and IGHT-HEARTED Elise, the eldest, taught the English branches in a girls' school in the West. Elizabeth, fifteen, and Marion, twelve, were two growing schoolgirls, and had spent a month with an aunt at her country place on the Hudson. "Dear me!" said Marion, yawning, as the three sat in the library, "how dull Traxton seems after such charming times at Aunt Isabel's, and the beautiful house with trained servants, with nothing to do from morning till night but one's own pleasure!" "It does spoil one. I'm afraid, if we were rich, Marion, we 'd be 'otty an' 'orrid," said Elizabeth. "Yet here is Elise, who has been so gay, and had tennis and golf parties in her honor, and has been a belle of the solidest - brass, and she 's already sewing on a dress for a poor youngster who has none for the Sunday-school picnic next week. The needle fairly squeaks, it is so hot! She is doing it for sunshine, but who wants sunshine this weather? I prefer shade." Elizabeth lay back in her big chair and fanned vigorously. "Stop being so frivolous and pun-making, Betty," said the elder sister. "If you'd gather this sleeve you 'd be cooler than groaning in that lazy chair. I've been thinking as well as sewing-yes, it is wearing, and far from complimentary." "To yourself?" asked Marion. "To all of us," said Elise. "Has it ever occurred to you elegant young women that while we have been butterflies of pleasure, if not of fashion, our dear mother has been here nursing grandmother through a long and tedious illness, and never letting us know about it for fear of spoiling our visits?" "It's hard to realize it when we are away," murmured Elizabeth. "With us 'seein' is believin',' and then mother never complains, and always seems so calm and pleasant. But she must be tired out. Nursing is the hardest work." "We 're a selfish lot; at least Betty and I are," said Marion, impulsively. "I plead guilty, too," Elise declared. "But we must do something to redeem ourselves. Mama must have a vacation." "Oh, you know, Elise, there's no money to spare for any more jaunts—" "More 's the shame!" said Elise, quickly. "I've offered her part of my earnings,— I can't save half I ought to,- but she won't touch it, as she thinks I need it for fall and winter clothes. But I've thought of another way-not so attractive, but far better than no vacation. Why not invite her to visit us for two or three weeks? Of course, when we 're at home we help, but the brunt falls on her. Now let us big, hearty girls take every bit of the housework on our hands and make a visitor of our mother. We can do several simple, nice things for her entertainment. Let us make a little sacrifice for her, instead of her making dozens every year for us." THE HOME OUTING OF MRS. HERRICK. for grandmother was coming to tea, They arrived promptly, Mrs. Herrick in her lavender lawn, and Madam Avery in a thin black-and-white gown with old laces. The rooms of the cottage were partly darkened and cool, with flowers and vines everywhere. mother's came A few moments later three friends of the -a surprise planned by the girls. Every one seemed in a gala mood. There was a cool breeze on the piazza, so the guests adjourned thither later. When supper time came, the mother could not repress a little gasp of astonishment. The table was beautifully decorated with ferns and white roses, with Elise's best embroidered centerpiece of ferns on a white ground. The prettiest china and silver were in use, and vines were on the walls. Marion was a model waitress in white cap and apron. Elise had the few hot dishes for the first course. She served coffee from the urn, a family heirloom, and tea for madam from Elizabeth's Chinese teapot. The veal pâtés had been the skeleton at the feast, but they were a success in spite of dire misgivings, while Elise's delicious light rolls were highly praised. Elizabeth gave for a second course her famous vegetable salad, served with thin slices of brown bread and olives. The last course was sliced peaches chilled, with whipped cream, and Elizabeth's nut-cakes and Marion's peppermint wafers. After tea there was a new game, led by Elizabeth. Then Elise came in to play many pretty airs, like "Jock o' Hazeldean," "Bonnie Dundee," and "The Campbells are Coming," with variations. The three sisters sang some lively songs. Marion said afterward that she did n't know what they would have done if they had had gentlemen, as they liked such hearty dishes; but one guest was a widow, another unmarried, and the husband of the third was out of town. Madam Avery's one lodger came for her, and escorted the others home also. As soon as the door closed behind the guests, Mrs. Herrick said eagerly, "Now, girls, we must get those dishes out of the way." Her remark 585 was met by a lofty stare from Elise. "Guests do not ask about kitchen arrangements," she said; "but if you are troubled, Mrs. Herrick, you may be allowed a glance into our culinary department." So saying, Elise led the way, and behold! the kitchen in perfect order, and not a dish in view! Mrs. Herrick looked her amazement, but she only said: "What well-trained servants you must have!" "Yes, the waitress cleared the table, then ate her own supper; then the housemaid came from the parlor to relieve the cook, who had most of the dishes washed. The cook left the dish washing to play on the piano," Elise explained. Well," said Mrs. Herrick, "I must express my delight over my first evening's entertainment. I don't know when I have enjoyed myself more; but I hope you will not go to any undue labor for the remainder of my stay." "With servants so well trained as ours, madam, nothing is a labor, and entertaining but a joy and pastime," said Elizabeth. "Marion," she added, "show Mrs. Herrick to her room." The latter was in beautiful order, the bed decked out in the best bed-linen, with freshly laundered covers on dressing-table and chiffonnier, and with flowers about the room. Marion asked if their guest wished a maid's services. Receiving a brief negative, she quickly withdrew to throw herself on the couch down-stairs and give way to laughter. "Oh, it is such fun! and mother acts it out so well, if she did forget about the dishes!" she said to her sisters. The next morning a friend, who was in the secret, called in her carriage to take Mrs. Herrick driving "with friends she wished her to meet "who proved to be two neighbors. In the afternoon they all sat quietly with their work on the piazza. One day Elise and her mother returned some calls long due, and everywhere Elise explained that her mother was visiting her, and begged them to call. Friends planned to call different days, and, entering into the spirit of the thing, Mrs. Her rick was invited out informally more than she had been for a year. She thoroughly enjoyed it, and her hostesses declared she looked ten years younger. Elise rearranged the pretty gray hair in a new style which she had learned when away, and it proved vastly becoming. Elizabeth and Marion did all the mending, and Elise, who was unusually deft with her needle, made over a white dress for her guest, so that it looked like new. Elise tried to economize and yet have palatable meals, and she found a certain excitement in her growing success. But both she and her sisters also realized, as they never had before, how much care, how many unexpected things, turned up every day; how dull the round of household tasks may become in years of performance. They could not understand this fully in three weeks' time; but they received a new impression of a mother's duties and responsibilities in a cookless household where straitened means required the most careful economy. They had supposed themselves well informed and helpful assistants to their mother, and Elise especially was most capable; but it is a very different thing to help an efficient housekeeper when other things do not interfere, and to have the whole care of a household. Even now the care was divided among three, although Elise took the lead; and Elizabeth broke out one day, when interruptions innumerable had delayed the work, and the heat was almost unbearable: "To think of mammy going on this way for years and years, and sewing for us and planning to keep down expenses, and trying to dress three girls before Elise took care of herself!" "And here I might have saved more and bought her a new dress, instead of just a hat. I don't see why and how my money goes so, when I've always been taught to economize. I must do better next year," Elise said. "And Elizabeth and I must help more at home. Even when we go to school we might do more, with some planning and extra effort," Marion declared. "Mercy!" Elizabeth, who never could be grave very long at a time, laughed. "Just hear the reform bills presented before the House of Herrick! If we keep on the millennium will soon arrive and we shall all be grown-up |