1903 
333 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
A Change of View, 
The sisters stood in the doorway look¬ 
ing after the departing buggy. There 
was a great contrast between the two. 
Letty, the elder, was given to day¬ 
dreaming; she was delicate looking, 
fair-haired and blue-eyed, and seemed 
somehow drooping and dependent. Myra 
was darker, carried herself very erectly, 
and had au energetic, self-confident air. 
She gave a little sigh of relief, now. 
“There!” she said, “Mother has gone. 
I didn’t know, one while, as I could per¬ 
suade her, but we did it, amongst us. I 
wanted to get you off out of the way, 
toe, sister mine, but 1 couldn’t seem to 
manage it, so I’ll have to put up with 
your objectionable presence,” and she 
caught her sister around the waist and 
waltzed her back into the house and sat 
her down in a chair. 
“Now, listen,” she said, standing over 
Letty in a threatening attitude. “We’ve 
got a week in which to do all 1 have 
planned, and from now on I am to be 
obeyed implicitly. Do you hear? If you 
attempt any mutiny I shall have you 
locked up somewhere till you see reason 
again. There!” she said, sitting down 
on the nearest chair, “as you seem suffi¬ 
ciently impressed, I will come down to 
business and talk sense. 
“You and I have both commented on 
the dreadful ingenuity of the man who 
planned this house and put in these col¬ 
lar-box bedrooms just big enough for a 
bed, a bureau and a chair. Our honored 
parents occupy one down staii's, while 
you and I have always slept in that lit¬ 
tle cubby at the top of the stairs, which 
is hotter than Sahara in Summer and 
colder than Greenland in Winter. 
“Well, this is no news to you. Let us 
proceed to what is news. All this time 
wc have had a spare chamber and a par¬ 
lor, and what good have they done us? 
None at all. At one fell swoop I am go¬ 
ing to change all that. The parlor, the 
spare room, the two little bedrooms, are 
going to be abolished—” “Why, what 
is the matter?” she asked innocently. 
Letty was leaning forward, her hands 
on the arms of the chair, her eyes wide 
open in amazement. “Why, Myra. she 
gasped, and then fell silent. 
“I expected you’d be surprised,” said 
Myra calmly, “but you will get over it 
in time. Mother will be surprised, too, 
but she will get used to it also. I have 
talked everything over with Father, and 
he has given his hearty consent.” Sud¬ 
denly she grew grave. “You see, Letty, 
it is this way: The doctor told me more 
about Mother’s condition, when I came 
home, than he did any of the rest of 
you. She has nearly come to have 
melancholia—and that is not all. But we 
won’t talk about it now. Of course I 
saw that it was my duty to come home, 
give up my music, temporarily at least, 
and see if I couldn’t liven and cheer you 
all up. Y'ou must admit that I have done 
pretty well. She is wonderfully improv¬ 
ed, and the doctor says if she get* 
through the Winter without any set¬ 
backs I can begin to make my own plans 
again. But of course the Winters are 
hard for her, and I saw that I must do 
something besides be cheerful and gay. 
You see, my being away from home 
awhile and seeing how other people live, 
made things look different to me when I 
got back. I saw how two of the best 
rooms in the house were shut up and 
never used, and I saw that was one rea¬ 
son for Mother’s discontent and depres¬ 
sion of spirits. And as for my plans, 
perhaps you think I have given them up, 
but I haven’t. I’m going to practice 
every day. You’ve heard me singing 
about my work; well, that was practice, 
and not mere cheerfulness. -I’m going 
into the city once a week, too, and take 
a lesson, and if I fall far behind my 
classmates it won’t be for the lack of 
MOTHERS.—Be sure to use“Mrs.Wins- 
low’s Soothing Syrup” for your children 
while Teething. It is the Best.— A.dv, 
working hard. So there you have my 
plans. 
“Now get’s get to work. I’ve talked 
too long already.” Myra sprang to her 
feet and looked about the room. 
“But, Myra!” cried Letty protestingly. 
“But. Letty!” mocked Myra. 
“Suppose we have company?” 
“We haven’t bad company to stay over 
night for two years, at least, so don’t 
worry about that. Sufficient unto the 
day is the evil thereof. Just for a mo¬ 
ment look at this room, my dear. It has 
a dismal-looking stove in it, a stitching 
machine, a big work-basket, a little 
stand for a lamp, a few chairs and a 
consumptive looking plant in one win¬ 
dow. It is not an attractive looking 
room, say what you will, and yet it 
might be lovely. It is large and sunny, 
has a good carpet, and is well papered 
and painted. 
“Now let us go into the sacred pre¬ 
cincts of the parlor. Shall I support your 
tottering footsteps? See, here we have 
a piano, but most of the time it is too 
cold in here to use it, for you see there 
is no stove. There is a sofa, some 
chairs, a large center table, a bookcase 
and some books. Neither is this an at¬ 
tractive room. It is not so sunny as 
the other, but it will make a good sleep¬ 
ing-room and that is just what it will 
be ere the week is spent. There, my 
dear. I have sort of prepared your mind, 
and here comes Father, all ready to 
help on the hard work.” 
Letty was mute with astonishment, 
and her wonder grew as she saw how 
heartily her Father entered into all the 
plans. “A good idea!” he would say. 
“What’s the sense of having things too 
good to be used?” Once in a while he 
would chuckle, then look sober. I don’t 
know what your mother will say, Myra; 
I don’t know, I’m sure.” “Don’t you 
worry. Pa,” Myra would retort. “I’ll un¬ 
dertake to manage her.” 
Letty attended to the housework and 
meal-getting and took but little part in 
the grand transformation, as she was 
not strong. 
It was a cold but bright and sunny 
Fall day when Myra drove home with 
her mother from the station. Myra lis¬ 
tened to an animated account of the 
visit till they were half a mile from 
home, then she spoke. 
“Mother, dear,” she said, “there is 
something I want to tell you. While 
you have been away we have changed 
things around a bit in the house, and we 
hope you will like it. It will seem 
strange at first, but we all think it is 
lovely. I want you to be satisfied, too, 
and if you don’t like it you can have 
everything put back as it was before. 
But I want you to promise to try it just 
as it is for two weeks, will you?” 
Her mother looked surprised. “Why 
of course I’m willing to try it, and I’ll 
promise,” and then she began to talk 
of other things. 
The sun shone into the west windows 
of the sitting-room, and Mrs. Randall 
looked about her in wonder. “Why!” 
she said, “you’ve got a new stove.” 
“Yes,” said her husband, “I thought 
we’d burned wood in a coal stove long 
enough.” 
A few thrifty plants which Myra had 
cared for all Summer stood on a low 
stand by one south window. There was 
a large table with books and magazines 
on it and a big lamp. The piano was 
there, and the sofa, the bookcase and 
one or two chairs that had been in the 
parlor. Although there was so much in 
the room, everything was so well ar¬ 
ranged that it did not seem the least bit 
crowded. Mrs. Randall inspected her 
new sleeping-room and her old one 
which was now a sewing-rooni, and then 
she went upstairs to look at the girls’ 
room. 
“Oh, Mother!” cried Letty, “it is love¬ 
ly to be in a room you can turn around 
in. And this is going to be so much 
wanner than the other, being on the 
south and over the sitting-room. Be¬ 
sides, Pa is going to get two little air¬ 
tight stoves, one for us and one for your 
room. He says as long as we’ve got 
plenty of wood we may as well take 
some comfort.” 
For the next two weeks the other 
members of the family watched Mrs. 
Randall furtively. They could not tell 
w'hat her feelings were. She sat in the 
sitting-room a great deal, and listened 
to Myra’s practicing, but she gave no 
sign either of approval or disapproval. 
One evening they were all together, 
and she spoke. “Well, the fortnight will 
be up to-morrow. I’ve kept my promise, 
and now we can have things straight¬ 
ened out again and put back where they 
belong.” 
“Oh, Mother!” exclaimed Mr. Randall, 
“you don’t mean-” 
“I mean,” said she a little sharply, 
“that I think it was a pretty high-hand¬ 
ed proceeding to get me off on a visit 
and then move everything around like 
this. Who ever heard of sleeping in the 
parlor! I don’t know where I am when 
I wake up in the morning.” 
She paused and looked at the others. 
Mr. Randall’s forehead was wrinkled 
with perplexity and doubt. Letty looked 
disappointed, while Myra’s eyes were 
downcast and she was biting her lip. 
Suddenly Mrs. Randall’s laugh rang 
out clear and hearty. The other three 
jumped as if there had been a sharp re¬ 
port of thunder. “Oh, you geese!” she 
cried. “Did you think I meant it? 
Couldn’t you see how much I have en¬ 
joyed my new house?—for that is what 
it is now. Why, I liked it from the first 
minute I stepped into it. I found out on 
ray visit that folks don’t have parlors 
now, and spare rooms aren’t nearly so 
much thought of as they used to be. 
“Change things back, indeed! I guess 
we are good enough to use the best we’ve 
got. And hereafter we are going to have 
the best dishes on the table every day.” 
SUSAN BKOWJf KOniUNS. 
When you write advertisers mention. The 
R. N.-Y. and you will get a quick reply and 
a square deal.” See gruarantee, 14th page. 
Onion Maooots. —I notice on page 225 
the trouble that Rose Duncan has with 
Onion maggots. We used to have the 
same trouble, but dread the pests no 
longer. We cover the onion rows thick¬ 
ly with wood ashes just before it rains, 
if possible. After the rain the onions 
will grow finely, but the maggots will 
be a thing of the past. ii. s. a. 
A PIe-Makbir’s Hint. —I often hear 
and read complaints among housewives 
of the contents of their pies bubbling 
and running over, and the various 
methods tried to overcome the difficulty, 
all of which seem to be unsuccessful. I 
wish those troubled in the manner above 
would try my way and see what success 
they have. After rolling out the under¬ 
crust and filling the pie, roll out the 
upper crust, make a few gashes, open¬ 
ings or any fanciful design on it, and 
lay lightly over the contents, do not 
wet the edges nor pinch the two crusts 
together; just lay the top crust on light¬ 
ly, for you all know steam will not be 
confined, and if you attempt it, you will 
have trouble. By leaving the edges open, 
not pinched together, the steam will es¬ 
cape evenly all around. I rarely have a 
' pie run over, unless I have been too 
lavish with the contents, that is, filling 
the pie too full. e. e. 
Connecticut. 
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TRY IT TO-DAY. 
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