484 
■Uhe  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
March  18,  191G. 
WOMAN  AND  HOME 
The  Failure 
By  the  Brown  Owl 
When  young  Steve  Robinson  an¬ 
nounced  his  engagement  to  little  Sue 
Brown  there  was  a  great  outcry  in  the 
Robinson  family.  Not  that  they  had 
anything  particular  against  Sue — in  fact 
they  were  all  very  sorry  that  they  did 
not  have  some  glaring  fault  to  dangle 
in  front  of  Steve,  and  so  persuade  him 
from  taking  such  a  "fatal  step." 
Sue  was  a  gentle  little  blue-eyed  girl 
of  19,  who  could  not  remember  the  time 
when  she  was  not  “taking  care"  of  some 
one.  In  the  Brown  family  there  was 
one  sister  older  than  she.  and  four 
brothers  younger.  They  lived  on  a  small 
farm,  that  might  have  fed  and  clothed 
them  all  i.f  they  had  had  good  health, 
but  the  mother  was  a  tired,  worn-out 
invalid,  who  was  subject  to  long  sick 
spells  anti  so  the  fortunes  of  the  Browns 
were  oftener  down  than  up.  Upon  the 
shoulders  of  the  two  girls,  foil  the  bulk 
of  the  housework.  They  went,  to  the 
district  school  when  they  were  able  to 
be  away,  and  stayed  out  when  their 
mother  got  down  again.  Bun  was  bright, 
and  would  have  done  well  with  her 
books  if  she  could  have  stayed  in  school, 
hut  when  she  was  just  ready  to  go  to  the 
nearest  high  school  and  try  the  regents’ 
examinations  in  the  elementary  subjects, 
her  mother's  strength  gave  out  entirely, 
and  Sue  put  her  school  hooks  away  for 
good,  without  a  word  of  complaint,  and 
stayed  at  home  to  care  for  her  mother. 
Her  sister  Janet  looked  after  the  house¬ 
work  and  Sue  took  all  the  care  of  their 
sick  mother.  Mrs.  Brown  was  apt  to  be 
down-hearted  and  fretful,  hut  her  happy- 
hearted  little  nurse  kept  up  the  spirits 
of  the  whole  family,  as  well  as  those  of 
her  mother,  by  hunting  out.  the  funny 
side  of  everything,  and  showing  it  to  the 
rest  of  the  family.  She  never  allowed 
herself  to  dwell  upon  their  misfortunes, 
but  was  always  seeing  brighter  times 
ahead. 
One  day  when  her  mother  was  very 
fretful  and  worrying  about  everything 
in  general.  Sue  brought  in  a  tempting 
dinner  and  began  to  tell  what  a  time 
she  had  had  in  getting  down  from  the 
high  haymow  where  she  had  climbed  to 
find  eggs  for  her  mother's  custard.  She 
laughed  as  she  told  about  it.  and  her 
mother  looked  at  her  woinleringly  and 
said : 
“Sue,  child,  how  do  you  ever  manage 
to  laugh  .when  things  are  in  such  a  dread¬ 
ful  state  with  ns."  and  Sue  had  answered 
earnestly,  as  she  piled  the  invalid’s  pil¬ 
lows  more  comfortably. 
"Come,  mother,  don’t  worry  any  more, 
hut  oat  your  nice  little  dinner.  I'd  just 
die  if  I  couldn’t  laugh,  mother,  and  that’s 
the  truth.” 
After  two  years  of  sickness,  worry  and 
constant  fretting  the  troubles  of  the 
invalid  were  over  at  last,  and  the  Browns 
faced  the  future  without  a  mother.  Their 
finances  were  very  low.  their  expenses 
were  many,  and  new  plans  must  be  made 
at  once.  When  such  was  the  state  of 
their  affairs  it  was  not  at  all  strange 
that  in  about  two  weeks  after  Mrs. 
Brown’s  dentil,  when  old  Air.  Farnum 
came  in  one  day  and  asked  if  he  couldn’t 
hire  Sue  to  “come  and  help  Maria  a 
hit."  she  had  answered  him  before  any 
one  had  time  to  do  so. 
“Why,  of  course  I  can  go.  Air.  Farnum. 
IIow  soon  do  you  want  me?” 
“Why.  if  you  can  come  along  when 
I  come  hack  from  the  village  I’ll  he 
mighty  glad  to  take  you  home  to-day,” 
he  said.  “Alaria  is  so  lame  with  rlieu- 
matiz  she  can  hardly  hobble  around." 
Janet  followed  her  sister  upstairs  and 
helped  her  to  gather  up  the  few  clothes 
she  possessed.  “Just  think,  Janet!” 
laughed  Sue.  “ne  said  he  would  gi.ve  me 
$1.50  a  week  and  that  will  buy  just  piles 
of  things.”  But  Janet  shook  her  head 
sadly.  “I  can’t  bear  the  thought  of  your 
going  to  work  out,  Sue.  I  just  can’t.” 
.and  the  older  girl  helped  with  the  pack¬ 
ing  while  she  listened  with  a  heavy 
heart  to  Sue’s  happy  plans  for  the 
future. 
Then  began  two  years  of  hard  work 
for  Sue.  Old  Airs.  Farnum  was  hard  to 
please  and  very  exacting  in  her  de¬ 
mands  upon  the  time  and  strength  of 
her  little  helper.  Never  a  word  of  com¬ 
plaint  was  heard  from  her,  however ;  she 
did  her  best,  kepi;  her  cheerful  spirit  and 
flew  home  with  her  earnings  happy  to  ho 
able  to  help. 
After  a  little  things  began  to  grow 
brighter  at  home.  The  two  older  boys 
found  places  with  near-by  farmers. 
Their  pay  was  not  high,  but  it  helped. 
They  were  willing  young  fellows,  and 
perfectly  able  to  earn  their  own  way. 
Then  with  Janet’s  counsel  and  help  their 
all  hut  discouraged  father  had  taken 
fresh  hope,  and  the  farm  began  to  line 
up  where  it  really  belonged.  Il  was  then 
that  young  Steve  Robinson  made  his  ap¬ 
pearance,  and  Sue’s  world  suddenly 
turned  bottom  side  up.  When  it  finally 
righted  itself,  Steve  Robinson  was  in  the 
center  of  her  universe,  and  they  were 
going  to  be  married  in  the  Spring. 
The  Robinsons  were  prosperous  farm¬ 
ers  who  lived  out  on  the  main  road 
about  six  miles  from  the  Brown  home, 
and  it  was  a  great  sorrow  to  them  all, 
and  especially  to  Aliss  Agnes.  Steve's 
only  sister,  when  he  stuck  stubbornly  to 
his  determination  to  marry  “the 
Fa rn urn’s  hired  girl.” 
Agnes  Robinson  was  home  on  her 
Christmas  vacation  when  the  shock  came, 
and  before  she  went  back  to  the  large 
city  where  she  was  employed  she  gave 
her  brother  to  understand  in  no  uncer¬ 
tain  terms  that  lie  must  never  expect  his 
sister  to  associate  with  his  wife. 
“O,  I  suppose  she’s  niee  enough, 
Steve."  she  said,  when  her  brother  had 
tried  to  reason  with  her,  "but  I  can’t 
endure  the  thought  of  my  brother  marry¬ 
ing  a  girl  who  has  worked  out  doing 
housework.  You’ll  see.  She’ll  be  a  dis¬ 
mal  failure.” 
School  work  had  been  easy  for  Agnes 
and  there  had  been  nothing  to  keep  her 
from  going  to  school  as  long  as  she 
wanted  to.  She  had  finished  high  school 
with  a  rush.  Regents’  examinations  held 
no  terrors  for  her,  and  yet  with  all  her 
brightness  she  made  few  friends.  She 
had  a  way  of  making  the  other  girls  feel 
her  superiority  in  the  matter  of  text 
books  at  least.  One  of  her  most  madden¬ 
ing  performances  was  to  prance  into  a 
cloak-room  full  of  anxious  heavy-hearted 
girls  after  an  especially  difficult  exam¬ 
ination,  and  exclaim  excitedly  :  “O  girls  ! 
wasn’t  it  just  too  easy  for  anything?” 
The  meteor  sailed  out  of  high  school  at 
last,  much  to  the  relief  of  her  ac¬ 
quaintances.  and  then  life  on  the  farm, 
as  her  mother’s  helper  confronted  her. 
Her  parents  had  been  married  late  in 
life,  and  were  now  no  longer  young.  Her 
mother  had  been  looking  forward  to  the 
time  when  Agues  would  be  out  of  school 
and  could  help  her.  She  had  asked  little 
help  while  there  was  school  work  to  be 
done  and  as  a  result  Agues  had  little 
knowledge  of  housework,  and  less  incli¬ 
nation  to  learn.  Two  months  after  her 
school  was  over,  found  her  fretting  at 
farm  life  and  finding  fault  with  every¬ 
thing.  Then  she  got  the  idea  of  going 
away  to  a  business  School,  and  they  let 
her  go.  Here  she  had  been  wonderfully 
successful,  and  in  three  years  had  finished 
her  course  and  secured  a  very  fine  posi¬ 
tion  iu  a  business  office  of  a  large  city. 
Her  letters  were  full  of  her  success,  and 
her  parents  though  lonely  were  proud 
indeed  of  their  daughter’s  achievements. 
Steve  Robinson  and  Sue  Brown  were 
married  in  the  early  Spring  and  went 
to  live  in  Steve’s  home.  He  would  have 
liked  to  take  his  wife  to  a  home  of  his 
own,  but  his  father  was  growing  to  be 
unable  to  get  along  without  him  aud  his 
mother  really  needed  Sue.  “If  Agnes 
was  at  home  it  would  be  different,”  said 
Steve,  “but  it  seems  as  if  it  is  our  duty 
to  look  after  the  folks.  They  need  us, 
and  I  would  not  feel  right  about  leaving 
them  with  only  hired  help." 
The  years  that  followed  were  hard 
ones  for  Sue.  Two  little  girls  had  come 
to  gladden  her  heart,  but  they  only  added 
to  her  troubles,  for  their  grandparents 
undertook  to  bring  them  up  as  they 
should  be  brought  up.  and  the  result  may 
well  be  imagined.  IIow  many  times 
Sue  wished  that  she  might  move  her 
family  into  the  bare  little  tenant  house 
that  stood  down  the  road  on  the  corner! 
How  she  would  have  liked  to  fix  it  up 
and  make  a  co.sy  little  home  all  her  own  ! 
Steve’s  mother  was  one  of  those  women 
whose  watchword  had  always  been 
“save.”  This  policy  she  had  carried  to 
such  an  extreme  that  even  after  the 
years  of  real  prosperity  came  not  one 
cent  must  he  spent  for  anything  but 
what  she  deemed  necessary. 
By  an  arrangement  with  his  father 
Steve  had  half  the  proceeds  of  the  farm 
and  as  it  was  in  a  prosperous  condition 
there  was  plenty  for  both  families.  If 
Sue  could  have  done  'as  she  wanted  to 
with  her  money !  But  every  purchase  of 
hers  was  discussed  at  great  length  as  to 
its  merits,  its  usefulness  or  its  dura¬ 
bility,  until  poor  Sue  declared  she  would 
buy  nothing  more  and  see  if  that  would 
satisfy  her  mother-in-law.  Her  house¬ 
keeping  never  had  suited  at  all.  She 
wasn’t  saving  enough  in  her  cooking. 
When  snow  came,  it  had  always  been 
the  custom  in  the  Robinson  family  to  use 
a  couple  of  tablespoonfuls  in  place  of  an 
egg.  in  a  cake,  especially  when  eggs  were 
bringing  a  good  price,  and  Sue  was  ex¬ 
pected  to  follow  this  custom.  About  the 
hardest  thing,  however,  that  she  had  to 
do  was  to  quit  her  ready  laugh  aud  check 
her  naturally  happy  spirit  until  she  had 
her  little  family  alone  in  the  two  little 
upstairs  rooms,  that  she  really  bad  any 
claim  to  call  her  own.  Even  then  she 
felt  that  their  merriment  must  be  as 
quiet  as  possible  on  account  of  the  two 
old  people  downstairs,  sitting  silent  and 
grim,  and  mourning  because  their  only 
son  had  so  far  forgotten  his  parents* 
wise  teaching  as  to  marry  a  “giddy- 
headed"  wife,  and  now  seemed  actually 
to  take  delight  in  her  “frivolity." 
The  coming  of  Sue  into  the  Robinson 
home  hail  brightened  up  the  whole  grim 
old  house  for  Steve.  He  had  always  been 
used  t:o  his  mother's  scolding  and  fault¬ 
finding,  so  that  he  did  not  mind  it  when 
it  went  right  on  after  his  marriage,  but 
there  were  always  the  evenings  to  look 
forward  to.  when  they  could  be  alone  in 
their  rooms  upstairs  that  Sue  had  made 
to  look  so  cozy  and  home-like.  Later, 
when  their  little  girls  came  to  make 
them  happier  still,  Steve  could  see  noth¬ 
ing  more  to  be  desired  in  the  way  of 
contentment,  and  Sue  never  complained. 
There  was  one  bright  thread,  however, 
running  all  through  Sue’s  dreary  days. 
TTp  in  the  big  east  chamber  that  had  al¬ 
ways  been  Agnes’  room,  and  which  must 
he  kept  exactly  as  she  left  it,  and  ready 
for  one  of  her  occasional  visits  home, 
there  was  a  shelf  of  her  old  school  books. 
In  dusting  them.  Sue  opened  several, 
but  none  were  especially  interesting 
until  she  opened  the  English  books. 
There  were  many  poems,  aud  it  grew  to 
he  Sue’s  delight  to  pick  around  among 
them  for  things  that  struck  her  fancy. 
One  day  hpr  eye  caught  a  portion  of 
John  Burrough's  beautiful  poem,  “Aly 
Own  Shall  Come  to  Ale,”  and  she  read  it 
eagerly : 
“The  stars  come  nightly  to  the  sky; 
The  tidal  wave  comes  to  the  sea  ; 
Nor  time,  nor  space,  nor  deep,  not*  high, 
Can  keep  my  own  away  from  me.” 
She  read  this  stanza  over  and  over, 
then  turning  to  the  beginning  read  the 
whole  poem.  It  seemed  somehow  to  have 
been  written  especially  for  her.  and  when 
she  went  to  her  own  room  after  her  dust¬ 
ing  was  done  she  carried  the  book  with 
her.  Copying  the  poem,  she  put  the  paper 
into  her  apron  pocket,  and  before  the 
day  was  over  could  repeat  it  all.  Ever 
after  that  the  beautiful  hopeful  lines 
sang  through  her  weary  days.  She  would 
have  loved  to  sing  them  aloud  as  she 
worked,  hut  knowing  what  the  result 
would  be  she  sang  them  in  her  heart 
instead. 
In  this  way  Sue  learned  many  of  the 
gems  of  the  English  language,  and  then 
one  by  one  at  odd  hours  and  whenever 
she  had  a  minute  to  spare,  she  read  all 
of- Agnes’  books. 
One  morning  Sue  was  standing  at  the 
kitchen  window,  scanning  the  road  to 
the  school-house  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
away.  It  was  nearly  10  years  now  since 
she  had  been  married  to  Steve.  Her 
mind  flew  back  over  the  weary  years. 
They  were  full  of  bright  places  after  all. 
and  there  were  no  regrets  in  Sue’s  heart. 
Presently  her  eye  caught  sight  of  the 
sturdy  figure  of  little  Agnes  Maria,  as 
she  turned  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  on  her 
way  to  school.  Busily  engaged  dressing 
her  doll,  on  a  chair  nearby,  was  five-year- 
old  Ester  Fidelia.  “The  poor  darlings,” 
sighed  their  mother,  “what  dreadfnl 
names.”  She  had  wanted  to  name  them 
“Janet,”  after  her  own  sister,  and 
“Barbara,”  but  their  grandparents  laid 
down  the  law  as  to  “proper  names  for 
those  babies,”  and  to  avoid  trouble  Sue 
had  let  them  have  their  own  way. 
“Su-san.  Su-san.”  called  a  sharp  voice 
from  upstairs,  and  Sue  hurried  to  an¬ 
swer  the  call.  "Hasn’t  the  mail  come 
yet?”  asked  Airs.  Robinson  fretfully. 
(Continued  on  page  498) 
It  Was  the  First  Word  of  Praise  She  Had  Received 
