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Show I I How eh I MBM .H l III Hair SSnaira H a f . 0 ESSIE was such a little girl, H IS j V" j only 5 ycar3 old, but she !yy felt so sorry when she saw . V ier motncr lylnS down with her eyes closed, and know ' I J she had one of her bad head- h ij lT'X J aches that she wished she H j " wero bigger so that she K S could help her mother. H But she got her little stool and sat very quiet i In the room lth her picture book In her lap. i Presently her mother closed her eyes and she H knew that she was asleep, so when -a ray of H j sunlight shone across her face she went over H to the window and very quietly pulled down the H blind, so that the light would not dlBturb her H I mother. H She heard the clock strike eleven and knew M that It would soon bo time for luncheon and that 1 S her llttlo brother would then be home from H school, hungry for something to eat. So she H j wont into the kitcnen and saw that the dishes H 5 had not yet been washed. She got a chair H nnd pu It In front of the sink and then she LH i orori nn it and turned the hot water on the H i dishes. Then slie placed them in a pan on top H of the sink and filled it with cups of hot water, Hj as the pan was too heavy for her to lift. She H washed a cup at a time and a saucer and plate H in the same way, rinsing from the soapy water. H It took her a long time to wash all of the H ! dishes and it waa nearly 12 when she stepped H 1 down from the chair the last tlmo. I She spread a napkin on the table and cut slices of bread and placed a glass of Jelly bo-slfie bo-slfie the plates and washed some radishes and then went out to wait for her brpther on the porch. She told him very quietly that mother was sick and that they would not have much m a to eat, but they had a bottle of milk and with bread and butter and Jelly and radishes they !mado a very good meaL Mother did not wake up until brother had gone back to school and was so surprised when she heard how late it was. Bessie told her about the luncheon and made hor smile to think of brother's eating the whole glass of Jelly. "Now don't get up, mother," she said, "and If ypu are not well I can get a picnic supper I Just like luncheon. I do wish I were bigger and H could help you." H "Why, my darling child," said her mother, H "no one could help me any more than jou do, H If only In tho way you make the best of things H when I am sick. No child could be any more H loving and tender and that Is what helps mother IIIH mnrn fhnn nnvthlnrr o1rar " H After awhile mother got up and went into H the kitchen and was so surprised to find the H dishes washed that she cried about it. Then H Bessie got tho potatoes nnd while her mother H sat back in tho chair she scraped them and H then she and her mother hulled the peas and H Bessie set the table. She sliced the tomatoes B for the salad' and finally everything was ready M bht broiling tho steak, and this they decided Hj that they would let father do. Mother went H back to her lounge and Bessie waited on father H and when brother came In they had the most iH If delightful picnic supper, and father told them I funny stories and they shouted with laughter to see him with mother's big apron on while he broiled the steak. "We'll pretend that mother Is a prisoner," he said, "and that we are giving her starvation diet," for all mother could eat wa3 a slice of dry toast and a lcup of weak tea. But father nnd Bessie fixed tip tho tray, Bosslo running into tho yard to get a spray of lily-of-the-valloy to placo on it, and then brother Insisted that he be the Jailer and bring the tray to mother. They made mother laugli. tolllnc her that she was not to move, except as they allowed her to nnd could not have any of their good beefsteak and salad. After supper was over father1 carried her up tb her room and then they all washed the dishes together and such a Jolly time as they had, father being too funny for any use. "Such darling children aa I have," said mother, when they went Into bid her good- |
