The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1922-07-27
Mrs. Maxheld
Dispcses
By WILL T. AMEs

/ ItAAlla MdAHelu SAnlleu the small
est of amused little smiles over her
knitting as she stole covert glance
at Albert Crafts across the living
room center table. The center table,
survival Of period when there
1 must be a center table quite as
necessarily as roof, was exhibit y
In the evidence that Letltia Max
field was not the ruler of that
household. Exhibit A consisted Of
Mrs. MaXfeld, who did rule 1t. No
one, no matter how great stranger.
could spend an hour In the pres.
ence of Letitia Maxfield and her moth
er without becoming aware that the
latter tyrannlzed over her daughter
unremittlngly shamelessly, by the
device OF exaggerated self-renuncia-
ton. The center table presented a
case In point. Albert Crafts, now be
slowed mcomfortably In the cane
seated rocker with the curved back.
wishing to goodness that Mrs. Maxfield
would go TO bed, or at least get up
from that distressing wretched white
enameled chair In which she was por-
/
"Mother." LetItia had said long
time ago, Tets Danish this dreadful
table and shift things around in this
room SO as TO make II just the least
bit like a home"
VERY we'll my DEAR" Mrs. Max
field had answered with all the woes
! of a whole generation OF mankind reg
/ iSterad In har lnpo e., ofarinu ,n,o
tenance, whatever you see fit TO do,
| do, OF course. II Is not to be expected
| that IL 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 n mat
| ter OF fact, was In her fourth year
when Mr.. Maxfield went to his reward
-"and changing fashions naturally are
more important TO you than his mem
ory. DO what you like with the room
but please do not ask me to use II aft
erward."
So, Of course, Letltla being Letitln,
the room remained as IL was, center
table and all, an entirely dreadful lat
ter-Vlctorlan mess.
Crafts. Ten years ago. when Letitla
was sllghter and prettler--if not so
handsome-Mrs. Maxfeld discerned
the imminent likelihood OF Albert's
suit carrying the girl Oft her feet. SO
she began to be unspeakably sad
dened by the inevitable prospect that
some day, of course. her one eve lamb
nf 70
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.
dlately impended, so far as the eve
lamb knew, served to make tender
hearted Letltla feel like something that
deserved to be shot at sunrise
And so II had been. With the re-
suit that Letitia Maxfeld, 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 tie 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 self-sGcrihclng
sweetheart was not mere calf love-
He was man, this slow-movlng young
fellow, and he never gave up. Year
after year he kept mp the steady. un-
despalring though not over hopeful
pursuit OF the particular brand of hap
piness on which he had set his heart In
the beginning.
"It's no use, Albert" Letltla would
say, II shall not marry. will not
leave mother"
But I've told you 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 II would be unfair to |
subject another life to the same cark- |
Ing influence that had so manacled her |
own. This was because Letitias brain |
knew that her mother was a selfish ty- |
rant, the very while her heart kept |
insisting that that mother was a rare
and tender plant which needed every
bit of the daughters generous young |
soul for lis spiritual sustenance. "She |
has always missed father so, the poor
dear" Letltia said TO herself over and
over again.
And SO Letltia had come to the point
Of amusement in the awkwardly con-
cealed wish Of Albert Crafts that Mrs.
Maxfeld would go 10 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 Letitia
again. Only that very day, with her
very best air Of martyred abnegation