The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-04-28
LISTENING IN ON EYE

Simmons and / have real fun over the
work, for he comes out and wipes
dishes and things like that. and we have
fine visits together. Mr.. Simmons says
he is living his honeymoon over again.
When we want real spree we go out
somewhere to dinner"
'.Then, too, keeping a maid costs SO
much in breakage," said the caller.
.'Breakage!' cried Mrs. Simmons.
why, thes last woman l had in my
Kitchen broke $50 worth of things in a
week 9P
my last maid-htr name was Han
nah-was with me three weeks" the
caller went on. "And 1 just had to
shut my eyes to things because had
four visitors and did not feel equal to
doing the work and showing them the
city as well. get so tired sight
seeing" .... ~.- ~ :,
Its the hardest kind of work.
agreed Mrs. Simmons. You have to
walk SO much if you really want to see
things. Yous can't see the art museum
and such places from a taxicab, you
know"
Hannah was a pretty good cook,
not seem to mind the work and was
really very pleasant about things,
She broke broke few things, though,
and that did worry me, because have
some very choice pieces of china and
can't bear to see them broken. For
instance. have one set of plates that
are really quite valuable, as they are
antiques that have been in the family
for great number of years. l never
use them if / can help it, but, of course,
l got them. out when entertained my
family and my husbands together one
dinner. 1t was an informal affair, so
did not have a caterer and / helped
Hannah by making the salad and the
extra things myself. / intended to wash
the best china, too. But Hannah
wanted to surprise me, knowing was
tired, and after the guests had gone
home or to their rooms / found that
the work was all done.
81 thought I had discovered the rea-
son for her goodness when / put away
the plates" continued the caller.
There were only eleven of them in
stead of twelve. as thought. spoke
to Hanah about it and she insisted that
there had been only eleven in the be-
ginning. There were ten of us at din
ner, SO there was no way for me to tell
how many had been used and 1 could
not prove that we had had Dozen.
II looked everywhere. 1 even looked
in the garbage can and places like
that, thinking that Hannah might have
broken, it; but I did not find it. The
next morning asked the janitor il
he had found pieces of that plate any
where, but he declared he had not. OF
course, he was pretty busy looking aft
er the new people who had moved in
downstairs, SO he might not have paid
much attention to what l said"
New neighbors may or may not be
nice" said Mrs. Simmons.
"These people are very nice" said
the caller. '@The woman came up to
ask me a question this morning and
l liked her. There was a leak in her
ceiling and took her out to the dining
room to show her how the pipes ran,
She saw my plates at once and raved
over them"
4 ''They must be very pretty" Mrs.
Simmons declared. I'D like to see
them some day"
''Ill show them to you,"' said the
caller. But it wasn't their beauty
that she was interested in, it was their
worth, She said that her husband
knew Something about china, so she
could speak with authority. And then
suddenly became sorry Hannah had
left, for my neighbor went on to say
that the day they moved in they found
a plate like those on the back porch
under something. She said it was
cracked clear across, but her husband
mended it and, damaged as it was, he
sold it to an antique man for 49,"