The Storyteller

New Zealand Tablet, 22 October 1908, Page 3

The Storyteller

MRS. JENKINS' HOUSECLEANING

'.Of all things!' ejaculated Mrs. Jenkins, as she. rocked vehemently back and forth in her' splint-bottomed sewing-chair, pulling her needle and thread with little jerks through the carpet rags she joining. " 'Here 'tis the ninth of May, and this house not cleaned yet. There's not a .single thing done, .and I haven't failed before in twenty odd y«ars to- have it all spick, and span by the first of the month.-' - - Her pretty, daughter,- Mary. Ellen, bustled back and forth between the kitchen and., the pantry, busily engaged in getting supper. ' The loose sleeves of her calico dress were rolled high, showing the dimpled whiteness of her arms. Her dark apron was plentifully be,sprinkled with flour, and there was a generous dab on the tip of her nose. • * ' v ' Oh, never mind, ma,' she said, cheerily, as slie knelt before -the oven door to inspect- the biscuits.. : '^We're glad enough to . have you up and about rgain ; so nobotly minds whether the house -is cleaned or not.' ." '.""'" - -" ' My mother -brought" us up to clean house right,' went, on -Mrs. Jenkins. 'We always took down the stoves and. packed -away the flannels the first of May, rain or shine, and then --we knew what we were about.- ~ 'And now,' she went on, 'your pa's took a sudden notion that he must go down East visitin', and "nothing will do but I must go with him, cleaning or no cleaning. .And here's your . sister Elvira coming home from., her school, in two weeks. A nice welcome it'll be- for her, with the' house all full of dust and dirt!' - t ' It'll do you a lot of good,, ma, to get away. ; You know, the doctor said you needed a change more than 'anything else. You'll get well lots faster than if you stayed here at home and worked. And the house isn't so very dirty either. I'm sure- • I've worked hard- enough to keep it clean,' she added under her breath. - " . " f"- ' Much them doctors knew!'" retorted her mother. ' But you may be sure of one thing,. Mary Ellen, and that is that I'd never" let your pa go' off on a trip - without me, absent-minded as he is. He'd be sure 10 get run over by the street cars, or get „. lost, _or something.. If nothing , else, ..he'd wear his hat hind side before, or forget to put on a clean collar every day.' ' Supper ready, Mar}' Ellen?' called out the cheerful voice of Mr. Jenkins, as he drove into the yard. ' Well, ma, it's all fixed, and. we 'll start bright' and "early in the morning. I've I bought our tickets, and all you -got to do is to finish packing your trunk, and Mary Ellen can rfix up- a few doughnuts and some fried chicken for our lunch:' ' , * 'Of all foolish things, John, this .here's the .foolishest, packin' up and goin' down East in May, ""with all the plough.-!* and plantin' goin' on, and Old Speckle about to come off of a settin' of fifteen of the best. Plymouth Rock eggs I could get] I just know Mary Ellen '11 forget to feed 'em. And not one inch of this house cleaned !' And Mrs: Jenkins's voice broite as if she were on the verge of tears. Mrs. Jenkins had suffered from a tedious attack of grip during the winter, and not even the mild days of early spring had restored her to her former strengfh and' ambition. Her family, hardly .recognised in the weak, querulous ' semi-invalid the active, bustling. housekeeper theyjenew so well. This journey of her husband, which seemed .to her so useless and foolish, ha_d really been planned at the suggestion of the family, physician, who thoughtthat a change of -scene and free- ' dom from the cares " of home might" restore the vigor which his " remedies were powerless to awaken. So- Mr. -Jenkins had l " entrusted the care of the spring work to ' his faithful assistant, . Jonas, and had drawn upon the snug sum laid away in the village bank- for a 'rainy day.' , - - ' I'll make up my blue lawn this 'week,' '"Mary Ellen ' soliloquised, as she worked about the kitchen,; after- her ..father, and mother had gone. ' It's all cut out and fitted, and.it isn't really much of a job. And* then next week — I - believe ' She dropped intoa chair, laughing softly to herself. . 'Yes, I'll do it. I'll clean house! -Ma would faint, I knowy if she thought. I .was trying to do it all alone, for. she doesn't trust me any more' than a baby, if I am eighteen years old. But I know I can do it just as well as she can. And then ? it'll be all fresh when she comes home ,and--she needn't work herself sick again. I'll do it! I'll do it!' -And Mary Ellen, her cheeks rosier than ever with excitement, went at her work with renewed vigor.

] The days flew swiftly by. To the vigorous young arms the household duties seemed light, and the care of the barnyard and poultry — including Old Speckle, who came off punctually with fourteen little black balls of down — did not weigh heavily on her mind. Every afternoon she hitched up the patiejit family horse, Old Gray; and jogged down the road to visit some of her girl friends, taking her sewing with her ; and in the evening, after the choYes" had been done and the milk put away, she went by the pasture road to the next farmhouse, where lived the Meeks family, to spend the night. - ' Now, that job's done,' she said to Marcia, as they went down the stairs, each with an arm round the other's waist ; 1 and Monday morning I'm going to begin cleaning house. Mother was so worried because it wasn't done before she went away, and Elvira will be home week after next, and I'd like to surprise them both.' Almost before daylight Mary Ellen began her task. Woodwork and windows were washed, the rag carpet which covered the sitting-room floor and the ' boughlen ' one in the parlor were taken up and beaten. In fact, every inch of the little farmhouse from cellar to garret was thoroughly cleaned. On Thursday, as she was hanging fresh curtains in the chambers upstairs, Jonas drove into the yard and called loudly, ' Mary Ellen ! Mary Ellen ! Mary Ellen ! Here's two letters for you V One was from her mother. They were having a good time among relatives and old friends, but she was homesick and coulu hardly wait until the time set to come back, for she did want to get the house-cleaning done before summer set in. Mary Ellen smiled as she read. ' Don't let Jonas forget to water the calves, and be sure to feed Old Speckle's chickens every three hours,' was the closing sentence. The other letter .was from her cousin Roxy, over at Pine Grove. It ran thus : ' Dear Mary Ellen, — Can't you come over and stay a few days with us? We — that is, the young folks — are going to a party over at Alum Cliffs Saturday, and then there'll be a supper in our barn after we get back. Make Jonas keep house while you're gone, but don't say no. I haven't time for another word; I have forty things to do. But don't fail to come. — Your loving cousin, - Roxy. A party and a supper ! The temptation was too much. But Marcia would come over and see that everything was all right, and there was no knowing when she would get a chance to run away again for a little trip. And she had been shut in so closely all winter, too. The blue lawn would be just the thing to wear. So the next day she had Jonas to drive her over to town to take the train for Pine Grove, twelve miles away. ' Don't forget the chickens, Jonas!' she called, as the train was about to pull out. ' Mad never forgive us if anything happened to them. I'll be, home Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest.' There was great excitement in the little village of Brownsville, where Elvira Jenkins taught school. Some one had set fire to the schoolhouse. An early passer-by had observed smoke pouring from the windows one morning, and before he could bring help the neat little white building was in flames. Onty a part of the books and furniture could be saved. Poor Elvira sat down and cried bitterly when she heard of the disaster. For had not the work of the last three months been consumed in the conflagration — the prize essays to be read on the last day of school ; the drawings so carefully constructed by each class; the kindergarten. work of the little ones, an innovation in the neighborhood, but her especial pride? And now they could never be replaced, for it was only a week until schoolwould be out. It was a great blow to the little schoolmistress. 'Cheer up, Miss Elviry !'' said Deacon Spires, one of the committee. 'We all know you ain't V to blame. We'll have the closing exercises, anyway. Mr. Matthews has offered the town hall, and Squire Jackson says every boy that- wrote a composition shall have a jack-knife and every girl a new doll fo compensate for not gettin' to read 'em the last day of school.' So Elvira dried her tears, and she and the older scholars set to work at once to. make the exercises •as successful as possible under the circumstances. It was decided, as the time was so short until the end of the term, not to try to hold ?ny *v more sessions, but simply to have the closing exercises in the ~ N town hall on Thursday evening, two days later. All passed off well. The- speakers declaimed with fire and expression. The songs-rang out joyously ; and the kindergarteners

covered themselves and their teacher . with glory. Elvira wis proud and happy, and all the parents were pleased. . The next morning saw her on her way homeward. -I'll just give Mary Ellen a little surprise,' she said to herself as the train rolled along. ' There's nobody else at home, and I can get 'some one from town to take me out. There's no use of troubling Jonas to come after me, anyway, when pa's gone and he's so busy.* She had no trouble in finding a neighbor driving toward the Jenkins place, and as she stopped at the gate she realised afresh the, meaning of ' Home, sweet home.' How pleasant to come back ! How fresh and green and pretty everything looked ! The dear old flowers ! Surely they never grew so large or fragrant anywhere else. Mary Ellen must be keeping all the dust out while her mother was gone, for the windows were down and the shades ' drawn. She ran around to the back door, but it was locked, and the only sign of life in the yard was Old Speckle clucking discontentedly in her coop, while the little Plymouth Rocks ran here and there after bugs and flies. Away on the olhcr side of the field back of the barnyard she could see Jonas ploughing. She ran along beside the fence, her foot slipping now and then into the fragrant newlylurned earth. 'Jonas, Jonas!' she cried. 'Where's Mary Ellen? 1 ' ' Well, of all things, Elviry, when did ye come home?' exclaimed Jonas, as he leaned on his plough-handle and mopped his face with his big blue handkerchief. ' Nobody's lookin' for ye home yet this week to come.' ' I know, Jonas, but the schoolhouse burned down. Somebody set it on fire. So I thought I'd give you a little surprise.' ' The schoolhouse burned down ! Well, I swan ! Mary Ellen? She's gone to your cousin Roxy's, over to Pine Grove, and she won't be back till next week. There's some big doin's amongst the young folks over there to-morrow evenin' — party, or some such commotion — and she lit out yesterday, hard as she could go. You'd better slay over to Mis' Meeks's till she gets back.' ' AH right, Jonas, but first I'll go up to the house and see how everything looks. I suppose the key's under the step.' Elvira entered by the kitchen door and went over the little dwelling whore her childhood had been spent. Everything was just as usual. The old eight-day clock, with the picture of a shepherdess and sheep painted on its face, ticked on in the same dignified way that it had ever since she could remember. Her father's paper lay on the mantelpiece in the sitting-room, where he always put it, the one piece of untidiness in which he persisted. The only sound was a bee buz2ing against the window, impatiently trying to get out. Elvira lifted the sash and released him. How well everything looked, she thought. Her mother was always such a good housekeeper. And how worried she was because she had had to go away without having done her spring house-cleaning. Mary Ellen wrote that it almost kept her awake at night. Things looked ever so clean, but her mother would never rest until they went through all the emotions, anyway. Would it not be fun if she could < lean house? Mary Ellen was too young, of course, but she could do it, she knew, so that her mother would be satisfied. ' I'll just get 'Phrasy and 'Phemy Hines to come over and help me, and then we'll get it done in a jiffy, and I can go over to Cousin Roxy's, too.' Elvira was a person of action, and she had no sooner made up her mind than she proceeded to carry out her plans. She went to the barn, and in a few minutes hitched up Old Gray, whom she found lazily sunning himself in the yard. ) 'Phcmy and 'Phrasy Hines — christened by their parents Euphemia and Euphrasia — were, twin sisters of uncertain age, who supported themselves by doing various kinds of work in the ' neighborhood. Luckily for Elvira's plans, . they were riot busy that day, and readily consented to go home with her and help clean house. Jonas had taken it for granted that Elvira had gone to the "neighbor's, as he had suggested, so they were not troubled by his presence. " "~~ 'I must say, EMry,-thaff your ma's .a' pretty good housekeeper, if she has been sick all winter,' said 'Phemy, as they proceeded with their work. 'Or Mary Ellen, rather, for she'd had most of the charge of things lately. .. 'Pears "like this, place ' doesn't need, very much cleaning.' But they went over it all painstakingly and 'conscientiously, - being women who did with their might what their hands fonud to do, and by the middle of the next afternoon they pronounced

their task completed. Elvira was not disposed to linger over it, and was soon on her way to Pine Grove. Jonas,' who had come to town Saturday afternoon on some business- of his own, was rather surprised, as he. stood in- front' of- the railroad station, meditatively chewing a long" straw, -io see Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins alight from" the westbound train. ' For peaceable and law-abidin' citizens, the Jenkinses is dohV considerable kickin' .over the traces lately,' observed Jonas to ". himself. ' First here comes Elviry racin' home afore her folks - expects her, and now her pa .and ma descends onto us unloosed ' ! for. 'Howdy, Mis'., Jenkins?' he .said, as he sauntered up to them. ' Ain't ye a little ahead of. time, pullin' in this evening? The girls want lookin' for you for the next week or ten days. 1 ' Couldn'X keep her any longer!' sighed Mr. Jenkins. 'We were having a. fine time among the. old folks, but nothing would do but she must go home and look after things. We've brought along Rosy, Brother.- 'Bijah's girl; .through", to make us a little visit, and kind" of help along,' he . said, with a wave of his hand toward a stout, shy-looking girl who stood in the back- \ ground. ■

' Guess ye won't find anybody "at home,' ventured Jonas, after they were all seated in the waggon and driving -toward home.'Mary Ellen, she went over to Pine Grove last Thursday^ and the next day here comes Elviry. Schoolhouse over .to Brownsville burned down ; and she lit off over there, too. Guess they'll' be back the first of the week.' ~< ■ -

'There!' ejaculated Mrs. Jenkins. ' T -just knew something would happen. Those girls never stay at home and- tend lc: things if I went off. I suppose the place is all covered with dirt, and the chickens half-starved — and — and ' And Mrs. Jenkins stopped, appalled at the picture her own imagination -~ had drawn of the probable disorder into which things had fallen/ ' as the result of her- having deserted her post of duty. ' - - ' ' There, there, ma, I guess everything'll be all right/ saW Mr. Jenkins, consolingly. But his wife would not be" comforted ' until they found, as they drove into the yard", that at ■ least "Old Speckle and her brood had escaped the general destruction. The cleanliness and quiet which reigned within the house -served still further to mollify her.

'Well,' she admitted at last, after she had been in every room and could see nothing 'with which to find fault 'it isn't so very bad, after all. But I'll never rest till the house is cleaned from top to bottom. I'm feeling better now, and Rosy 'll help me, and we'll set to work Monday morning, and have it all done before the girls get home.'

The remonstrance of her husband had no effect upon her and finally, concluding that it -would do her less harm to be busy than to sit still and fret, he let her have her way. Tuesday evening a merry party of young" people stopped at Mr. Jenkins's front gate about dusk, and the two girls ran un the walk. - .

' For the land sakes, Elvira, I do believe ma's come home! l exclaimed Mary Ellen, as they both spied the familiar form "py the side door, giving a parting shake to a rug. ' How glad lam I cleaned house before she came. '

I You cleaned house, Mary Ellen!' almost screamed Elvira. ' Well, girls, I think it's about time you were coming home!' called their mother, as she ' just then caught sight of them And I've got the house all cleaned at last!'— The Companion