Show si n rWsWy In 41 llJJQ C C1llZD iIl l ff17IDS Y f JJ7f ff 5f1l27 Copyright 1905 by Dally Story Pub Co Hoy nothln to eat In there yot t and burly Jake backed by clue other five hired men lumbered wonderIngly Into the kitchen No firo In the stove Wheres all the women folks Whats up Johnson started then drew himself together hurriedly My wife and daughter have Just run up to Mary Browns for a day or two he answered gruffly Tho visit waserprotty sudden and they had no time to send me word nor to get dinner But I guess we can patch up one between us eh Jake trying to pass it oft lightly Get Just as good dinner as tho women folks and a mighty sight quicker Course we can cried Jake with alacrity and pleased nt the thought of so novel a task and one well like better too Men folks know Just what men folks want Well have miens and Inters and coffeo thats strong enough to taste And blled cabbage reminded one of the men earnestly And tripe And baked beans And liver chimed in tho others moistening their lips In anticipation of favorite dishes Come como Wo cant have everything every-thing at once expostulated Johnson Impatiently Here pitch In all of you and help what you can That fields got to be hoed before dark But In spite of tho superabundance of assistance the dinner progressed slowly and It was 2 oclock before the men drew their chairs to tho table redfaced and fuming at tho stupidity of each other And In splto of the fact that It was of their own cooking the dinner did not seem to please them They tasted suspiciously atone at-one dish and another and pushed their plates back and then tried again grimacing and scowling and at last rose sullenly and left he room Johnson glanced al his watch as the last ono disappeared He had work of Importance to look aftf r so the dishes and food were left on the table and the cooking iitotifiis < u tho stove and floor wherever Hay had been dropped In the hurry It would be time enough to attend to them when ho returned But long before that tho sun had fallen behind the apple orchard and the kitchen was so full of shadows as to call for artificial light He was tired and cross and this did not facilitate dishwashing and supper getting When the men carne In from their lato chores he was bristling with angry Impatience and his face and clothing were spotted with grease and soot of reckless contact with dishwater dish-water and cooking utensils Again they were called upon for assistance and againafter some of the unsatisfactory unsatisfac-tory supper had been forced down tho dishes and food were left on tho table to await the time when it would bo necessary to remove them Ono day longer the men folks cooking was persisted In but by that time tho pleasant kitchen had been transformed from a place of orderll I I f x 4cLU 0 U r I + Heyl nothln to eat In there yet ness to a den of chaotic neglect Then Jake declared that all the files of the whole neighborhood had come to feast with them and that If no change was made ho for one was going to take his meals henceforth over to Neighbor Neigh-bor Goulds and thrt the other hired men agreed with him So the next morning Jake was sent unceremoniously to Mary Browns with orders to bring the women folks home whether or no Just tell them were too busy with he hqelng now to bother with cook jg Johnson snarled If twas any other time wo wouldnt care a conti nental whether they come or stayed Its Just their aggravating way to pick out a tlmo like this But when Jako returned with tho Information that Mary Brown had neither seen nor heard ot them his anger gave place to wonder and dismay dis-may What was he to do Manifestly Manifest-ly ho was not equal to doing the work himself much as he disliked to acknowledge ac-knowledge It after declaring that worn ens work was not work at all but only play lu tho end ho sent for ono of tho Gould girls to come and attend to tho I I < < II 1 I Another week I groaned Johnson house work and after two days sent her back and engaged ono of the Cady girls But she was no better rhen he tried It again himself but with even less satisfaction than before be-fore Ho had not dreamed housework house-work was so endless and exasperating and before the week was out was so far humbled as to acknowledge to Jako in private that he would rather hoe corn sixteen hours a day than prepare pre-pare a single meal of victuals Then why dont you got the women wom-en folks back Jake asked bluntly It you can run the kitchen cheaper and easier than they like Ive heard you twit em go ahead and do it if not get em back Thats my say Another two days brought Johnson to the limit of his endurance and then came relief In tho shape of a letter from the city It read Dear husband Weve been having a pretty good time but things here do cost awful I wanted to buy borne things for Mary but cant for well have only Just enough to pay our faro home after staying another week Another week groaned Johnson Howll wo ever get through it Then he continued Wo went to that machine place nuniber and found twas a fraud Just like I warned you rhe laws shut It up and theres a lot of letters held for their owners I hired a lawyer and he found it out and ho said one letter was yours and would be sent back I suppose Its the one with tho fifteen bundled dollars you sent John drew a quick < < bard breath and then read the postscript I suppose Its pleasanter there without us and youre living cheaper and better like youve always said but its lonesome hero In the big city and Mary and I will be both glad to get back Well come a week from Saturday Johnson dropped the letter and leaned his head upon his hands Thinking was something unusual to him but this time It was to good purpose pur-pose for It ended In his writing in n cramped laborious hand Dear wife I take my pen In hand to answer your welcome letter Weve been having an awful tlmo and want jou to come back Just as soon as you can All the men will be glad to taste of jour cooking again and 1 wont ever say any more about Its being easy I m sending a hundred dollars with this to buy some things for Mary and Im free to say I think Its a good Idea to have n hired girl Were well off now and can afford It and Im sorry I didnt see the need of things in the house like I have them outside before this I wont have anything more to say about the kitchen Only please como home boon |