1000 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
583 
The Love of Lemuel. 
PART II. 
He sighed as he thought of her with 
tender admiration. To think of her 
was restful to him. His deceased wife 
—Lemuel was too upright a man to 
dwell critically on the memory of his 
children’s mother; but sometimes it had 
seemed to him—it had struck through 
his consciousness—that of all the women 
in the world who were, by reason of 
their ineradicable natures, in all respects 
singularly and remotely different from 
Emeline Bestor, his wife, who had been 
Sarah Dow, stood undoubtedly first. 
Lemuel had seen once at the county fair 
symbolical female figures of War and 
Peace made with red corn and speckled 
beans, but yet gruesomely expressive— 
the one masterful, rampant, the other 
majestically serene—and in spite of him¬ 
self he had been put in mind of his wife 
and Emeline Bestor. The Peace was 
Emeline. 
He was lonesome since Rosy had got 
married; and the distant connection 
who Kept house for him, and used an 
oil-cloth instead of table-cloths, to save 
washing, and never swept under the 
stove, nor the beds, wanted to go to 
her daughter in Iowa. If Emeline—oh, 
if Emeline—x^s for old Ephraim Bestor, 
he would be an addition to any house¬ 
hold; his chief defect being a settled 
habit of taking off his boots about noon 
and continuing in his stocking feet the 
rest of the day, even if the minister’s 
wife called. He was nearing the house, 
and his eyes focused on Emeline’s line 
of clothes whitely flapping, her three- 
cornered verbena-bed and her four red 
beehives. Humboldt, too; some sudden 
interest seemed to inspire Humboldt—• 
or curiosity. Opposite the house he 
turned his head, and looked toward it 
with an evident concern not second to 
Lemuel’s, and as they reached the big 
gate he made an attempt to turn in. 
Lemuel pulled him up. He grew red, 
the more because Emeline was in the 
side yard painting a wooden rocking- 
chair blue He urged Humboldt along. 
Humboldt would never see eighteen 
again, and he was beginning to look like 
a buffalo-robe, and had white hairs be¬ 
hind his ears. Still he had vim, and 
Lemuel had had to give five dollars for 
him besides his horse, whose speed was 
a mere recollection of the days before he 
was foundered. The five dollars, 
Lemuel suddenly remembered, some rods 
farther along, he had forgotten to pay, 
and Pitt Wheeler had delicately re¬ 
frained from mentioning it. He turned 
and drove back. At Emeline’s gate 
Humboldt distinctly and deliberately 
turned in again. 
Lemuel had to cramp the buckboard 
to turn him back. He stared at him in 
painful amazement, in bewilderment, 
and in a dawning alarm. He was not 
superstitious; he was far from being 
imaginative, but a tremor ran over him. 
What did it mean? To his perplexed 
mind it appeared a thing miraculous. 
Had Humboldt an uncanny knowledge of 
matters human? A supernatural com¬ 
prehension? Lemuel looked along his 
nubby spine to his low-lying ears, and 
on between them, with a blank gaze. 
Did it mean anything? No. His judg¬ 
ment pronounced a negative. But as he 
drove on, looking widely about him, and 
seeing nothing, the inquiry recurred to 
him, and with persistence rose again. 
Eer what reason had Humboldt turned 
in at Emeline Bestor’s gate? Why not 
at the Whitman’s? 
Why not at John Purdy’s? Could it 
be? Had some unseen power paused to 
take compassionate cognizance of his, 
Lemuel Jilson’s, long helplessness and 
the starvation of his soul—to take com¬ 
passionate cognizance, where the world 
grinned? Those strange antics of the 
old horse, what might they be? Was the 
animal impelled by some force extraor¬ 
dinary? Was it a hint, an encourage¬ 
ment, an impetus from some high 
source? Lemuel rubbed his unsteady 
hand over his dry lips. 
He said little when he paid Pitt Wheel¬ 
er, and that little somewhat incoherent¬ 
ly. Humboldt flapped off flies with his 
meagre tail, which had been once wan¬ 
tonly chewed off by a colt, and had never 
renewed itself. He had by means of 
persevering efforts contrived to loosen 
the check-rein, but Lemuel did not see it. 
When they turned back up the road he 
kept taking off his hat and biting its 
brim, nis habit in nervousness. He 
dreaded getting to Emeline’s gate, and 
his dread deepened with every rod. It 
became a sort of terror. When tne 
clothes-line and the red hives came into 
view, for sheer want of ability to regard 
them he stared down at the open space 
between his feet—and waited. Opposite 
Emeline’s house Humboldt slowed up, 
since the lines hung lax; then he trotted 
on with an obviously fresh impulse, and 
turned in at Emeline Bestor’s gate, and 
went up the lane at a pace brisk and 
eager and admirable in one of his years. 
Lemuel sat there in the buckboard with 
his hat in his lap. He was pale, his 
hands shook, and the lines dropped. 
“Em’line!” he called, huskily, without 
stirring, for he was afraid his legs would 
not bear him up. 
Emeline came hurrying over from the 
rocking-chair. Her hair was blown 
about, and her apron and her hands 
were daubed with paint. She raised to 
him a beaming smile. “I declare!” she 
said, in kind welcome. 
“Em’line,” said Lemuel. He mois¬ 
tened his lips and began again. It 
seemed to him that his voice was an in¬ 
audible whisper, but it had, in truth, a 
rasping loudness. “Em’line, I want to 
know if you’ll marry me? Will you, 
Em’line?” 
Emeline had come close to the buck- 
board. She stood still for a moment, 
her smile unfaded, all her thwarted hope, 
all her unquestioning love, faithful 
through the lost years, looking at him 
out of her happy, misty eyes. Then she 
laid upon Lemuel’s hand, which clutched 
his knee, her own warm, blue-bedaubed 
one. Old Ephraim Bestor came to the 
door in his stocking feet. Humboldt, 
with the retrospective, the judicial mien 
which only an old horse can compass, 
the expression of patient leniency for 
human foibles and weaknesses—Hum¬ 
boldt stood and waited. 
“Yeup,” Pitt Wheeler answered an in¬ 
quirer, “I got a new horse. Traded with 
Lemuel Jilson. ’Tain’t good fer much, 
but I give him one ’twan’t much better 
—old Humboldt. I’ll bet you he was a 
smart horse once, though, old Humboldt. 
I got him of Ephraim Bestor eight er 
ten years ago, and I’ll be hornswoggled 
if he don’t want to turn into his old gate 
every plegged time he goes past, right 
up to this day. Yes, sir. He’s got a 
memory that ’d done credit to Dan’l 
Webster!”—Emma A. Opper in Woman’s 
Home Companion. 
About Kitchen Tables. 
Miss Anna Barrows of the American 
Kitchen Magazine, says in the Manches¬ 
ter Union that one or more tables should 
be found in every kitchen, and better 
two or three small ones than a single 
large one. Occasionally there is a 
chance for a folding table hinged against 
the wall. Aside from that all tables 
should have casters that may be moved 
readily. The common kitchen table has 
one drawer, and when its one leaf is 
open the top is about four feet square; 
such table usually costs about $3. The 
readymade tables are rarely high enough 
for work and though casters will be an 
improvement, it is often better to have 
the legs fastened on blocks. A zinc- 
covered table is excellent for use near 
the stove. Where this is not available 
there should be some small hardwood 
boards to place on the table for hot ket¬ 
tles. A table on strong casters with one 
or two shelves below is a help in clear¬ 
ing soiled dishes from the dining table 
and bringing them to the sink and back 
again to the table after washing. There 
should be a slight ledge of wood around 
each shelf as a guard against breakage 
of dishes. 
How to keep the kitchen tables clean 
is an important question for housekeep¬ 
ers. Where there are plenty of helpers 
the plain wooden surface can De 
scrubbed clean and white, but under 
other conditions a daily scrubbing may 
be impossible. Enameled cloth is easily 
kept clean, but must be renewed fre¬ 
quently. Once the enamel is broken 
the cloth begins to absorb moisture and 
become discolored and dirty. It is sel¬ 
dom wise to nail this covering on a table 
or shelf, for every fold or crack means 
a place for dust and dirt to accumulate, 
which in time will attract water bugs, 
ants, or any other insects in the neigh¬ 
borhood. Usually it is better to have 
the enamel cloth a few inches larger 
than the table and to change its posi¬ 
tion occasionally that it may wear even¬ 
ly. When the top of a table has become 
discolored with stains and age and is 
scratched and roughened by use the best 
way to treat it is to have it planed. A 
carpenter with his plane will accomplish 
more in a few moments than could be 
done by hours of cleaning. This can be 
done several times without injuring a 
table top of usual thickness. There are 
patented kitchen tables with compart¬ 
ments for utensils and materials for 
cooking. These have many advantages, 
yet any woman would rather plan her 
own work table. Such tables, however, 
must be expensive if they are well made. 
Unless the lumber used is thoroughly 
dry and of the best quality there will 
be cracks in the various divisions and 
the drawers and doors will not open and 
close easily. In general it is not wise 
to have too many compartments or to 
keep food materials in direct contact 
with the wood. Tin boxes and glass 
jars are best receptacles for spices, 
sugar, cereals, dried fruit, etc., etc. A 
high stool is a most useful accompani¬ 
ment for the kitchen tables; ironing 
and much cooking can be as well done 
by the housekeeper if she sits down as 
when she keeps on her feet all day. 
“Only Temper.” 
It is said that a bad-tempered woman 
can cause more actual unpleasantness 
for the rest of humanity than all the 
other disagreeable features one finds in 
life, says a writer in the Woman’s Home 
Companion, and the unlucky possessor 
of an uncontrolled temper can easily 
drive to ruin or to other women the 
men whose misfortune it is to move in 
her orbit. Men are very mortal beings; 
they are also very selfish, and they have 
a tremendous fondness for having their 
physical and mental comfort undisturb¬ 
ed. The average man prizes permanent 
peace and content above the happiness 
of possessing a beautiful, attractive 
creature for a wife, and he knows that 
a bad-tempered woman and peace go not 
together. He admires a spirited woman, 
but he knows that a correspondingly 
strong will goes along with strong char¬ 
acter, and he expects her to exercise it. 
The assertion from a woman that she 
has a bad temper, and is proud of it, has 
kept more than one worthy man from 
asking her to share his future as his 
wife, fine woman who can control her¬ 
self under the most trying circum¬ 
stances is the woman who holds the 
strongest power over men. No matter 
how beautiful and brainy and fascin¬ 
ating the bad-tempered woman may be, 
or how lengthy her bank account, her 
power is infinitesimal compared with 
that of her amiable sister. And amia¬ 
bility is not only power; it is mental 
progression and health and happiness 
and long life to one’s self and to one’s 
friends and family. 
MOTHERS.—Be sure to use “Mrs. Wins¬ 
low’s Soothing Syrup” for your children 
while Teething. It is the Best—AtZi>. 
Indulging in a fit of temper not only 
makes a woman old and ugly before her 
time, but it actually shortens life. More¬ 
over, every time she loses control of her 
temper she unhinges a moral brain-cell 
and weakens by several degrees her ca¬ 
pacity for self-control. The oftener she 
permits herself to indulge in what she 
believes to be righteous indignation the 
more frequently she finds such occasions 
presenting themselves, for life is full of 
such irritating opportunities. It is these 
bursts of passion that prevent women 
from growing old so beautifully that 
they seem to retain their youth, and like 
a tree, becoming more attractive with 
age. A mouth that learns how to set it¬ 
self in an aggrieved or hard line soon 
settles in a grim curve that writes years 
of age upon a woman’s face and deep¬ 
lines an accusing and disfiguring 
wrinkle. 
'The Youth’s Companion points a little 
moral in the following, which both the 
farmer and his family will appreciate: 
“Now I have here a patent hoe that’s go¬ 
ing to revolutionize work in the potato- 
field,” said the agent, as he seated himself 
in the barn doorway beside Philander 
Gregg. “I’m well posted on the merits of 
the article, but what I want to know is 
just how to approach the average farmer.” 
“M’m,” said Mr. Gregg, surveying his 
caller with an appearance of chilling inhos¬ 
pitality. “I guess I’m about near enough 
to the everage to tell ye. You want to ap¬ 
proach him by the road at this season o’ 
the year, or else you want to stand still 
and let him tell ye which way to come. 
“You don’t want to go step-steppin’ over 
his strawberry patch, and on through his 
wife’s flower-garding,” said Mr. Gregg, 
with a glance which applied his remarks to 
the case in hand. “That ain’t i.»e best way 
to approach an everage farmer, young man, 
not if you cal’late to sell your paytent hoe 
to him.” And the tone used by Mr. Gregg 
was so fraught with unpleasant possibili¬ 
ties that the agent and his hoe vanished 
by the road before the silence had become 
oppressive. 
s & 
for dressy school dresses 
there’s opportunity to get splendid 
goods at a great saving. 
Dress Goods, Suitings and Skirt¬ 
ings—fine woolens that were 75c. 
to $1.50— 50 c. yard. 
Soon as you see samples, what 
good goods and good stjles for 
this underprice, you’ll be surprised 
at the nerve of the sacrifice 
Fifty-cent Dress Goods, 25c. 
25-cent ones, 15c. 
Both lots useful for school wear. 
Young ladies going away to 
school will want more extensive 
wardrobes—and if you write us 
about Golf Capes, Storm Skirts, 
Suits, Trunks and all other needed 
goods, we’ll make it to your ad¬ 
vantage, with styles and prices, 
to get them here. 
Rare lot of odd Fancy Silks, 50c. 
—were twice the money—make 
handsome waists for early Fall. 
5.000 yards of good Percales 30 
inches wide, 5c. 
BOGGS & BUHL, 
Department C, 
ALLEGHENY, PA. 
OOK-KEEPING 
Stenography, Teleg¬ 
raphy, Penmanship, 
etc., taught by mall 
or in person at Kastman, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
We secure positions for graduates of complete 
commercial course. Catalogue free. 
C. C. GAINES, Box 817, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
COE’S 
ECZEMA CURE, SI at druggists. 25c 
size of us. Coe Chem. Co., Cleveland, O. 
Thrice-a-Week World 
Gives you all the news of the whole world 
every other day. It’s the next best thing to a 
daily paper—18 pages a week, 156 pages a 
year. It Is independent, fearless, and is with 
the plain people as against trusts and mono¬ 
polies. We can send it in combination with 
Thx Bubal Nxw-Yobkbb, one year, for 11.66. 
