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Show SPOILED BY A COOK CHRISTMAS EXPERIENCE IN A WOMEN'S BOARDING HOUSE. How a Famished Tableful Had to Wait for Their Turkey Until the Del-llgerent Del-llgerent Female Could Be Coaxed from the Room. "My most unpleasant and yet most comical experience of Christmas-keeping," said tho concort singer, "dates back to tho tlmo when I lived for economy's sako In a home for working women. Tho cook wo had was n'good ono, and so, when Christmas day came, wo all felt assured thatatouo o'clock wo should havo our orthodox turkoy-nhd-plum-puddlng dinner. "But ono bottlo of whisky, smuggled smug-gled Into a Christian kitchen, will upset up-set tho expectations of 30 hungry boarders. Just how many drinks the cook had that morning, I cannot say, but whon dinner tlmo came sho was belligerently drfftik. Tho turkey was aB well roasted as though sho bad been sober, but what wasi that to tho boarders In general, whon she stood over it, carvlng-knlfo In hand, declaring declar-ing that not n soul In that dining-room nrauTirTiaTr-rr Tfrutrnrrrn -or i c tmr mamma and myself? "Vainly did the matron threaten and entreat. Tho determined cook was not to bo disarmed. Mamma and I wcro bountifully helped, but the others sat and waited, wondering whnt would bo the outcome of tho trouble Finally, tho defeated matron camo out of the kitchen, and with tears In her voice, said to mo: . "'1 can db nothing with her. Will you go In and see whnt you can do?" "And so I went In, and In my most affable manner Invited Intoxicated Drldgot to sit down anil havo n friendly friend-ly cup of tea with myuolf. Bbo complied, com-plied, though with ftn eyo still on the turkey. After we hnd had our tea, by exerting all of my arts and wiles I per suaded her to go up stairs and to bed. It was not until sho wuh safely out of the kitchen that dinner was served to tho other boardors. "Of course tho next day thero was n bad quarter of an hour for that cook, one that ended with hor 'getting her duds together nnd skipping.' Many. In fact, all of us, were ready to plead for her, knowing that she could not easily bo replaced; but tho matron experience with tho creaturo she had j already forgiven hor until seventy I tlmeB seven, and sho wasn't going to forgive her again. And I heard afterward after-ward that It was really a year or moro before the woman was taken back again Into that kitchen. "Naturally, It was easier for tho other boarders, who, you may bo sure, resentod -that 'inwaslon of their wit-ties,' wit-ties,' to forgive tho cook than to mako friends with mamma and mo, nnd from that time on we were the most unpoi)- ular persons In tho house. .Wo hnd been ruined by n cook's favor. It would not hnvo mattered bo much about tho boarders, but tho defection of hor kitchen hend was too much for tho matron's magnanimity, and ns she managed tho lady manngors of that Institution, It was not very long before wo too, In our culinary friend's language, lan-guage, had to 'get our duds together and skip. " |