The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-01-28
Epening Story
Pride and Prunes.
BY eLARIssA MAcKIE.

Mrs Welles looked at her four
daughters with an inauiring express
sion. They looked very weli-very
pretty, one might say-altho their
clothes were obviously last years style
and thei. shoes were shabby. One
noticed that they had made the most
of old clothes The. Welles family had
suffered reverses since the death or
the husband and father. He had been
a salar.ed man, with four daughters TO
educate and a large house to main
tain. Even the house was srowihs
shabby by inches, Molly declared.
What do you think of my pianE
asked Mrs. Welles at last
Its awful" groaned Madge. i
never expected we would come TO
keeping boarders.'
And I particularly detest prunes,'
complained Cicely.
Think of the hard work." sug-
gested Barbara, looking at her Well
kept hands.
I'VE might make it a pruneless
boarding house, and Della went oft
into a peal of merry laughter at her
own wit, but her charming face cloud
ed at once as she saw the d-sappoint-
ment in her mothers countenance.
Were those new lines on her mothers
pidSio pfob' Lines OF cars anu VIII
with four idle daughters? Della
stiffened in a ramrod way, that was
like her father.
I'VE can do it if we want to-" she
said bluntly. We're too lazy for
words=ali of our friends, rich and
poor. are working-none of us are
qualified to take up any special line
of work and taking paying guests is
respectable; We can keep our own
home nf
big house for ourselves. Mother can
superintend everything, I can help the
cook in the kitchen, Molly and Bar
bara can wait on table and take care
of rooms at first until we can afford
10 keep another maid. and Cicely shall
Keep all the accounts and sew for the
rest OF u.s. VINO will join the league
of workers."
With more or less reluctance they
all agreed, but Cicely. the clever
needle woman. pouted. People make
such foolish jokes about primes ana
boarding houses-and oh, dear-I sup
pose l must join tool"
Della called them the band of un-
willing workers" but her enthusiasm
soon whipped them into line with
the new enterprise, and they were en-
couraged by their friends and by tales
of the money to be made. They could
charge well, for the house was large
and situated in an extensive garden.
The girls found their first happiness
in cleaning the house and preparing
the rooms.
Everything was planned in advance,
and every room was rented before
they were ready to receive their
guests A good cook was hired, and
then the doors were open to receive
the people and the trunks that soon
occupied the rooms, small and large.
After while the family retired to a
wing of the house, which they held
against any siege of would-be board
ers.
The girls were happy. Mrs. Welles
was relieved of care, and money
seemed to flow into the cash box in
steady stream. Table boarders came
from the neighborhood, Iand the
Welies place achieved a reputation.
For six months everything went
well; never a word of complaint reach
ed the family, and never a prune APP
peared upon the table, never a baked
bean reared itself above the horizon.
Madge became engaged to young
college professor and Cicely was sew
ing on her sisters modest trousseau.
Della, who called herself Cinderella.
was dubbed Cinders by the rest of
the family, became famous for her de-
licious pastry and sang like a thrush
over her work in the kitchen.
Dat singin' shuah does add flavor
to de coekin, vas ma m, "ayerred Sally,
the black cook.
One day the singing stopped and
the singer dropped her pretty head.
One of the guests was going to leave
and he had given no reason beyond the
fact that his mother needed a change.
Mr.. Payton was young and attractive.
He worked in the local bank and had
bright future His mother was
robust old lady whom they all loved.
>but lately she had lost interest in
life. She declared she was going out
to Ohio to live with her married
daughter and that would leave young
Payton alone.
II have to leave Robert. No one
knows what foolish girl he might fall
in love with" Mrs. Payton had con-
cided to Mrs. Welles. zone of your
daughters now"
The two elderly ladies did not knew
it, but one of the daughters-pretty