the next summer saw the little cottage
transformed itno comfortable, liv.
able home, and there were biscuits
and tea; but the order was for two.