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Show AuntTibby's f . D.J.WALSH Crunk J Copyright WNU Servlcs. I "T)UT, Mazie," remarked Bert Howard to his pretty little wife, "it isn't quite fair that Aunt I Tibby should want to come back ! so soon; it's less than three weeks since she left, and she had been j here six months. I have no ob-j ob-j jections to your aunt; she's a nice I old lady, if a bit eccentric, but , you always work so hard entertaining enter-taining her that you. wear yourself out. Between worrying over her comfort and fussing about the safety of that old cowhide trunk, home becomes a place of torment for me instead of a haven of rest." And then Mazie, whose bobbed crown of glory was decidedly of the shade beloved by Titian, and with a temper to correspond, replied thus: "If you were properly proper-ly interested in the welfare of your family you'd want to keep Aunt Tibby here all the time! Do you fancy that she herself would be so particular about that old cowhide trunk, as you are pleased to call it, if it didn't contain valuables? valu-ables? She told me no, I won't say she exactly told me, but she gave me to understand, and, I know all the family have the same impression that in it she carries her stocks and bonds. She has bequeathed the trunk to the one in whose home she happens to die." "Mazie!" exclaimed Bert, putting put-ting his arms around his wife, "waiting for 'dead men's shoes' is sorry business! Do what you can for your aunt without making your family unhappy, but put all such ideas as you've just men tioned out of mind; they are unworthy un-worthy of you!" and Bert stopped to kiss his wife good-by. The first evening of Aunt Tib-by's Tib-by's arrival Mazie began, "Barbara! "Bar-bara! do sit still! You'll make Aunt Tibby nervous!" or "John! don't walk so heavy!" Aunt Tibby had been with them several weeks when she came down with a cold. The doctor called pronounced the trouble pneumonia. pneumo-nia. "Which at her age," said he (Aunt Tibby was 86), "is a serious matter. You had better get a nurse." Aunt Tibby had been so humored by her niece, however, howev-er, that the nurse could do little to suit her, and Mazie was obliged to fetch and carry, to run up and down stairs until, ten days later, Aunt Tibby sank into her last sleep. After the funeral the relatives who had gathered from far and near demanded that the will be read at once. So the old cowhide trunk was brought down to the living room and opened in the presence of all. It contained Uncle Un-cle David's army uniform, a few books, half a dozen packages of old newspapers and a long letter let-ter written by Aunt Tibby herself. This was addressed to her relatives rela-tives in general and was a sort of confession. In it she stated that her income since Uncle David's death had been limited to a pension pen-sion of $6 a month. That in some way the story had been circulated that this old trunk contained valuables valu-ables and she had never contra- dieted it, fearing if she told the truth some one might put her in an old ladies' home, an institution institu-tion she detested. She trusted her relatives would pardon her and that the old trunk would be kept for her sake; that it might prove a magic casket to the owner, just as it had to her. The trunk was left with Mazie, as she was the only person who displayed the least desire to possess pos-sess it. After everyone had departed de-parted she threw her arms around her husband's neck and cried, "Oh, Bert, can you ever forgive me?" Judging by the sigh of contentment con-tentment she uttered Bert's answer an-swer was satisfactory. Aunt Tibby was right; the trunk did prove a magic casket for Mazie. Ma-zie. It stood in the upstairs hall where she had to pass it many times a day and whenever she was seized with envy, stubbornness stubborn-ness or a desire for finery she could not afford, one glance at the old trunk was sufficient to dispel dis-pel such feelings in a twinkling. |
