Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1917-03-08
INCIDENT MRS. LESTER
BY OSBORN JONES.

II she didn't ever have to do anything"
said Mrs. lands. the clearinghouse
keeper, to the old maid school teacher,
who replied promptly:
Yes, and any woman could seem
light hearted II she didn't have a care
or trouble In the world"
As y matter of fact. Mrs. Lester was
indolenl But she was not altogether
happy.
If any one had asked Mrs. Lester
why she boarded instead of keeping
house she would have said 1t was be
cause her husband chose to live that
way. They had always done 1t In the
three years of their married life. The
boarding house was convenient to the
big factory where her husband worked
and houses were not plentiful. But
sometimes a single tear fingered In
those soft brown eyes OF hers and
there was fieeting note Of sadness In
her voice.
Then came the time when Mrs. Lam
dis son had pneumonia at college. 1t
didn't prove to be a hard case, but 1t
was sufficiently alarming to make 1t
necessary for Mrs. Lands to pack her
wicker suitcase and betake her portly
person to the college town. She
stopped long enough to give the cook
directions for ordering and to commit
the care of the 80 boarders to her
keeping. Then she went to Mrs. Les
ter's room and told her.
II know | can't do much" said Mrs.
Lester, but it makes lot of work for
poor Martha. Let me do the ordering
while you are gone"
This happened just after breakfast,
so that Mrs. Lester went marketing
that morning at nine and bought even
more economically than would Mrs.
Lands herself, and no one at the
boarding house knew the difference.
For Mrs. Lester, though she said moth
ing of it even to he'd husband, was
pleased with her achievement. Lester
returned to the factory Office that
night, and Mrs. Lester sat alone. II
was eleven when she first heard Mar
tha's call for help-pOor, fat Martha,
whose age was beginning to tell in an
occasional heart attack.
Only Mrs. Lester heard the call for
help and went tiptoeing up to the gar
ret bedroom to be of assistance.
And then came the doctor, who as
sured Mrs. Lester that few days OF
rest would put Martha back on the
working list again.
BY the time Mr.. Lester came back
from the factory Mrs. Lester was
poseful as If she had lain there all the
evening.
In the morning she slipped from her
room ut tive-blandly lying to her hus-
band that she was cold and had gone
to rest in u warmer room that had re-
Gently been vacated. And as Mrs.
Lester seldom took breakfast with her
husband. he never guessed that while
he was eating she was working furi-
ously in the kitchen, nor dreamed that
the coffee and cereal, bacon, eggs and
mullins were all the result Of his
wife's efforts with the cookbook and
stove.
After breakfast Mrs. Lester ordered
quickly and deftly over the phone, and
then came the stupendous undertaking
of getting 20 luncheOns ready for the
men.a the factory by IL 30.
Then came dinner, and though Mrs.
Testers arms ached from the unaccus-
TONED labor, and though she was al
most dropping under the task, she was
supremacy happy. She had left q note
in her husbands room saying that she
had gone to spend the day with a
friend and would not be home till nine,
and at that hour she stole into Mrs.
lands room long enough to put on
her big cloak and hat that she had left
there for that purpose. Then, pinch
! ing a little color into her tired face,
she tripped smilingly into her hus-
bands room. II had been a wonderful
day of achievement. and she could
: hardly wait till Mrs. Lands returned
she was due at ten that night-to
hear what she would say. .-.,
s"Such wonderful day as have
had I" she said to her husband by way
Of explaining the happiness that she
/ knew must be shining from her face.
Wonderful days" Knocked her hus-
J band; Eyes, and have been shaving at
/ the office. Grille. I'm getting tired OF
J this--just little. I'd hkeito have q
I little house OF our own. but I don't
dare to suggest IL. You're too much
OF doll. It's worrying over that be-
! sides worrying over the business that
keeps. me SO low-hearted."
sand you have wanted to keep house
and haven't told me-" she whispered.
/ "And for ali these months and years
I've ionged for something to do and
4 didn't dare ask you"