The Haunted Housewife.

Free Lance, Volume III, Issue 136, 7 February 1903, Page 17

The Haunted Housewife.

H3 told the rtory himself, and it certainly has a truthful ring about it. In fact, it is difficult to believe that one could imagine so harrowing an experience. His wife, he said, had a w oman who came occasionally (when sent foi) to do cleaning and washing, and this woman, had an appetite. In that lay the onpin or the trouble. On days when she was due she came early — not to work, but to eat — and she stayed late — 'also not to work, but to ©at. It took her an hour or more to begin to get ready to go to work, and another hour or more to begin to got ready to leave. She was there for breakfast luncheon, and dinner. If there was only a half-day's work to be done, it made no difference. In one w ay oir another she would make it last over the three meals, and at each she would dispose of more than all the lest of the family put together, after which she would ask if she could not take the rest of the loast home. New, in the course of time, this system of collecting a full day's pay for a half-day's work, m order to acquire three meals, grew wearisome, and it naturally followed that there was trouble the night that the woman made and drank seven large cups of coffee. In the interest of economy, the members of the family had cut themselves down to coffee once a day — in the morning — and it certainly did seem as if the woman was overdoing tihe tiling a little in disposing of seven at night. "Never again," is what the housewife said in substance, although not in those words. Having Daid the woman not only for heir work, but also to wait for meals having given from her ow n and her children's w r ardrobes at various times, and having, in other ways endeavoured to be charitable and considerate, she held that seven cups were something like six too many. So she said to the woman, "Nay, nay , here we part" and when next she wanted cleaning and washing done she advertised. Here the plot thickens — oh, very much ' The seven-cup w oman appeared at the door, with the advertisement in her hand, and she w-as the only one who did come. ''I thought you must ha.ye lost mv address, ma'am," she said simply. "Well, I hadn't," replied the housewife, pointedly. "0h ( " said the woman, and she took off her bonnet and shawl, and prepared to go to work. Well, tha work had to be done, and she was theire, so the grocery and meat bills were allowed to make their customary lump. But. a stow-order was put ori the coffee. One cup was the limit for dinner. In othei ways things went very much as befoie. "Well," sand the housewife to her husband that night. "I've learned one thing. I'll not advertise, again. But, I do want to get hold of a good woman to come here occasionally." So, the next time she left word at a neighbouring shop, where they made a speciality of furnishing women for that kind of work, and they promised to send her one. They did. The woman of the seven cups appeared promptly. ' I think you might have sent to my house ma'am." she said reproachfully, "but it's a,U right, anyway." 'But, I didn't want you," protested the housewife. ' Oh 1 " said the woman, as she removed her bonnet and shaw 1 "It seems so petty to limit, her," said the housewife, "and I wouldn't mind so much if she only did her work quickly and well, but it is a nuisance to have things dragged out so. Apparently, the only way to hurry her is to change the dinner hour." "Why, then," interrupted her husband, "we should have to have a late supper, and slhe'd hang on for that." "True," admitted the housewife, thoughtfully, "shesimplv will not do." Here the plot gets very, very thick. The housewife inquired among the neighbours, and got a list of three women who "went out by the day." This she gave to her husband one evening. "Get one of them." she said. "I meant to see about it this afternoon, but I was too tired. If none of them can come, they'll surely be able to tell you of someone who can. But, I don't want the seven-cup woman. Remember that'" xl "You bet." he answered, earnestly. As he was paying the bills, he had reason to be earnest. "I've got one," he announced, on his return, "and it .isn't the seven-cup wo"Are you sure ?" asked the wife. "Positive. I saw her myself, and it's not. the same." Well, the next morning the seven-cup woman appeared for breakfast. The woman who had been engaged had a child who was taken sick in the night. "So she asked me to come in her

place, ma'am " said the seven-cup woman. ''But, I wanted someone else, protested the houses if c. "Oh'" said the seven-cup woman, as she removed, her bonnet and shawl and prepared to go to work — at the breakfast. "What shall we do?" asked the housewife, in despair, of her husband. "Move," he replied promptly. "Perhaps then we can lose her." "Was ever anyone so haunted?" wailed the housewife, wearily. Thisi is not necessarily the end of the story, but it brings it up to the present time. The future alone can tell what the finish will be.— Elliott Flower in "Leslie's Weekly."