The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1937-11-05
preSu7npft0A

1 smiled lnWardly at the change a.
I sat with them that first evening.
door, sat quietly in her corner smiling
at me occasionally, making soft little
noises of approval, surprise or mild
indignation, according to the nature
of our chatter, but hardly opening her
lips for another word.
Lizzie, on the other hand, was in
quisitive and voluble. How were we
getting along entirely in our new home?
And had I found q good market to buy
my groceries and meat? And what,
might she ask, was I paying for rump
roast, the pound? Mother of Heaven.
did Kathleen, did Kathleen hear that?
And were we millionaires then? Shure,
and I should be comm with her the
next Saturday to stacey's where -!
not be squanderin' my young husbands
salary altogether, him bein' the likely
lookin', upStandin' lad he was.
Lizzie's family was enlarged after
that evening. She had Worshipped and
pampered Kathleen all her life; now
she was suddenly moved to take care
OF Bill and me. There were times when
1 felt that my status as a married
woman entitled me to more respect
than Lizzie saw fit to offer, but, like
it or not, I was chaff before the wind
of her maternal instincts, and there
seemed nothing to do about it.
She grew especially fond of Bill, and
he of her after his first resentment
for her early treatment of me had
and he was ridiculously gratified by
the title. His diet was a source of
worry to her, and I received some very
sharp lectures on my duties in the
culinary line.
"Sendin' him off to work with a
piece of toast and coffee of his own
maxim" she scolded. "Shure, and I
was thinkin' you'd turn out to be a
better wife than that. Now you be
maxim him a bowl of hot porridge
that will stick to the ribs Of him. And
mind you owe it with no leavin's in
the milk bottle; a spreadin' of cream
will not break you up, and an egg or
two in a side dish will not come amiss
these wintry mornin's."
1t seemed to me for awhile that
Bill was her fair-haired darling and
I the stepchild, but Lizzie wasn't long
in showing herself above favoritism.
Bill n I had had a quarrel one even
ing, and though the fault was about
fifty-fifty, Lizzie didn't know that, and
finding. me very Weepy about quarter
past midnight, and frightened because
Bill had not come home when it was
his night off, she waited up for him.
He told me about it later when we had
made up.
There was Lizzie, he said, in a faded
blue dressing gown, her red hair
twisted tightly in a knob on top of
her head, her hands resting militantly
on her hips, waiting for him at the
head OF the stairs.
And what have you to say for your
whisper: you, a great, hulkin' lad to
flout Oft in a temper. leavin' her to
fret and worry the night through. And
her not as big as a cake of soap after
the weeks wash, and a look in her
eyes that wouldn't make me DER sur
prised to hear she was expectin'."
Neither Bill nor I had thought of
was right. It took Lizzie to break the
news. We were expectin'.
But in her solicitude for us, Lizzie
never Tor one moment neglected her
Kathleen. She did the cooking and
MARKETING, the sweeping, busting and
above .Kathleen's gentle protests. I
think she would have dressed her sister
and fed her with a spoon had she been
allowed. Kathleen was always Ma
cushla' to her sister, and Lizzie's eyes
would fill with ready tears and her
sharp voice grow soft at the mention
" = . 11d1llC.
Ion, but it tears the heart of me
out to see her that young and lovely"
kathleen must have been nearly 40,
put Lizzie was at least right in calling
her lovelyl, ito see her like a sweet
daisy Of the field, and to be KNOWN
that she's after grievin' her life away"
Lizzte's voice would rise in the mourn
as she talked.
Kathleen gr1evlng, Lizzie" I ex-
claimed. I've noticed that she's quiet
and thoughtful, Of course, but I didn't
NOV she was unhappy" Something
Kathleen was like that; you loved her
before you were conscious Of it, and