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Show HER LONG, HAPPY REST IN THE CITY I AM ' certainly dog-tired," said the woman, as sho sank into a chalr-. chalr-. at tho tea-room and drank ravenously raven-ously of tho cup that cheers. "Why, what hav.o you beon doing 7r" Inquirod her companion. "Oh, dnly. trifle. I. '.have simply been closing iur. 'country chomo and moving into iX furnished' bacholof apartmont lnrthe city for the winter." y "That- dob3n't sound, very -hard' ' "No It doesn't, .ruadmit that, but husband, 'and tho typewriter, and tho' cactltablc - and my chess board and mcn7"rjnypipcrack- and plpc3 and tobacco Jars, and - a few books and' that'.s about, all. -'WTe can. carry the things, T. havo mentioned. in' In tho machlno,'; ma-chlno,'; ami It will' not be any trouble at all.' ; ; . ' -'' 'Wo may" possibly, n.eod somo clothes ovea if Wo 'aro go)ng to . livp In tho city,' Bald I spiritedly. "Also some towels, .bureau scarfs and such J ' 'Twos on Monday Morning That I Commenced to Pack." Just tho'samo I hopo I'll never have tho oxperlonco again. You know wo havo no children and so when my husband suggested that wo como Into thcclt; for tho threo, winter months It sounded easy and I simply leaped at tho chance. No moro making out menus, nor ordering from tho grocer, nor spreading beds; why I was charmed. " 'Wo will movo tho Monday after Christmas,' said my husband In that casual fashion that men have'. " 'Certainly,' I answered In nn equally airy way, not realizing In the least what was confronting mo. " 'Wo will tako the Vlctrola and about a hundred records,' said my insignificant details. And I shall take some pictures, for I cannot live with other people's ancestors.' "But ho only yawned at this and went back to his book. "Well, wo had a houso party ovor tho Christmas holidays so it was not until Monday morning after my bettor-half had gone Into town to his ofilce that I commenced to pack. I was to sco that tho water was turned off In tho houso, that tho telephone was disconnected, the electric light peoplo notified of our departure, tho cellar windows nallod shut, tho shut-tor's shut-tor's all over the house closed, tho silver packed and sent to a storage warehouse, tho trunks sent off, the ; .. v The Woman Tells of Her Sad rj Experiences In Preparing for the Aforsaid Holiday. cat provided for and my window boxoi full of ferns sont to someone to caro for. I had an old colored man and. tny maid to help mo and by dint ol working hard all day long wo finally ' succeeded In getting- most of these things done. "Porhaps you think that turning off tho. wator in a houso is a slmplo mat-tor mat-tor of touching a lever. Woll, it is not. First you turn tho lover, and then you turn on all of the spigots and Jot tho water run out. of them, and then you let tho wator run out of tho kitchen bpller and seo that 'a. - small flro is keptup in tho range' until tho water In tnoXvater back has evaporated evap-orated If you do not do this tho wator bJtcXwUl probablyrburst in your absence and 'tho consequcnTmess will be--ftlghtfuU' Then you go to the bathrooms and sop up all of tho wator left in bowls and traps, so vthatJt will not freeze and ruin things -' "It took us all' working hard' three hours to get rid of tho wator In tho house. After this I began telephoning requests to my friends to care for my ferns during my absence Until that minute I had no idea how many people peo-ple dislike ferns. No ono wanted mine, and as there was no florist in the neighborhood with whom to board them I was In despair until a second cousin said grudgingly that sho would tako them but that I was not to blame her If thoy wcro dead when I returned. re-turned. A neighbor consented to receive re-ceive my azaleas, but I had to leavo my poor old acuba to die In the cold living room. "A3 for tho cat, no one would even consider caring for him, so I had a sort of kennel mado for him on the porch, arranged with tho milkman to 1 leave him a pint of milk each morning, morn-ing, and I go out to the country threo times a week and walk half a mile to take him meat. It was not until six o'clock that Monday afternoon that I was ready to leave tho house. Wo wont In In the machlno according to program and that respectable vehlclo looked much aa the ark must havo so ladon down was It with all Borts of things. Wo had to leavo tho Vlctrola Vlc-trola behind but we did succeed In getting In tho rest of tho things my husband had enumerated. Two largo and heavily laden trunks preceded us. "And still my husband, man-like, Is anything but satisfied with tho work that I did. Ho is eternally coming com-ing to mo with remarks ofJJila sort: 'You didn't bring tho medldljio closet In with you, did you?' 'I cannot understand un-derstand your not bringing more books.' 'Couldn't you havo tucked tho shoe-blacking chair In somowhero?' "Also I broke a teacup during tho excltomcnt, lost a diamond ring, two silver forks and my tempor. I do not bellove that three months in town will sufllco to rest me from the exertion exer-tion of closing that houso, and if opening open-ing it Is going to bo as great a labor I thfnk I had rather stay on whoro I am forever. And yet my husband thinks ho is giving me a treat, bless his dear old Innocent heart." |
