Ethel Hueston

“ Rosalie was always problematic, and Zee was a living fount of mischief, even Doris was given to moods and fancies. But Treasure was the serene untarnished blessing of the family, always gentle, always friendly, tranquil and undisturbed. Could Treasure, the sweet, cause agony to any young shepherdess of the Sunday-school flock? ”

“ Doris said to Rosalie. "Why, I don't see any objection to them at all—we Presbyterians might have a few of our own." Then she said, "But between you and me, I think it is lots more fun to talk to people you don't understand, and do not know, and—perfect strangers, you know, who are very friendly. It is so much more thrilling."
"But how could one be a perfect stranger and still be very friendly?" laughed Rosalie. ”

“ I do believe that things will come right eventually, and I do not worry—much. But father is too good to suffer, and be hurt. It should have been some one else."
"Oh, Doris, don't you know that your father will have more tenderness and more gentleness for all sickness and all suffering, after he himself has suffered? Before this, he has spoken kindness. Now he will live it. It takes the ultimate caress of pain to give us understanding." ”

“ Just any stranger that you do not know, but who has a way of being very intimate."
"Doris, you are dreaming," cried Rosalie. "Whoever heard of such a thing? If you are intimate, he can't be a stranger. If you are intimate, you've got to know each other." ”

“ Miss Carlton flounced out of the room and up the stairs. Doris listened intently at the door.
"She is not exactly happy about it, but I am. And father is. If I only knew what the Problem would think of it. I wish Miss Carlton would go right straight away—she is angry enough to do it. Then I could tackle the Problem alone, and it would be too late to undo."
She shut her eyes very tightly and murmured softly, unintelligibly beneath her breath. "Now to make doubly sure, I shall go and concentrate. Every one says you get things if you concentrate hard enough." ”

“ There are many things I could do, Rosalie, that would do me no harm, and others no harm. But would I get pleasure enough out of the doing to make it worth my while? Suppose even one person should say, 'He is a vain and worldly man, I do not wish to go to him in my trouble.' If one person should say that of me, I would consider I had paid too big a price for the little amusement. It may be one of the things we give in return for the badge of the ministry, my dear—I, for one, am willing to give it. It is the one big talent of our profession—the talent of giving up. ”

“ Artman looked up from his mail, frowning gently, and Doris, always quick to note his changing moods even in the midst of directing Treasure about the proper distance from the table for her chair, and admonishing Zee to eat her oatmeal from the side of her spoon, was prompt to voice a query.
"Don't frown, father, it isn't ministerial. Has somebody else left you a will?"
"No such luck. I was not frowning at the letter—I have a headache."
"Oh, father," cried Zee. "It is because the girls make such a racket. Go to bed, won't you, and I myself will stand on guard and keep peace in the family." ”

“ I know a grand place for hot cakes and sirup—very close. Good night, Rosalie, you are a good little scout," he called, as she started up the stairs. Then he drew Doris into a shadowy corner and said, "You must not worry, Doris. Rosalie is taking this better than you are. Hasn't your religion taught you that things work out just right for—men—like your father—who are whole-souled and pure-minded?" ”

“ He will think it is quite all right—he has the dearest way of thinking things are quite all right."
Doris did long to know how old he was—of course she could not ask—he surely was not nearly so old as father, yet he did not look young. The college men of Rosalie's favor looked like children beside him. And he talked like a man who knew things. But he could not be old—he laughed so readily, and teased so constantly, and his eyes were so friendly and warm. Father was forty-three, and forty-three is very terribly old when one is twenty. ”

“ The four ran pell-mell to the pantry, and looked over the shelves hastily, but with thoroughness.
"A custard pie, thank goodness," said Rosalie. "That settles the dessert."
"I am going to have this apple sauce and bread and butter," said Treasure suddenly. "You folks can get what you like."
"Oh, I'm going to have toast and milk," cried Zee. "I'll toast it myself—and—"
"I'd like a fried egg sandwich," said Alicia, "if you do not mind. And I want to fix it myself. I just love them, and mother never has time to make them for our big family."
"I'll have one, too," decided Rosalie. ”

“ As soon as she was quite out of sight, Doris flew to the kitchen.
[Pg 16]
"Even the Problem is amenable to a good meal," she said. "She shall have delicious cream gravy—the little glutton—and pear preserves, and apple dumplings."
So eagerly and so passionately did she devote her energies to the task that she did not hear the door open behind her, and never knew her sister was at her elbow until a soft ripply voice said suddenly:
"Well, Mr. General, is mess nearly ready for us?"
"Oh, Rosalie," cried Doris, flinging floury arms about the girl at her side. ”

“ I do not know how to dance, and I do not care to learn. Rosalie gets those things by instinct, but I have none. She is the butterfly of the manse, and one is plenty." Then looking into his face gravely, she said, "I am different. Rosalie is always running into excitement and adventure. I never did in my life. I went clear through college, and was never even thrilled. Rosalie has thrills a dozen times a day. ”

“ Rosalie looked at him steadily.
"And I believe that any one who is not willing to exercise that talent does not fit into a manse."
Rosalie swallowed hard. "I—I do fit, father—I want to. I—I could never be happy any place in the world—outside the manse." Then she added brightly, "So I must never dance any more?" ”

“ Zee made a tour of the house, wakening every member of the family in no idle manner.
"Going to sleep all day?" Zee demanded in a peevish voice when she had shaken Rosalie four times. "Get up, so you'll be ready for the car."
"Zee Artman, you go right back to bed, and let me sleep," protested Rosalie. "Do I have to sit up all night just because the car is coming to-morrow?"
"You get out, or we'll pull you out. Treasure and I are all dressed. We're not going to have things held up at the last minute because somebody isn't down yet. Are you going to get up— Have you got the water, Treasure?" ”

“ They all do it."
"They do not talk that way to me," said Doris virtuously.
"No, you do not give them a chance. If a man [Pg 20] says you have beautiful blue eyes, you look him straight in the face and say, 'Yes, thank goodness, I need something to make up for my pug nose.' That is no way to talk to a man. You ought to drop your lashes like this, and then look up suddenly, and away again quickly, and laugh a little and say, 'Oh, you talk that way to every one—you do not mean it,' and then they say you are the only girl in the world—"
"Rosalie Artman, I think you are perfectly terrible. ”

“ Artman, in the soft light of the room that had been his sanctuary for years, with his baby girls in his arms, and with the two strong radiant daughters standing near him, felt that the manse was a place of benediction and of peace. ”

“ And though you were very gay and lively, you were sweet, and had a sort of Presbyterian dignity about you that made you different."
Rosalie kissed her quickly, but did not speak.
When the family met again at the breakfast table Zee was overwhelming in her interest.
"How was the party? Did Rosalie flirt? Did all the men fall down at her feet stone dead?"
"No, little goose, they didn't. Men don't any more. And Rosalie did not flirt—exactly—and the party was glorious."
Doris did not glance at Rosalie, intent on the oatmeal before her. ”

“ Rosalie's voice rippled into mellow laughter. "You will learn. No, you never will, Doris. You will fall in love, and marry a perfectly adorable man, and have perfectly wonderful babies, and be as happy as the day is long. And I will fritter along and sparkle along, and have a hundred beaus, and Miss Carlton and I will finish up together. There come those bad girls. ”

“ There in the ninth pew next to the aisle—Deacon Fenton's pew, and how annoyed he would be when he arrived in the middle of Point Two—right there, as sure as you're born, sat that aggravating, infuriating, mysterious Mr. Wizard that nobody knew.
His eyes were upon her, and though his face remained properly grave and in keeping with a Presbyterian service, gay greeting flashed from his eyes to her, and Doris— Well, it was more than human frailty could stand. ”

“ Is supper ready? I am so hungry. We thought we had twice too much lunch, but we ate it all, and were tempted to raid the orchards coming home, we were so ravenous. Do hurry along, there's a nice General. Do we have to wait for anybody?"
"Oh, Rosalie, how young you are when you are hungry," cried Doris affectionately. "It isn't nearly time for dinner, but we'll eat as soon as the girls come. Father won't be here to-night, and we only have cream potato soup, but you love it, and I made heaps. Aren't the girls in sight? ”

“ And many parents have been cut to the quick by the ingratitude and the disloyalty of a much-loved child, but they do not turn deaf ears to the claims of other children. It may be consistent, Rosalie, to say that if one of a species betrays you none of that species can be trusted—it may be consistent, but it is not generous, it is not kind, it is not womanly. Think it over, dearest, and I shall come to you again after while."
Then he went down-stairs, and stood grimly at the window waiting until Mr. Boltman turned in at the gate of the manse, and went out the stone walk to meet him. ”

“ The girls turned appealing faces toward Doris. "Tell us, General," they said, in the tone of martyrdom.
"You can not ride in the car again for three whole weeks. When the rest of us drive, you two must walk. And that is all—for you have had quite a little punishment already."
The girls thanked her warmly, and went out. In the hall they looked at each other lovingly, and smiled.
"Isn't that ducky?" said Zee. "It is not any punishment at all. Somehow since this afternoon the smell of the engine makes me seasick."
Treasure quivered. "Ducky? Oh, Zee, it is delicious. ”

“ How could we go, Rosalie? It is three miles out, and they go in cars—we haven't one, and we can't have a taxi, and we couldn't go alone anyhow."
"I never thought of that." Rosalie puzzled over it a moment. "I have it! Mr. and Mrs. Andrieson will go, of course. And they have their grand big car, and they like us very much, indeed."
"They aren't members—"
"Oh, well, there are a few quite nice people that don't belong to us. And they are terribly proper, you know, and go everywhere." ”

“ And besides, I would have to do more work, and I don't like to work."
"Father is proper enough for anybody," said Doris with spirit. "And I do all of the work anyhow."
"Could I have a regular evening dress, V in the back and no sleeves?" demanded Rosalie with glittering eyes. "Isn't it funny, the less there is to a dress, the more there is to the cost? All the girls have evening dresses, and I have the nicest shoulders in the whole gym. ”

“ Rosalie drove with a nicety of concentration that was most commendable, but Doris was stiffly mute to his overtures. And in spite of his persistent and determined tender chaffing, he was really calling down anathemas on the head of the offending bishop by the time they reached Aurora.
"Let's find a place to eat. I am hungry. I have done a hard day's work. Digging ditches has nothing on that," he said to Rosalie.
She nodded sympathetically. "Think well before it is too late," she warned. "Women are always like that—they go by spells. Sometimes they are and then sometimes they are not." ”