1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
583 
The Neatness of Mrs. Pltittitner. 
“Jest bring in them ’ere horse blank¬ 
ets, Jake, and I’ll give ’em a good suds¬ 
ing, as to-day is Saturday.” 
“The horse blankets!” exclaimed the 
new hired help. 
“Yes; the law of the barn, as well as 
the house, is neatness.” 
Jake brought in the blankets, and Mrs. 
Plummer said to her niece: 
“Here, you wash them checkered ones 
fust, and the old striped ones after in 
the same water, and then rinse ’em in 
* clean.” 
“They ain’t fit to tech,” said the girl, 
sullenly, as she looked at the old blank¬ 
ets. “I never heard of any one washing 
horse blankets till I came here.” 
“The more’s the pity. I guess you 
hain’t been used to good housekeeping 
in your mother’s home; our family wuz 
brung up to be neat, but when Brother 
Beza married your ma, he had to say 
good-bye to a neat house.” 
“My mother was as good a housekeep¬ 
er as ever I want to see, and she made a 
happy home for pa and me,” said the 
girl, coloring angrily. 
Taking no notice of the girl’s remark, 
Mrs. Plummer said: “After you suds ’em, 
don’t forgit to rinse ’em, and-” But 
she broke off suddenly, exclaiming, 
“Well, I never! Ef Jake hesn’t gone 
and left the print of his big, ugly boot 
on that outer doorstep. 
“I hope he’ll leave a good many 
more,” muttered Hepsey under her 
breath. 
Her aunt swept off the step, and then 
with a pail of warm water and a scrub¬ 
bing-brush, restored the outraged door¬ 
step. 
“Now I’ll do the cellar stairs,” she 
said, “and do you git them blankets out 
before the sun’s high.” 
In a few minutes, Hepsey heard her 
calling, “Hepsey Barney, you come 
here.” 
The girl wiped her hands on her calico 
apron, and went as she was bidden. 
Pointing to a spot on the stairs, her 
aunt exclaimed: 
“Didn’t you scrub them stairs down on 
Wednesday?” 
“Yes,” replied the girl. 
“Well, there’s that stain where your 
uncle spilt the cider Sunday night; I 
guess it’s time you larned that spots 
ain’t to be left a week on my cellar 
stairs; why, I wouldn’t hev slept for the 
night ef I’d a-known I had such lookin’ 
steps. Git me the box of sand; mebbe 
the grit will take the spot off.” 
Hepsey obeyed and, returning to her 
washing, rinsed and wrung out the 
blankets and carried them to the 
clothesline back of the house. Jake was 
near there, making a bed for “garden 
sass,” as that had to be attended to be¬ 
fore the Spring work on the farm began. 
“Lemme hang ’em up for yer,” he 
said pleasantly. “They air a sight too 
heavy for you to lift.” 
“I guess you’d think so if you’d been 
a-washing ’em,” replied the girl, as she 
watched him stretch them on the line 
with his strong arms. When he had fin¬ 
ished, she thanked him, and picked up 
her basket to return to the house. 
“Mrs. P.’s a master hand at neatness, 
ain’t she?” he asked. 
“You’ll think so before you’ve been 
here a month,” remarked Hepsey, break¬ 
ing off a twig from a shrub and throw¬ 
ing it on the ground. 
“Pick up that there twig,” called her 
aunt, who, having finished the stairs, 
had come out to take a look at the hen¬ 
house, and ascertain whether the law of 
neatness and order had been violated, 
‘ and you hed better do up the front 
porch now; there’ll be no time befoie we 
sets to the bakin’ and gitti i’ dinner. 
Hepsey turned to go, but said softly, 
when her aunt was out of hearing: 
“What will you think of having to wash 
the garden tools and everything used on 
the farm oncet in two weeks?” 
“The land’s sake!” exclaimed Jake, 
bursting into a laugh. 
“Hush—she’ll hear you,” said the girl, 
smiling at him as she turned back to¬ 
wards the house. 
Farmer Plummer had driven into mar¬ 
ket that morning, and returned home in 
time for dinner, which Hepsey and her 
aunt promptly placed on the table at 
12 o’clock." Jake and Lloyd, the hired 
men, sat on one side, with Hepsey op¬ 
posite, while Mr. and Mrs. Plummer pre¬ 
sided at the head and foot of the table. 
“Your dinner smells right good, Mrs. 
P.,” said the farmer, as he cut off large 
slices of corned beef, and passed the 
plates to his wife, who piled on cabbage, 
turnip and beets with a generous hand, 
for stinginess was not one of her faults. 
“It tastes as good as it smells,” com¬ 
mented Jake, lifting his broad-bladed 
knife, on which were balanced the vege¬ 
tables, the aroma of which was so appe¬ 
tizing to the hungry workmen. 
Hepsey had taken off her soiled calico 
apron, and replaced it with a neat white 
one, and fastened a blue bow in her 
hair; this change in her attire did not 
escape Jake’s notice. 
One day Mrs. Plummer went to a chest 
of drawers in which her linen was kept. 
A cry of horror rose to her lips, and 
startled Hepsey, who was preparing to 
set away the milk, which Jake had just 
brought in. She ran to her aunt, and 
even Jake turned back from the door¬ 
step to see if he were needed. 
“Oh, what is it, Aunt?” cried the girl. 
Almost speechless, her aunt pointed to 
a linen sheet which had a small brown 
spot on it. “Look at that!” she gasped. 
“Hepsey Barney, that’s some of your 
work! I trusted you to do ’em last week 
when I wuz to Neighbor Worth’s 
funeral.” 
“Why, I thought it would come out in 
the wash next time; it was only a spot 
from the iron.” 
“From the iron!” exclaimed Mrs. 
Plummer. “Didn’t you rub them irons 
before you fetched ’em to the sheets?” 
“I didn’t think of it,” said Hepsey, 
wondering if Jake thought she was a 
slack worker; but Jake said nothing, 
and turning away, went to the barn, for 
somehow he never could bear to hear 
Hepsey scolded. 
The next morning, when Jake came 
downstairs before sunrise, he was sur¬ 
prised to find the fire made, the wash 
boiler on, and all the tubs in formidable 
array. As he went towards the barn, he 
saw on the line in the back yard sheets, 
tablecloths, pillow cases and napkins 
fluttering in the mild Spring breeze. 
At breakfast, which was ready by 
half-past four, Hepsey said timidly: 
"Aunt, would you like to hev me wash 
out that sheet to-day?” 
“No,” said her aunt, “I got up at two 
and washed everything from the chest 
that had a spot in it; only next time 
hev a care that there ain’t no spotted 
ones put away.” 
That was the beginning of Mrs. Plum¬ 
mer’s new habit. Every few weeks, she 
rose early, and taking the clean linen, 
washed it over again. The deep frown 
between her eyes was intensified, and 
the hard lines about her mouth became 
like furrows. 
It was now scrub, scrub from morning 
to night, until Hepsey’s arms ached, and 
nothing but the fact that the girl was 
dependent upon her aunt kept her pa¬ 
tient under the new rules which were 
constantly made. 
One hot Summer day, Mrs. Plummer 
said: “Them horse blankets must be 
washed to-day; it’s been kinder neglect¬ 
ed of late.” 
“But, Aunt,” expostulated Hepsey, 
“the horses don’t wear ’em now in this 
boiling weather; they are just put away 
in the carriage-house.” 
“I know it, but the. dust gathers on 
MOTHERS.—Be sure to use “Mrs. Wins¬ 
low’s Soothing Syrup” for your children 
while Teething. It is the Best.— Adv. 
’em,” said her aunt, fixing her eyes as 
if looking at something in the distance, 
with the tense expression they now 
wore. 
“I tell you I won’t hev them blankets 
washed again this Summer; it jest wears 
’em out,” exclaimed Mr. Plummer, “and 
there ain’t no use in scrubbin’ and wash- 
in’ one’s life away.” 
“I don’t keep the house half-a-ways 
decent,” replied his wife, bursting into 
rears. “I’m ashamed of myself; but 
most of the cleaning falls on me, for 
Hepsey’s that slack.” 
“I wonder that she lives,” muttered 
Jake so that no one but Hepsey heard 
him. 
When the men went out to the barn 
the next morning, all the blankets were 
hanging on the line, for Mrs. Plummer 
always carried her point, and she had 
been to the barn before dawn, found the 
blankets and washed them. 
The sun rose red and fiery that morn¬ 
ing, and not a breath of air was stir¬ 
ring; the last acre of grass was to be cut 
down that day, and the men set off early 
for the fields. 
About 11 o’clock, Jake was startled 
by the sudden appearance of Hepsey in 
the hay field, her face looking white and 
scared. 
“Oh, Jake!” she cried, seizing his arm. 
“Go for a doctor! Aunt went up to scrub 
the roof of the south piazza, and the mo¬ 
ment she came in, she fell in the upper 
hall in a dead faint; you call Uncle, 
while I run back.” 
Jake gave the alarm, and while he 
rode off for a doctor, Plummer lifted his 
wife, with the help of Hepsey, and laid 
her on the bed. The scrubbing brush 
was still clutched firmly in her hand. 
Mechanically the girl obeyed, and tak¬ 
ing a candle, went to the kitchen and 
returned with the desired articles. As 
her aunt saw the brush, her face lighted 
up with a look of pleased recognition. 
“Mrs. P., don’t git up; jest let Hepsey 
fix it all right.” 
“No, no; help me git on my feet,” she 
said to her husband. So, leaning on his 
strong arm, she managed to go into the 
hall; Hepsey went before them with 
candle, brush and pan. 
As the light of the candle fell upon 
the spot on the window-sill, she gave a 
faint cry of horror, and reaching for the 
brush, she fell back into her husband’s 
arms gasping for breath. They carried 
her to her room, and Jake was sent for 
the doctor; but as the physician’s step 
was heard, she breathed her last, a vic¬ 
tim to neatness. 
***** 
Years after, when Hepsey and Jake 
had a little home of their own, over 
which she presided as nicely as any 
housekeeper in the district, Jake would 
frequently say: • 
“Hev a care, Hepsey. Don t git too 
neat, and make an idol of that there 
scrubbing brush.” 
And she would pleasantly retort. 
“There ain’t no danger that I’ll be too 
neat with four tearing boys to look 
after.”—Caroline Little, in Chicago 
Record. _. 
Are you losing tlesh, and feeling generally - run 
down?” Dr. D. Jayne sTonlo Vermifuge will correct 
that. It Is a strength-giver. 
Don’t neglect your cold—let your doctor prescribe 
for If, or take Dr. D. Jayne’s prescription—Jayne's 
Expectorant. 
If bilious take Jayne’s Painless Sanative Pills.— 
Adv 
B.*B. 
dollar silks 60c. yd. 
—some were as much as 81 25—odd lines 
They bathed her head and her poor, 
rough hands, and succeeded in restoring 
consciousness, at least partially, before 
the arrival of the physician. When he 
came, he said: 
“I fear it is a sunstroke, or apoplexy, 
and she must be kept very quiet; has 
she been out in the sun at all to-day?” 
“She was on the roof of the south 
piazza, Sir,” said Hepsey, “and when she 
had finished scrubbing it, she climbed 
back through the hall, but fell on the 
hall floor in a kind of a faint.” 
“Out on a tin roof such a day as this!” 
exclaimed the doctor. “It is a pure case 
of sunstroke.” 
He left remedies, and gave directions 
that she should be kept quiet and in a 
dark room. Poor, frightened Hepsey 
prepared the dinner as best she could, 
and after the men returned to the hay 
field, she kept watch over her aunt, who 
slept most all the time. 
That night about one o’clock, Mrs. 
Plummer roused and asked her husband 
to call Hepsey. When she came, her 
aunt said: 
“I guess I’ll clean the roof to the south 
porch, and there is a spot on the window 
sill in the upper hall. I must git up and 
rub it off.” 
“Oh, no, Aunt, I’ll do it; you ain’t well 
enough,” said Hepsey. 
“I will do it myself,” cried the sick 
woman, rising up in bed. 
Fearing to cross her, the farmer and 
Hepsey were silent. 
“Git the brush and some water, and be 
spry now, Hepsey,” she said with some 
of her old decision. 
of Fancy Taffetas— high-class styles 
and colorings—fine for early fall waists. 
Silks just as good in every way as the 
day we selected them. 
But very soon it will be time for the 
new season’s silks to come, and *with 
such a feature as this store makes of 
large assortments, lots of room for ihe 
new styles is an absolute necessity—the 
determined kind of necessity that makes 
us sell dollar and $1.25 silks for 60c. 
Another surplus lot—Fancy Taffetas 
and fine Indias and Foulards—SOc yd. 
—mostly dollar silks. 
Large odd liDe of useful and pretty 
wash goods Sc. y(l —less than half reg¬ 
ular price. 
And a lot of odd lines 75c. to $1 Dress 
Goods and Suitings, 35c. yd. that every 
woman who reads this will find it of ad¬ 
vantage to get samples of. 
BOGGS & BUHL. 
Department C, 
ALLEGHENY, PA. 
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32 page Catalogue Frue. We Fay Freightand ship on 10 
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