136 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
September, 1913 : 
terest both Dorry's gardens and lrcr slender figure and flushed 
face. 
"Leave the child alone!” he had said to Mr. Spence. "Doesn’t 
make a bit of difference if she is thinner. It’s a healthy thinness. 
She's getting rid of all that flabby flesh. No child with such a 
color in her cheeks and such a sparkle in her eye is hurting her¬ 
self playing in the dirt. If she sleeps eleven hours a night and 
eats half she plants, as her mother 
says, you can just congratulate your¬ 
self that she is interested enough in 
gardening to do it. Let her dig until 
she is tired out. Give her old clothes, 
a big hat. plenty of garden tools, and 
tell your hired man it’s a whole lot 
better that she spoil half he does than 
that she get discouraged from his well 
meant interference. You’ll grow 
something better than eatables in that 
garden if you let your children taTe 
root and sprout there!” 
All this was compensation to Mrs. 
Spence. But, a city woman brought 
up, she did miss society, did miss her 
friends, and it was only a question of 
time when such feel¬ 
ings reacted upon 
her, and her husband 
noticed an unwonted 
sharpness of speech 
as well as an unac¬ 
customed paleness of 
face. 
"It’s those servants 
again, I suppose," 
admitted Mrs. 
Spence. "Lily gave 
me notice today. Said 
it was too lonely. 
That’s the third in 
two months. If it 
wasn't for Eliza stick¬ 
ing so, I don’t know 
what I would do. And 
she doesn’t seem as 
cheerful as she used 
to be.” 
"I wonder how the 
rest of the people out here man¬ 
age to keep their servants?” 
mused Spence. “I must ask some 
of the fellows on the train. I’ve 
met the corkingest lot of chaps 
since I’ve been out here,” he went 
on, enthusiastically. "It’s been 
worth a lot. There’s Lerch—he 
gave me an order that won’t net 
less than five hundred, and West- 
ervelt introduced me to Parker, 
whom I’ve been wanting to meet 
in some way that wouldn’t look as 
if I’d forced it — if I don’t get a 
lot of business out of him, it will 
be because I've forgotten how. 
Joined the Almarine Club the 
other day — most of this bunch lunch there — things are looking 
up with us, honey!” 
And his wife was properly glad, but sighed privately for some 
of the benefits social as well as benefits material, which her hus¬ 
band seemed to be getting from their isolated situation. 
The loneliness increased when school days came again, and 
Larry’s running in and out on “chicken business” and Dorothy’s 
gardening were confined to morning and evening. School was 
two miles beyond the railroad station, and it was the most natural 
thing in the world for the children to accompany the head of the 
house to the train in the morning, and 
then have the hired man drive them 
on to school. A school bus would 
call for them, or bring them home, if 
the car was otherwise engaged. 
“But what's the use of having one 
if you don't use it?” said the new 
proselyte of the car, nor noted the 
incongruity of this attitude with that 
which had formerly obsessed him. 
There was relief in sight for Mrs. 
Spence, however, though she neither 
knew nor recognized it when it came. 
It came from a visit to Mr. and Mrs. 
Elkins at their country home three 
miles farther away. The invitation 
came to Mr. Spence on the train and 
to Mrs. Spence over 
the telephone. 
"I hope you won’t 
mind this informal¬ 
ity,” said a pleasant 
voice over the wire. 
"We've been so busy 
getting our new home 
fixed we haven't had 
time to do any neigh¬ 
boring. But we want 
you and your hus¬ 
band to come over 
for dinner and to 
spend the evening— 
bring the children, 
too.” 
Mrs. Spence didn't 
mind the informality. 
She wanted to meet 
Mrs. Elkins and find 
out if all the women 
who lived in Castle- 
ton were lonely, also. 
It was a pleasant dinner. But 
it was remembered in the woman's 
mind as the turning point in her 
country life experiences. 
“Maids? I never have any 
trouble with maids!” said Mrs. 
Elkins. “I used to before I 
thought of Good Fairy. What’s 
Good Fairy? Well, that’s the 
household word for the car. 
What? Of course I let the maids 
use the car. I couldn’t keep them 
otherwise. The hired man drives 
them round to see their friends, to 
give them some fresh air, or to 
the station when they want to go 
to the city. I let them have company on Sunday afternoons— 
they have the car to go to the station and get their friends. 
(Continued on page T78) 
Mrs. Spence found shopping by motor a pleasant di¬ 
version and it insured immediate delivery 
1 he car became the very key which opened up the whole world of country living for her 
and was the means of carrying on an active social life 
They soon learned that the motor encouraged attendance at 
school 
