The Glenwood post., 1924-03-06

spent with the children in the houSe,
always made Aunt Emily look thou
sand years old, they wore on her 30"
they upset 80 the perfect order of her
wonderfully kept house. And yet they
did their best not to wear on her, by
keeping away from her as much az
possible. They never went home from
school until 1t was actually supper
time, and always played in our yard,
not their own.
The result was that Aunt Emily was
left quite to herself in Sahara des-
srt Of lonely housekeeping and des-
perate economies with the poor pit
tance which was all that Uncle
Charles could earn. Her thin face
grew grim and dark. as she mended
and patched and turned and dyed and
performed miracles on tough necks Of
mutton and cheap curtain materials.
All Of 1t she did with superlative skill
but burning and raging inwardly (and
many times not 80 very inwardly)
against the necessity Of doing 1t at all,
and crying out bitterly with many iits
Of hysterical tears that she was killing
herself for her family, and nobody
gave her bit of credit for It
Oh, yes, everybody lodged when
Aunt Emily hove in view, father as
much as the rest, in spite Of all his ex-
tenuations. Whenever we did have to
go there, on unavoidable errands, we
children would stand in the doorway,
and assure her volubly that we
couldn't come in, because our feet
were muddy. This brought about the
desired result Of being told severely
to hurry along then, and not get the
whole house cold, with that door stand
ing open.
fortunes, as If they were not already
sufficiently singled out for misery.
Uncle Charles fell on the stairs, and
hurt himself terribly, threw several
vertebrae out Of position, believe, so
that he lay almost wholly paralyzed
from the waist down. And not penny
Of savings to pay the doctor. not even
for the grocer's bill at the end Of the
month. It was disaster, absolute black.
irreparable disaster. Aunt Emily was
stunned into silence, a dreadful gray
silence, as Of some one whose grudge
against fate Is rising to mania. I re-
member hearing father say to mother,
after he came back from his turn at
spending night of care for Uncle
Charles, I'm afraid Of the woman,
positively am. She looks as though
she'd go mad" "Well, it's not out of
sympathy for her poor husband, that's
sure" mother answered acidly.
What do you suppose was the result
Of that terrific accumulation Of emo
tion in Aunt Emily? What was the
momentous, tremendous decision to
reach which, in 1885, 1t was necessary
for her to rise to that pitch Of frenzy?
Why nothing more nor less than this
and in those days 1t was de-
cision both momentous and tremen-
dous for any married woman with chill
dren she put on her bonnet,
yes, bonnet, 1t was In the last days Of
bonnets. when only young girls wore
hats and marched down town
to ask for work In Emery's Emporium.
She got it, Of course. Even IL 1t had
not been Aunt Emily, the humane head
of the firm would have felt under some
obligation to the wife Of a faithful en-
ployee Of such long standing. And in
addition to this, it was Aunt Emily
of course she got what she
went after.
She was put well, l don't
know that l ever heard just In what
small corner she was put at first, as
an experiment: something easy and
simple to suit her supposed inexperi-
ence Of business and her supposed
feminine incapacity for it. The life at
home was organized somehow, any,
how, as best they could with different
cousins taking turns to go in and help
out with the work. Uncle Charles did
not suffer any pain, and was quite
himself as far as his head was con-
cerned, his body like log In the bed,
but his eyes bright, his fine sensitive
face pale, but calm and philosophic as
always. He was quite able to direct
the children as they dressed and un-
dressed themselves and studied their
lessons and learned to do the house
work. .eNr
As Uncle Charles got better so that
he could sit mp in bed, things ran more
smoothly. His bed was moved down
to q corner Of the dining room, where
he could look into the kitchen. He
could work with his hands now, which
he had always loved to do, and they
were never still from morning till
night. Ny father gave him wheeled
tray which was always piled with
work. done or to be done. He did all
the inending and darning and he and
Phoebe did the cooking and the kitch-
en- work together. The children all
brought their school books to their
fathers bedside, and did" their les
sons there, to 4 running accompani-
ment Of such sympathetic. helpful COM
mania froyn him aa thov'd ne var