A LITTLE DRIVE
That afternoon when Tom took Ethel for a drive he asked: "Do you see
that large house on the hill?"
"Yes," replied the girl. "It used to belong to Aunt Susan, didn't it?"
"It did," replied the man, "and she presented it to the town of Akron
for an asylum for partially insane people--men and women who have
hallucinations only--so that by gentle and humane treatment they may be
helped if not permanently cured, for she believes that many who might
gain their reason are made hopelessly insane by ill usage. She not only
gave the house and land but she added to it a couple of wings, and she
has created of it a most charming Sanitarium. I'll take you there
tomorrow. You see, Aunt Susan gave it out that if the prominent business
men of Akron could raise fifty thousand dollars she would give fifty
more, making the sum total of one hundred thousand dollars as a fund for
the future support of the Asylum, and by George!" said the young man,
"they raised it. So you see so far as money is concerned they are
independent. The capital is invested in bonds and stock, and the Asylum
is run with the dividends, and is well run, too. Aunt Susan is the
head--the President--and at any moment she may surprise them and walk
in. The patients are treated with courtesy and a great many are
discharged cured; in fact, nearly all. It accommodates only fifty
patients--twenty-five of each sex. There's a continuous waiting list and
it's seldom that one isn't greatly benefited after having gone there."
No wonder Aunt Susan was beloved by the inhabitants, for Tom told Ethel
that she was invariably the first to help anyone in distress.
"So she wasn't a miser, after all," thought the girl--"She gives away
everything in charity and she saves her money to do so."
Ethel couldn't fail to observe that Aunt Susan was growing fond of her
and her conscience smote her. She felt that she was a hypocrite. Even as
she pondered she held in her hand a letter received from her mother
which advised her to be tactful and make herself agreeable and
invaluable to the old lady,--alter her gowns and make and trim her hats,
etc. "You're clever, and from helping me sew you have become proficient
and have acquired considerable knowledge of dressmaking. If she's
miserly and won't buy new, my child, you can flatter her by remodeling
her old gowns, etc. Then she'll grow to depend on you. She'll consider
you a good manager and feel that her money will not be wasted by you.
Then, when you marry we'll go abroad to associate with peers and
duchesses and members of the nobility. You'll feel that your period of
imprisonment with Aunt Susan has brought forth fruit."
With a flushed face Ethel read and reread her mother's letter. She
blushed with shame. Already she had remodeled some of Aunt Susan's
gowns. She was glad that she had done so before the letter came. From
an old silk tissue skirt she had fashioned her a lovely neckpiece with
long ends. She had also made her a dainty hat of fine straw and lace.
She had persuaded her to allow her to dress her hair which grew quite
thick on her head. First, as her hair had originally been black, she
washed and _blued_ it, making it like silver. Then, parting it in front,
she waved it either side and coiled it loosely in the back, and really
Aunt Susan looked like another woman,--most lovely and aristocratic. Tom
was delighted with the metamorphosis and insisted upon Ethel's taking
twenty dollars from him to buy her aunt a new stylish wrap.
"Oh, I'm so glad it all happened before I received this," she said to
herself, tearing up the letter. "At least I'm not so contemptible as I
might have been had I done as Mamma suggested, for gain only."