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Show Their Baths When Mrs, u ly hail lioon at home And In clnirKe of affnlrs Hilda had not loomed up so portentous. : Hilda had Ihn uesl hi'nit in the world, hut she had lllti'w Up a most compre- 1 lii'lMlve ilpflrloiicy of Kngllsh words and her ronversatlnn wns restricted to a roitMnnt kiiiIIp and (lie fluent use of "Yrs" and "No." This, In view of her superlatlvn cooking and her passion for scruhliliiK, was easily overlooked. Mall by had been ipiite 'content. V)imi sudden Illness removed Mrs. Maltliy to the hospital he faced brand new troubles, which ho solved by throwing up his hands and letting Hilda run things w" nout nny orders f loin him. Ho uiaiiuKed to keep an eye on John, aged eight; Edna, aged six, and tlio baby, somewhero nbout two and one-half. He knew tlio children chil-dren were quite safo with Hilda, who was fond of tliem. . Tho Mnltbys' close neighbors wero much concerned over the desolated household and both Mrs. Corcoran and Sirs. Wilcox ran In frequently to sea that affairs were progressing as thoy should under Hilda's management. Tho first Saturday of Mrs. Maltby's absenro Mrs. Wilcox paused In her dusting with nn inspiration. "My goodness!" she said, "Who-Hove "Who-Hove I'd better attend to itl Hilda will he busy with her baking and sho i has plenty to do, anyhow It really will be a kindly net!" Thereupon Mrs. Wilcox put up tho duster, tied on a lurge apron and went over to tho Mnltbys' houso. She encountered the children In tho Bide yard. "Come," sho sald-begull-Ingly. "I'll give all of you a nice, hot bath I Think how pleased your father will bo" There was a concerted shriek from all three. The baby threw down the kitchen spoon, with which he was digging dig-ging in the Hiind pile, and stared with Indignant eyes as he howled. John regarded her llorcely. "No!" ho protested. "Wo don't want no baths! We want to playl We "had baths!" "Now, John," snhl Mrs. Wilcox with severe firmness ns sho clasped his re-holllous re-holllous hand. "It Is wickod to fib You come right along and tho others will follow!" Airs. Wilcox had always felt that .Mrs. Malthy had never used enough llrmness to have perfect discipline over her children nud sho rojolcod In this opportunity to show thorn real firmness. First. John, then Edna nnd then tho baby wore put Into tho tub, scrubbed within an Inch of their lives and. still yelling, gurbed In fresh clothes. Mrs. Wilcox, disheveled, panting pant-ing nnd Hushed, regarded her rod-faced, rod-faced, angry charges with satisfaction. "You will feel so much bettor," she told thorn, soothingly. "Now, keep jourselves clean I" - About two o'clock that afternoon Mr. Corcoran, who lived on tho other sldo of the Mnltbys from Mrs, Wilcox, rang the bell, "Hilda." she said, mechanically, knowing quite well that Individual couldn't understand a word, but go-lug go-lug through tho form, "I thought I'd help you out nnd glvo tho children their baths " "YeB," beamed Hilda and departed for her kitchen. The three Matthy children drew to-gethur to-gethur In a compact bunch and glared at the visitor dednntly. Mrs, Corcoran renllzed that the youthful human beings, be-ings, as well as pot dogs and puppies, always act Hint way when a- bath Is at hand. They tinted water and It couldn't bo helped. She put on nn Ingratiating In-gratiating suillu. "I'm going to itinko you nil nice and clean," sho purred, shooing them upstairs up-stairs Krom the mingled wjlls nnd shrluks that assailed her ears sho detached de-tached the remark that they had been bathed. Mrs. Corcoran always did things thoroughl) and tho Maltby children , hnd the baths of their lives. I Maltby got home Into and tired that night and at tho dinner table roused from his abstraction long enough to iallze that his joungsters wero unusually un-usually still. They wero entitle. Inn- udiium; o,,i,. ntj v,j vtiuuft , lull guldl and wero rnther pale. Horror clutchxd his heart wero thoy coming i down with any dlsense? Out of his i n.liid's chnos ho remembered something some-thing 1 "llcforn you go to bed," he told i them, "d.u'.'l! glvo ou nil a nlco, hot ' bath nnd you'll feel better. What tho dickens " i He stnrtod In alarm at tho bedlam. John precipitated himself at his father ft om one Hide and Edna from tho other, while tho baby wadded his ' cracker desperately into his oyo. They . ull shrieked tremendously. Then John, with nngr) tears rolling down his face, got tlie Moor "Wo don't want no bath!" be sobbed helplessly. "First Hilda she gives us ' one when we got up and thon Mrs. Wilcox slopped us bullJIng our fort ! nnd washed us and then this aftcr- noon Mrs. Corcoran sho camo over nnd put us In tho tub ngaln an' sho rubbed the skin oft'n my shoulder. An' now you" Maltby gathered his much washed and weeping family Into his arms as ho comprehended. Tho first laugh he had had that week crinkled his oyos. |