The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-10-26
EDening Story
The Curtises' Grandmother.
By II. LOUIS RAYBOLD.

Mary Curtis gathered her children
about her one morning and broke the
news to them tEat their Grandmother
johnson had given up her home and
was coming to live with them.
And" she concluded, 'I expect you
to make the sacrifices cheerfully
which this viii entail. You must re-
member that your grandmother Is
well along in years. that perpetual
racket cannot help but annoy her at
times and that she deserves the con-
sideration due old age"
With such warnings ringing in their
ears the Curtis youngsters, from sew
enteen-year-old Wayne down to six
year-old Janet, were decidedly on
their best behavior the first few days
after their grandmother's arrival. AL
tho she was their mothers own moth
err her long residence in the west had
them nor they her, and it must be
admitted she did not turn out to be
the feeble, white-haired old lady of
their expectations.
Even her own daughter thought
inward1y that her mother seemed no
older than she had ten years ago. and
| the vision Of gentle. cooky-making.
lace-capped grandmother for the chill
dren dimmed. Grandma johnson
didn't conform to type.
She's certainly the spryest grand
m other I ever saw" Mary's husband
| remarked one morning when she had
| been with them for q month, as he
watched her tripping down the street
| to the Home for Aged Couples, where
she already knew every one, from
head gardener to grocery boy.
Mary shook her head. ''If ia heard
Of any of the old ladies passing on I
should be worrying for fear she was
making eyes at the widower." she
said. las it is"
| You don't suppose old Caleb"
| HOld Ca1ahf T0hn ara Won 0I1f ~
| your mind?"
"Well," said John stiffly, .'she may
be your mother, but she certainly
| spends considerable of her time gos-
| sipfng over the fence with the old
man, and If you cast your weather
eye that way you'll observe that part
| of his garden near our fence is the
only part that's been weeded for a
| MONTH"
| But his wife turned away indig-
nantly. She was truly fond of her
mother and had expected gladly to
give up a valued room for her COM
| fort and, in short, do everything to
make her hapiy. Yet she was turn
ing out to be as much a problem as
one of the children. For example,
take her, daily hobnobbing with old
| Caleb
| Ever since the Curtises bought their
| home their eccentric neighbor had
| been a thorn in tn -ir flesh. Not
|
| had ever landed anywhere but among
| his choicest plants and done. accord
| ing to Caleb. untold and irreparable
damage. Old Caleb's hens, shut from
| his own preserves, had baked all
Mary's efforts to make flower beds
and at Johns efforts to render fences
impossible. Moreover. old Caleb had
| once been sea captain and his solilo-
| quies when things went wrong were
such that Mary was forced to gather
| her brood indoors with closed win
! dows. And, from the start, that same
| old Caleb and Grandma johnson had
been what Wayne called real ehum-
my"
| One more illustration of the UNI
| foreseen disturbances the advent of
her mother brought into the home.
| The youngsters were, to be frank,
''jazz crazy" particularly Wayne and
sixteen-year-old Phyllis. Their pocket
| money went for new records, altho
| their father claimed 1t was extrava-
gance to buy new ones. One was in
distinguishable from the other, and 1t
| would be no loss unsteady and q gain
| economically to use the same one
until It wore out.
Mary had hoped to make an excuse
of Grandma Johnson to lessen up on
the photograph. She had fancied
herself speaking gently to them of
her nerves and need for quiet and
rest. But from the day she came
upon Wayne swinging his grandmoth-
er across the rugless floor and adj
monishing her ito two-step or pivot
| the turn as she pleased, but not to
| forget that toddling was absolutely
thing gone by and the neck hold was
| going" she abandoned that cherished
| hope as vain.
| Grandma made a great point of her
| ''pet philanthropy" which signified
weekly visits to the home for aged
| nj
| nuts and a few magazines. Mary felt
| that very likely she brought a real
| breath of cheer into the place and
| grew to count upon the homes visit
! ing hours as quiet moments in the
week when her mother was innocently
occupied.
| But there came time when Mary
| felt that to ship grandma back west
would bring the household a very
| real relief Old Caleb had taken to