Evening star., 1929-05-19

diSgusted at the idea of any young man
being tied to his mothers apron strings
like that, and I guess he let Tom
see it.
1t must have sort of struck at Toms
pride, because the very next day he
went over to see if any job at the Perry
company was still open, and when he
found that one was he took 1t.
When he left 1 couldn't help think
ing that, beginning with Mrs. Coates
going, that big house was like the song
'Forty-nine Bottles Hanging on the
Wall" Now there was just Betty and
her father living in it. Which was GER
tainly just as well, if it was up to Betty
to do the housekeeping. For a girl of
IT she knew about the least about
housekeeping of anybody I've ever seen
in my life.
And she certainly didn't show any
desire to learn. The only interest she
took in housekeeping was in seeing how
quick she could get it done.
And the way she twisted her father
around her finger!
They closed up all that big house
except their own bedrooms and the
kitchen. They didn't even use the liv-
ing room or dining room-just lived
and ate out on the big side porch. And
the way they ate! Marice was so
StlcCheo SIZE ldu W pIoW OIL SLedlu 70
me:
Honestly, if she is my own sister, I
never saw anybody SO shiftless in my
entire life. Betty is using paper doilies
and paper napkins! And they eat three
meals q day off paper plates. I
wouldn't have mother know for worlds.
It would just break her heart"
Cant your father make Betty"
began, but Marice answered before
I'd finished:
Father doesn't care. He's just a
man, and you know how men are. If
he has three square meals day, that's
all he asks. And Betty just works
him. She's out of that place and off
to play tennis by 8 o'clock every morn
ing" il
1t really was shocking, but, as Marice
said what was there to do about it2
1 was ironing napkins a morning or so
later and wondering if it was my duty
on account of what I'd promised Mrs
Ccates-to speak to Betty, when sud-
denly looked down at the napkin
wss ironing on folded bath towel to
bring out the monogram, and it oc-
CURED to me that it was foolish way
to be spending perfectly gorgeous
Summer morning.
And the more 1 thought OF it the less
I could make Bettys way seem as
shocking as Marice thought it. After
all, if family Is kept clean and fed,
that's about all they really need, and
while I wouldn't want 10 pass up the
trimmings myself, I have to admit that
they aren't exactly necessary. and that
they aren't any fun, if you're the kind
who isn't interested in them.
And Betty was interested in some
thing else. She's such a crack ath-
lete, especially swimming and tennis,
that Peggy Scoggins' married brother
had landed her the job as athletic as
sistant in Peggys college, and Betty
had decided to cram up and see If she
couldn't pass the entrance examination
for this very Fall.
THOUGH they had all expected her
to stay a month longer, Mr.. Coates
got wire that Mrs. Coates would be
home the day before Labor day.
Watching the three children getting
ready to welcome their mother, realiz-
ed that they had never been really as
callous as they had seemed. Betty
opened up the part of the house she'd
kept closed and filled it with goldenrod
and purple asterS. Tom got off for the
day so that he'd be home and had his
little car washed and Shined up within
an inch of its life to meet her at the
station. Marice had dinner in her
new little home that would have been a
credit to much older housekeeper.
Mrs Coates arrived on schedule,
looking just as usual. maybe a little
fattened up and tanned. She had the
apprehenSive look of any mother who's
been away from the family some time.
| fairly purred in anticipation of the
happy surprise in store for her.
The very next day come the Labor
day tntracounty amateur tennis tour
nament, over at Verblen Country Club,