Evening star., 1921-11-15
QUEER. BUT THEE
AND ME AND SOMETIMES THEE
SEEMS QUEER -,s

!" HERE were some intervals in
; the life of Merriam Lindsay
! that stack up all morals and
! no plot. But very exciting in
tervals for all that! Her first summer
! in Rosedale she was the most talked
about woman in the community.
! Her neighbors were mostly older
than she, we'll versed in housekeep-
ing lore. The women led lives
bounded on the south by their men
folks traintime, on the east by their
children's schooitime. on the north by
mealtimes, and on the west by bedtime.
Whereas Merriam lived with de-
lightful haphazai dness Breakfast
was the only punctuality in her scat
terbrain days. Once her lord and
! master departed, she followed the
dictates of her own sweet fancy:
Which much scandalized the neigh
bors.
My dears," reported Mrs. Arnold.
| who lived next door, Il have never
seen anybody SO queer in all my
life!" The Thursday Bridge Club for
W.. ward j. to sn0n listen. af0 NY Wy COUSIN from
Rochester wrote me that she was
Miss Leland before she married, that
she was graduated from an awfully
swagger school; but. my dears, II you
could just see the crazy way she
keeps house""
II was waiting to call formally,
but one morning. right in the midst
of cleaning, our phone went out OF
commission. So 1 went across to her
mouse. I could hear the phonograph
playing a Caruso when L rang the
bell. But nobody came to the door.
1t seems her maid left right when
! she came out here, and she says she
. hasn't even tried to get another. I
rang that bell four times before she
: she meant to come to the door. only
; that ridiculous dog Of hers began to
i barking. And do you know what I
could see through the hall door?
, That she slid down the bannisters
and turned a cartwheel before she
she was barefooted and in yellow
| pajamas! 1t was after IL in the
morning, and there wasn't dish
washed or a bed made! And. do you
! know, she made me wait till that
record was through playing before
; she let we use the telephone? She
said she knew it was awful to listen
:; to, but that she was timing maple fudge
, by it, and all the time I was phoning
| she was stacking unwashed dishes in
i the ice box as casual as anything!"
II sat down and had a frank talk
| with her. Isut don't believe that
! little red-headed hussy will ever get
any sense about housekeeping! I
, told her that. whether I had a maid
or not. always had the bulk Of my
work done by noon; beds made. dishes
washed. dinner ordered. salad on ice.
, and dessert made"
The Thursday Bridge Club broke
+, into a $50 do 1" chorus All sixteen
of them. And added signing Tut.
/; tuts." as through the windows they
glimpsed their queer. new neighbor
dashing up and down her wee lawn
to the merry click of a lawn mower.
In her MILDLY blouse. with her abb
surd dog at her heels, she looked
And know the lawn man is
! there" walled Mrs: Arnold. saw
him come at noon!"
The Thursday Bridge Club went
home to sixteen orthodox dining
tables that night and told sixteen
bride.
And the bride. at how many pin-
utes past neither she nor the BRIDE
groom cared. sat on a low cricket
turned thick mutton chops for their
psychological last sizzle. A tabouret
at Johns elbow held all the eating
tools: the plates had warmed on the
hearth.
"My DEAR" babbled Merry as she
Topped a fat chop on his plate. Il.
have never SEEM anything so funny
as the women who live around here!
They all have more trouble than
there is! About housekeeping!
They're so queer: I wish you could
hear that woman next door reciting
all the fool rigamarole she goes
through about cleaning and des-
serts| she reached a crunchy cell
cry heart to her Illuminating spouse,
who finished his bread and meat just
as the grocer boy arrived with the