MABIE'S TROUBLES.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 440, 22 September 1904, Page 6

MABIE'S TROUBLES.

Mr». liable had noticed during their days of ecumir.p that liable was always intensely" interested in whatever she mignt happen to be doing and that he w«i fertile in the •tatter of suggestion. One day, for instance, k* found her engaged on some embroidery sad at onoe proceeded to question her concerning erery detail of her method of stitching. Then he proposed an improvement, ami, failing to explain it to the lady to her satire satisfaction, gave her a practical demonstration, with the result of ruining her work of art. That wa* rather trying, but there was worse to com* and it kept coming. Tncy kept no aerrant when they were first married. They had the tiniest box oi a flat and there would have been no place to put a girl even if they had needed one and had been able to afford her. Besides, lira. Mabie had been given one of those oldfashioned educations that include courses of cooking ami scientific scrubbing and marketing, and they got along very well indeed. But Mabie, while his admiration of his wife's accomplishments knew no bounds, eould not help feeliag that there were many. things in the domain of domestic economy that required the application of a masculine intelligence for their successful execution. "I don't pretend to know about these things," ke would say, "and 1 know that you do know all about them. If I thought that yom considered me officious er meddling—" "Bnsuld! ia if I could think sush a thing!"

"I know you don't. That's exactly what I say. Yon understand that we are all likely to fall into a rat. lam myself in my work and there U nothing more likely than that you might be able to gire me valuable pointers. It's' just the same about this kitchen work. From the very fact that lam ignorant oi it I am more likely sometimes to perceive the obvious thing to do than you are with all your training and experience. The beauty of the thing k that when I point it oat yoa at once understand my motive in doing so—to make it easier for you—and you don't fly; off the handle as a narrowminded woman might do. How, as to this dishwashing. I observe thai you take every separate disk, wash it in the soapy water, rinse it in the dear and then wipe it with your dishcloth. You do that because every woman yoa have ever seen washing dish** does it in exactly the same way. As the re suite are fairly satisfactory, you don't paw* to consider that it might be done far easier and with great saving of time." "I believe yoa are getting tired of helping me with the dishes," said Mrs. Mabie. "Well, teQ me kow you would do it." 'Til show yoa," said Mabie. "To* take a batch of them, this way, and— ** "Take care of that cake disk!" "Yon damp them into— Well, who'd have thought they'd have smashed a* easily as thatr m The batch had slipped from his soapy fingers aad had fallen in a crash of fragments into the sink. His concern over the accident was so genuine that his wife had not the heart to scold him, though the cake disk was a wedding present and one of the most valued of their possessions. She gathered np the pieces carefully and poured balm en his wounded spirit by assuring him that the dish could be mended by an expert that aha knew of so neatly thai it would be almost as good as ever. "Let me look at it," said Mabie. "I guess that's to. I think I could mend it myself." "Oh, I wouldn't bother, dear. 11l take it around to the little china shop to-morrow." fie persisted in his intention and went out that evening and bought a bottle of china eament. after about an hour's hard work he succeeded in getting the dish pieced together and sticking the tablecloth to the table, though he was not aware that he had done this until his wife tried to remove the cloth the next morning aad pulled out a leaf and upset some more china on the floor. The fabric stuck so firmly that be was convinced that the dish must have "set," although the directions said the maided articles should be allowed to remain in a cool, dry place for three or four days. It certainly looked as if it bad "set," but when be triumphantly knocked it against the mantelpiece to prove it the disk fell apart on the hearth and smashed into bits. So it went oa for years, Mabie always full of new ideas for the lightening of household toil and prodigal in his expenditure for patent household devices of every description, daunted by no failure and exulting in the faintest measure of success, and Mrs. Mabie forbearing and sympathetic, but with premature lines of care on her pretty face that may have been attributable to her husband's idiosyncrasy. % Then the Mabies grew prosperous—that is, they enjoyed a fair measure of prosperity—and Mrs. Mabia no longer wore a kitchen apron and cooked little dinners. There were servants to attend to all that. In the first days of the change Mabie hardly seemed to fed as if the joys of life had departed from him, but a resdixation of the fact came upon him by degrees. He strayed down into his kitchen now aad then in an aimless sort of way, but somehow ke fdt that he was not wdcome and that his tentative effort* to make life brighter for the help were not appreciated. He began to lose flesh and have fits of depression that worried Mrs. Mabie, and she made him eonsult three or four doctors, who prescribed various remedies, none of whieh did any good. Kot until nearly six months after that did Mrs. Mabie guese her husband's complaint. He came - - 45-uiis evening with an air of having something ob kis mind and see...ed several times on the point of speaking, but apparently thought better of it. At last he pulled from his pocket a small package from which after a curious hesitation he produced a mysterious arrangement of cog wheels and flanges. "I saw this in the store to-day," he explained, as he began turning a little crank

that made a strange baring found. "A man wis demons* ra ting with it, and the way it beats an egg is simply a marvel. I should think that oar cook might like to have it. She probably usee a fork, as her great-grand-mother did before k«r. Let me show you kow it works, my deer. I know yon would hare liked it." He stated and tamed the crank agaia. "Those were happy days when I used to help you around the kitchen, weren't they?" o* asked, smiling brightly, as Mrs. Mabie exclaimed is an ecstasy of delight at the ingenuity of the egg beater. "I am afraid oar cook is rather a conaarvative woman, but she ought to be glad to have (his. Don't you think she night?" "I should think to, indeed," replied Mrs. Mabie, enthusiastically. "I'm going to take it down to her this minnte. It's wonderful —and nothing like the tYork of most egg beaters one sees." She returned after a short absence and reported that the cook was overjoyed and grateful beyond measure, and Mabie was m re like his old cheerful self that evening than he had been for months. * Now Mrs. Mabie has given him a che ing dish to amuse himself with and they < >nk together, and there is no more contented man anywhere than Mabie.—Chicago Bailv News.