Martha By-the-Day

he little family-group where she was never for a moment made to feel an alien. She appropriated a share in the work of the household at once, insisting, to Mart

swarm had flown for the day, she "turned to," to Ma's delight, and g

rtha approvingly c

adin' the Bible an' singin' hymns. Well, p'raps you can, only I ain't never dared try. When I married Sammy he looked dretful peaky, the fack bein' he hadn't never been properly fed, an' it's took me all of the goin'-on fifteen years now,

comfortable distance, the work progressing satis

blessed Book. When I set out in life, I chose the betther part, an' now I'm old, I have the faith to believe I'll have a front seat in he

to Ma to indicate she was giving the subj

rheumatism, too, haven't you?" as if that might be regard

p the pain, an' at last one night, when me son Sammy was gruntin', an' I was groanin' to beat the band, Martha, she up, all of a suddint, an' says she, she was goin' for to cure us of the rheumatiz, or know the reason why. An' she went, an' got the karrysene-can, an' she poured out two thurrbl big doses, an' she stood over me son Sammy an' I, till we swalleyed it down, an' since ever we tuk it,

er amusement, "why didn't he stand up and say so? He's a man. He's much bigger

s evidently not

do the colloguein', but Martha says some of the ladies she works for says, if they talk about it enough the men will give them their rights, an' let 'em vote. I'm an old woman, an' I never had much book-learnin', but I'm thinkin' one like me son Sammy's wife has all the rights she needs wit'out the votin'. She goes out worrkin', same's me son Sammy, day in, day out. She says Sammy could support her good enough, but she won't raise her childern in a teniment, along wit' th' low companions. Me son Sammy, he has it harrd these days. He'd not be able to pay for such a g

word fail, for Mrs. Slawson had assured her that if she would give up all attempt to find employment on her own account, she, Mrs.

"peek" into the enchanted chamber. As a matter of fact, the transformation was effected with singularly few "properties." Some good photographs tastefully framed in plain, dark wood. A Baghdad rug left over from her college days, some scraps of charming old textiles, and such few of the precious home trifles as could be safely packed in her trunk. There was a daguerreotype of her mother, done when she was a girl. "

ounted photographs, snap-shots taken by Claire at college, during her travels abroad, some few, even, here in the city d

scovered that here was no aching hunger for knowledge, no ungratified yearning "for to admire and for to see,

rtha deplored. "These is so aggeravatin'. They don't show you up a

alluded to my features with every sort of disrespect. It made me horribly conscious of myself, a thing no properly-constituted kiddie ought ever to be, of course. And I've never really got over the feeling that I am a 'sawed-off,' that my nose is 'curly,' and my hair's a wig, and that the least said about the rest of

's hand a thin, fla

e sound of triumph escaping one who, having diligently soug

you like it as much as all that," she said at last, "I wish you'd take it and keep it. It

iation. "Care to own it! You betcher life! There's nothin' you could give me I'd care to own better," she said with honest feeling,

en she arrived at the area-gate and rang, there was no response, and though she

should like to know. It'd be a pity to disturb Eliza. She might be busy, gettin' herself an extry cup o' coffee, an' couple o' fried hams-an'-eggs

nest woman began to tamper with the spring-lock of the iron gate. For any one else, it would ne

" she said to herself, "an' steal in on 'em unbeknownst, an' give 'em as

al misgiving now, Martha made her way upstairs. Here, for the first time, she distinguished the sound of a human voice breaking the early morning hush of the silent house. It was Radcliffe's v

ped around the edge of the half-cl

"chef-cook"-all, down to the gay young sprig, aforesaid, who, as Martha had explained to her family in strong disapproval, "was engaged to do scullerywork, an' then didn't even know how to scull." B

Beetrice, if you don't mind me, I'll carve your ear off. You better be afraid of me, all of you, an' mind what I say

nd not one of them ca

his naughty hand brandishing the knife threateningly. A second, and then, suddenly, without warning, the scene changed, and Radcl

whole crowd o' you," and before the force of her righteous wrath they fled as chaff before the wind. Then, quick as the automatic click of a monstrous spring, the hitherto unknown-the supposed-to-be-impossible-befell Radcliffe Sherman. He was treated as if he had been an iro

ith surprise. Then the knowledge that he was being spanked, that an unspeakable indignity was happening him, made him

ding him firmly against her knees, and looked him squarely i

just kinder favored you-give you a lick an' a promise, as you might say, seein' it's you and you ain't used to it-yet. Besides, I reely like you, an' want y

rose to her feet, and made as if to leave the

difficulty, "s-say-are you

g him and his question

me, t-to ev-everybody? Are y

ch little affairs with my gen'lemen friends strickly