St. Tammany farmer., 1921-11-19
2RS1575252S15752SI575H5252
HIS Artistic
Minnie
BY CLAIRE SMITH.
52S2525252R57R
CopYriKht, 1921. Weatarn NaWapapar Uni


Copyright 1921. Western Newspaper Union
Eyes, ma'am, we can board you on
the farm If you don't mind eating
with HI and me and the hired man.
Six dollars week, that's our price
You thought it was nine7 It used to
be nine, ma'am, but that was when
Linborough, used to be artistic, and
when folks wants art, they have to
pay for 1t.
"How did we stop being artlstic1
That's quite story, ma'am. Our be.
Ing artistic came on US quite like q
fash, ma'am. One summer we was
just folks, same as we are now, and
the next we was artistic.
"Mrs. Hlgginbotham ran that art col.
ony up on the hill-the big barn that's
falling to ruin. No, we haven't been
artistic for three or four years now.
and the colony has moved to Green.
field.
Minnie? Oh. Minnie's our daugh-
ter. Sort Of fine girl, Hi and !
thought her, and that's why we sent
her to college. Sam Bum, the plumb
er, was sweet on her, and Hi and !
hoped they would hitch up together
when she come home, for Sans a
nice, quiet sort Of fellow, and always
was saving.
swell, ma'am, Minnie came home
from college, and Hi and I noticed
she sort Of shifted the first evening.
"'Father,' said Minnie, now that !
am home I am going to improve things
q little.'
swell, that suited HI and me first
rate, for we naturally thought she
meant that she was going to help us
old folks out with the chores.
"She'd got to. be fast friends with
that Higginbotham woman, and next
day she broke the news to us that
they'd rented the old Hopps place for
an art colony and some fifty students
OF both sexes was comingss
"The townspeople was glad, for
things were bit dull in Linborough.
'The first shock come when Minnie
had the house repapered.
1.-THE next thing was the furnishings.
Our furniture, which you can see,
came from HIS grandmother. But
Minnie and some Of the lady students
borrowed our woodshed, and the first
thing we knew, the furniture was up
In the garret. and we had some new
chairs and tables-all rough wood
with brass nails sticking out After
that Hi moved into the garret and
spent his evenings there. 4
II don't think he'd have stood 70,
It much longer, only we put up our
price from six dollars to nine, and
we got quite superior class of sum.
mer boarders.
"Now was telling you about Sam
Bum. He'd always admired Minnie,
and though she hadn't treated him
well, he still hankered after her, so
he and some other young men come
up to talk it over with HI, and the
result was Society for the Promo.
tion Of Being Artistic. It was beating
Mrs. Higginbotham at her own game.
ut began when she found the frost
had burst her pipes, and sent for Sam.
Sam listened respectfully.
"'1m sorry, Mrs. Higginbotham,' he
says, when she gets through, but I've
joined our new Society for the Promo
tion Of Being Artistic, and can't fix
EN-
"'Why notT asks Mrs. Higglnboth.
am.
"'Pipes amt artistic answers Sam.
Only wells an old oaken buckets is
artistic. No, ma'am. can't fix 'em.'
"Well, since Sam was the only
plumber in town, she had to send over
to Greenfield.
''Then there was Ed Keggs, the
butcher. He wanted business, but he
wanted Mabel Cough more, and Mabel
was artistic. So he had Joined the so
ciety, and he wouldn't sell lamb, chops
or ribs.
"'Chops amt artistic. Mrs. Higgln,
botham,' he explained. What Is ar
tistic Is barbecues. I'll sell Cou q
whole OK to roast upon spit. Spits
Is highly artistic
"As for Jim Saunders, the grocer,
he wouldn't sell anything but herbs,
He said canned goods was vulgar. And
since the roof was leaking, and there
wasn't nobody knew how to thatch
one, Mrs. Higginbotham gave up the
fight and left.
eyes, it did pay US, being artistic
but we don't envy Deerfeld. And, as
HI says, he don't want to be artistic
unless his armchair and pipe goes
with 1t.
Minnie? Oh, she's been Mrs. Bum
these two years past. They've got 9
brand new cottage up Nobscott way,
and a pianola and two bubies and
Sans doing well In the plumbing
business. So, as I was saying, it's
only six dollars again, but you'll have
to eat with the hired man, MAN,"