Evening star., 1945-11-18
By Jane Birchfield.

think It Ia time to sit back ana hum
when the Boys Come Home" don't let
Miss Constance hear you think 1t out
loud. OF course, she won't do anything
to you she'll Just glare. Then
Liza Redd will shake her head sadly.
Shady will growi and Miss Charlotte
will back you into your corner with facts
and figures.
FOR the last three years Miss Con-
stance Nourse and her sister, Miss
Charlotte, have held open house at
weston the family home near here.
Since December II, 1912, they have en-
tertained more than 1,400 servicemen
for the week end and had 6J000 GIs
for q meal.
During September, the FIRST month
after vi day. they had 81 overnight
suests, gave Labor Day birthday party
Tor ous Of the boys, entertained WACs
with . picnic supper, gave q supper
party after st. Stephens services and
had . farewell dinner party for an
Army Air Force group.
The only difference vi day has
made" said Miss Constance, "is that it
happened to be the day the tea kettle
sprung q leak and the lawn mower
broke DOWN."
They've Done 1t Themselves "
And all Of this has been done without
ADEQUATE domestic help =. without
any outside financial help =. without
applying for extra ration tickets (save
for a few pounds Of sugar..
The farm has furnished practically all
Of the food for those 5000 meals, fresh
pork, hams, sausage. bacon, lard,
chickens and eggs, fresh garden produce,
milk, cream and butter. Melvin Cephas
lives on the place and raises the hogs.
splits wood, works the feed crops on
shares. Miss Constance "tends" the
house and garden and Miss Charlotte,
who is chairman OF the Service Club in
Warrenton and puts in about 10 hours
daily duty there, does most OF the COOK
ing and skins the cream and turns the
butter"
eliza" isn't able to do very much OF
anything. She is "jus' down to nowhere"
which is Lizas way OF saying she mas
been taking care Of things at weston
for almost so years and shes beginning
to slow down little.
1t Started in 1883.
Weston started out in 1853 as log
cabin In the middle Of 470 acres. Since
then the house has been added to many
times, and now, sprawling as it does over
half an acre, 1t is charming, but about as
inconvenient from housekeeping stand
point as one could imagine.
The rooms are heated by fire places or
chunk burners" The cook stove Is big
ser than most apartment Kitchens and
consumes vast quantities OF dndling
wood, which. by the way. isn't obtained
through the simple expedient OF phoning
the fuel supply man around the corner.
Its Rugged and Real
There is nothing 80 effete as electricity
about the place. One reads at night by
candlelight or oil lamp. Toast doesn't
come from popup automatic toasters.
The coldroom is just that and the ice
box b n box with Ice In 1t. There Is
bathroom and running water. but hot
water isnI something that Just happens
when uns turns q faucet. -
Weston with six full-time servants was
one thing. Fourteen rooms and no help
would be the sign for most people to start
boarding the windows and looking for an
apartment In town. Instead of that,
Miss Charlotte came home with guests
for the week end-two lonely G1s who
had wandered into the Service Club
former college professors, older than
most Of the boys at camp.
The Run of the Place
Nothing was done to entertain them
They were allowed to wander around and
find the bookroom OF the north parlor
and the gun rack In the back hall. At
feeding time they followed along to the
chickenhouse and helped feed the flock
of chickens, ducks, guineas and geese in
the barn lot.
In the stable they found three horses
they could ride the next day. Two "old
leftover hunters" Miss Constance calls
them. The third horse, Miss Charlotte
will tell you, is "all STAYED In" Then she
explains, Her first owner was social
climbin' by way Of horses, and you know
that's mighty hard on horse"
Fried Chicken and Ham
When dinner time came there was
fried chicken, ham, light rolls and
freshly turned" butter. The GIs washed
the dishes, by their own request, sat
around the open fire and talked, slept
under the low caves of the north room
and left reluctantly Sunday night.
Come back soon," invited Miss
Constance.
"As soon as next week end?" the boys
asked anxiously.
Next week end the boys came back
and brought four other servicemen with
them. From then on the problem was to
find places to put every one who came
out. In the house proper there were
"only Is bed places" so the boys of
Company H asked if they might fix up
the cabin at the end of the breezeway
The cabin is now known officially as the
lower room, its whitewashed walls are
covered with drawings and paintings by
artists who have stayed there. Over the
fireplace that takes up most of one wall
are some water colors by Miss Constance
BY the door are some drawings OF
scratchin' hounds and hunters by Miss
Charlotte. She is m. f. h. Of the Casa
nova Hunt, and after an accident few
years ago she started drawing when she
wasn't able to get up and do anything