Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1922-07-07
Mrs. MaxheId
Dispcses
By WILL T. AMEs

est OF amused little smiles over her
knitting as she stole a covert glance
at Albert Crafts across the living
room center table. The center table.
survival OF period when there
must be a center table quite as
necessarily as roof, was exhibit p
III the evidence that Letitia Max
neld was not the ruler of thar
household. Exhibit A consisted of
Mrs. Maxfield, who did rule it. No
one, no matter how great a stranger,
could spend an hour in the pres
ence Of Letitia Maxfield and her moth
er without becoming aware that the
latter tyrannized over her daughter
unremlttingly, shamelessly, by the
device OF exaggerated self-renuncia-
ton. The center table presented a
case in point. Albert Crafts, now be-
slowed lIncomfortably in the cane
seated rocker with the curved back,
wishing 20 goodness that Mrs. Maxfield
would 80 to bed, or at least get up
from tIat distressing wretched white
enamtded chair in which she was por-
Mother" Letnia had said long
time ago, Tets Danish this dreadful
table and shift things around in this
room so as to make it just the least
bit like home"
Very well, my DEAR" Mrs. Max
field had answered. with all the woes
of whole generation of mankind reg
istered in her long-suffering coun-
tenance, whatever you see fit to do,
do, of course. 1t is not to be expected
that it would make any great differ
ence to you that this is the way your
poor dear father knew our home. You
were quite young" Letitia, as a mat
ter of fact, was in her fourth year
when Mr. MaXfield went to his reward
land changing fashions naturally are
more important to you than his men,
DRY. Do what you like with the room,
but please do not ask me to use it aft
erward"
SO, of course, Letitia being Letitia,
the room remained as it was, center
table and all, an entirely dreadful lat
ter-Victorian mess.
Likewise in the case of Albert
Crafts. Ten years ago, when Letitia
was slighter and prettier-if not so
handsome-Mrs. Maxfield discerned
the imminent likelihood of Albert's
suit carrying the girl off her feet. SO
she began to be unspeakably sad
dened by the inevitable prospect that
some day, of course, her one eve lamb
would be going away out of her life
and leaving everything all barren and
empty and cold, and so on. All of
which, being actuated by no suspicion
in the world that such disaster imme-
diately impended, so far as the eve
lamb knew, served to make tender
hearted Letitia feel like something that
deserved to be shot at sunrise.
And so it had been. With the re-
suit that Letitia MaXfield, in the course
OF time, came to hold the creed that
to think of herself in the very least,
or to fail to put her mother not only
first but second and third, and all the
way down to about tenth, was to be
an unworthy, miserable creature.
This is the road that runs through
the land of SpinsterhOod to the de-
serted village of Lonely Old Age In
nine cases out of every ten. 1t just
happened, however, that the love of
Albert Crafts for his selfsacrificing
sweetheart was not mere calf love.
He was a man, this slow-moving young
fellow, and he never gave up. Year
after year he kept up the steady, I'M
despairing though not over hopeful
pursuit of the particular brand of hap
piness on which he had set his heart in
the beginning.
Its no use, Albert" Letitia would
say, 81 shall not marry. l will not
leave mother"
But I've told you a hundred times,
DEAR" Albert would protest, that
there need be no separation"
Always Letitia shook her head at
this point She would not formulate
words even to herself, the realization
that somehow it would be unfair to
subject another life to the same cark-
ing influence that had SO manacled her
own. This was because Letitia's brain
knew that her mother was a selfish ty-
rant. the very while her heart kept
insisting that that mother was rare
and tender plant which needed every
bit of the daughters generous young
soul for its spiritual sustenance. she
has always missed father so, the poor
dear!" Letitia said to herself over and
over again.
And so Letitia had come to the point
where she could find just a wee Dit
of amusement in the awkwardly con-
cealed wish of Albert Crafts that Mrs.
Maxfeld would go to bed, and In the
unconcealed determination OF Mrs.
Crafts to do nothing of the kind. she
had an uncanny way of knowing, had
that lady. when one of the occasions
had arrived upon which Albert just
naturally had to propose TO Letltla
again. Only that very day, with her
very best air of martyred abnegation.
she had said to her daughter: Leu
tia, my child, if your happiness de
o,o,,ae %bo% x-o,, marry DraV Go not