WHEREIN MRS. COMSTOCK EXPERIMENTS WITH REJUVENATION, AND ELNORA TEACHES
NATURAL HISTORY
For the following week Mrs. Comstock and Elnora worked so hard there
was no time to talk, and they were compelled to sleep from physical
exhaustion. Neither of them made any pretence of eating, for they could
not swallow without an effort, so they drank milk and worked. Elnora
kept on setting bait for Catacolae and Sphinginae, which, unlike the
big moths of June, live several months. She took all the dragonflies
and butterflies she could, and when she went over the list for the man
of India, she found, to her amazement, that with Philip’s help she once
more had it complete save a pair of Yellow Emperors.
This circumstance was so surprising she had a fleeting thought of
writing Philip and asking him to see if he could not secure her a pair.
She did tell the Bird Woman, who from every source at her command tried
to complete the series with these moths, but could not find any for
sale.
“I think the mills of the Gods are grinding this grist,” said Elnora,
“and we might as well wait patiently until they choose to send a Yellow
Emperor.”
Mrs. Comstock invented work. When she had nothing more to do, she hoed
in the garden although the earth was hard and dry and there were no
plants that really needed attention. Then came a notification that
Elnora would be compelled to attend a week’s session of the Teachers’
Institute held at the county seat twenty miles north of Onabasha the
following week. That gave them something of which to think and real
work to do. Elnora was requested to bring her violin. As she was on the
programme of one of the most important sessions for a talk on nature
work in grade schools, she was driven to prepare her speech, also to
select and practise some music. Her mother turned her attention to
clothing.
They went to Onabasha together and purchased a simple and appropriate
fall suit and hat, goods for a dainty little coloured frock, and a
dress skirt and several fancy waists. Margaret Sinton came down and the
sewing began. When everything was finished and packed, Elnora kissed
her mother good-bye at the depot, and entered the train. Mrs. Comstock
went into the waiting-room and dropped into a seat to rest. Her heart
was so sore her whole left side felt tender. She was half starved for
the food she had no appetite to take. She had worked in dogged
determination until she was exhausted. For a time she simply sat and
rested. Then she began to think. She was glad Elnora had gone where she
would be compelled to fix her mind on other matters for a few days. She
remembered the girl had said she wanted to go.
School would begin the following week. She thought over what Elnora
would have to do to accomplish her work successfully. She would be
compelled to arise at six o’clock, walk three miles through varying
weather, lead the high school orchestra, and then put in the remainder
of the day travelling from building to building over the city, teaching
a specified length of time every week in each room. She must have her
object lessons ready, and she must do a certain amount of practising
with the orchestra. Then a cold lunch at noon, and a three-mile walk at
night.
“Humph!” said Mrs. Comstock, “to get through that the girl would have
to be made of cast-iron. I wonder how I can help her best?”
She thought deeply.
“The less she sees of what she’s been having all summer, the sooner
she’ll feel better about it,” she muttered.
She arose, went to the bank and inquired for the cashier.
“I want to know just how I am fixed here,” she said.
The cashier laughed. “You haven’t been in a hurry,” he replied. “We
have been ready for you any time these twenty years, but you didn’t
seem to pay much attention. Your account is rather flourishing.
Interest, when it gets to compounding, is quite a money breeder. Come
back here to a table and I will show you your balances.”
Mrs. Comstock sank into a chair and waited while the cashier read a
jumble of figures to her. It meant that her deposits had exceeded her
expenses from one to three hundred dollars a year, according to the
cattle, sheep, hogs, poultry, butter, and eggs she had sold. The
aggregate of these sums had been compounding interest throughout the
years. Mrs. Comstock stared at the total with dazed and unbelieving
eyes. Through her sick heart rushed the realization, that if she merely
had stood before that wicket and asked one question, she would have
known that all those bitter years of skimping for Elnora and herself
had been unnecessary. She arose and went back to the depot.
“I want to send a message,” she said. She picked up the pencil, and
with rash extravagance, wrote, “Found money at bank didn’t know about.
If you want to go to college, come on first train and get ready.” She
hesitated a second and then she said to herself grimly, “Yes, I’ll pay
for that, too,” and recklessly added, “With love, Mother.” Then she sat
waiting for the answer. It came in less than an hour. “Will teach this
winter. With dearest love, Elnora.”
Mrs. Comstock held the message a long time. When she arose she was
ravenously hungry, but the pain in her heart was a little easier. She
went to a restaurant and ate some food, then to a dressmaker where she
ordered four dresses: two very plain every-day ones, a serviceable dark
gray cloth suit, and a soft light gray silk with touches of lavender
and lace. She made a heavy list of purchases at Brownlee’s, and the
remainder of the day she did business in her direct and spirited way.
At night she was so tired she scarcely could walk home, but she built a
fire and cooked and ate a hearty meal.
Later she went out beside the west fence and gathered an armful of
tansy which she boiled to a thick green tea. Then she stirred in
oatmeal until it was a stiff paste. She spread a sheet over her bed and
began tearing strips of old muslin. She bandaged each hand and arm with
the mixture and plastered the soggy, evil-smelling stuff in a thick
poultice over her face and neck. She was so tired she went to sleep,
and when she awoke she was half skinned. She bathed her face and hands,
did the work and went back to town, coming home at night to go through
the same process.
By the third morning she was a raw even red, the fourth she had faded
to a brilliant pink under the soothing influence of a cream
recommended. That day came a letter from Elnora saying that she would
remain where she was until Saturday morning, and then come to Ellen
Brownlee’s at Onabasha and stay for the Saturday’s session of teachers
to arrange their year’s work. Sunday was Ellen’s last day at home, and
she wanted Elnora very much. She had to call together the orchestra and
practise them Sunday; and could not come home until after school Monday
night. Mrs. Comstock at once answered the letter saying those
arrangements suited her.
The following day she was a pale pink, later a delicate porcelain
white. Then she went to a hairdresser and had the rope of snowy hair
which covered her scalp washed, dressed, and fastened with such pins
and combs as were decided to be most becoming. She took samples of her
dresses, went to a milliner, and bought a street hat to match her suit,
and a gray satin with lavender orchids to wear with the silk dress. Her
last investment was a loose coat of soft gray broadcloth with white
lining, and touches of lavender on the embroidered collar, and gray
gloves to match.
Then she went home, rested and worked by turns until Monday. When
school closed on that evening, Elnora, so tired she almost trembled,
came down the long walk after a late session of teachers’ meeting, to
be stopped by a messenger boy.
“There’s a lady wants to see you most important. I am to take you to
the place,” he said.
Elnora groaned. She could not imagine who wanted her, but there was
nothing to do but find out; tired and anxious to see her mother as she
was.
“This is the place,” said the boy, and went his way whistling. Elnora
was three blocks from the high school building on the same street. She
was before a quaint old house, fresh with paint and covered with vines.
There was a long wide lot, grass-covered, closely set with trees, and a
barn and chicken park at the back that seemed to be occupied. Elnora
stepped on the veranda which was furnished with straw rugs,
bent-hickory chairs, hanging baskets, and a table with a work-box and
magazines, and knocked at the screen door.
Inside she could see polished floors, walls freshly papered in
low-toned harmonious colours, straw rugs and madras curtains. It seemed
to be a restful, homelike place to which she had come. A second later
down an open stairway came a tall, dark-eyed woman with cheeks faintly
pink and a crown of fluffy snow-white hair. She wore a lavender gingham
dress with white collar and cuffs, and she called as she advanced:
“That screen isn’t latched! Open it and come see your brand-new mother,
my girl.”
Elnora stepped inside the door. “Mother!” she cried. “You my mother! I
don’t believe it!”
“Well, you better!” said Mrs. Comstock, “because it’s true! You said
you wished I were like the other girls’ mothers, and I’ve shot as close
the mark as I could without any practice. I thought that walk would be
too much for you this winter, so I just rented this house and moved in,
to be near you, and help more in case I’m needed. I’ve only lived here
a day, but I like it so well I’ve a mortal big notion to buy the
place.”
“But mother!” protested Elnora, clinging to her wonderingly. “You are
perfectly beautiful, and this house is a little paradise, but how will
we ever pay for it? We can’t afford it!”
“Humph! Have you forgotten I telegraphed you I’d found some money I
didn’t know about? All I’ve done is paid for, and plenty more to settle
for all I propose to do.”
Mrs. Comstock glanced around with satisfaction.
“I may get homesick as a pup before spring,” she said, “but if I do I
can go back. If I don’t, I’ll sell some timber and put a few oil wells
where they don’t show much. I can have land enough cleared for a few
fields and put a tenant on our farm, and we will buy this and settle
here. It’s for sale.”
“You don’t look it, but you’ve surely gone mad!”
“Just the reverse, my girl,” said Mrs. Comstock, “I’ve gone sane. If
you are going to undertake this work, you must be convenient to it. And
your mother should be where she can see that you are properly dressed,
fed, and cared for. This is our—let me think—reception-room. How do you
like it? This door leads to your workroom and study. I didn’t do much
there because I wasn’t sure of my way. But I knew you would want a rug,
curtains, table, shelves for books, and a case for your specimens, so I
had a carpenter shelve and enclose that end of it. Looks pretty neat to
me. The dining-room and kitchen are back, one of the cows in the barn,
and some chickens in the coop. I understand that none of the other
girls’ mothers milk a cow, so a neighbour boy will tend to ours for a
third of the milk. There are three bedrooms, and a bath upstairs. Go
take one, put on some fresh clothes, and come to supper. You can find
your room because your things are in it.”
Elnora kissed her mother over and over, and hurried upstairs. She
identified her room by the dressing-case. There were a pretty rug, and
curtains, white iron bed, plain and rocking chairs to match her case, a
shirtwaist chest, and the big closet was filled with her old clothing
and several new dresses. She found the bathroom, bathed, dressed in
fresh linen and went down to a supper that was an evidence of Mrs.
Comstock’s highest art in cooking. Elnora was so hungry she ate her
first real meal in two weeks. But the bites went down slowly because
she forgot about them in watching her mother.
“How on earth did you do it?” she asked at last. “I always thought you
were naturally brown as a nut.”
“Oh, that was tan and sunburn!” explained Mrs. Comstock. “I always knew
I was white underneath it. I hated to shade my face because I hadn’t
anything but a sunbonnet, and I couldn’t stand for it to touch my ears,
so I went bareheaded and took all the colour I accumulated. But when I
began to think of moving you in to your work, I saw I must put up an
appearance that wouldn’t disgrace you, so I thought I’d best remove the
crust. It took some time, and I hope I may die before I ever endure the
feel and the smell of the stuff I used again, but it skinned me nicely.
What you now see is my own with a little dust of rice powder, for
protection. I’m sort of tender yet.”
“And your lovely, lovely hair?” breathed Elnora.
“Hairdresser did that!” said Mrs. Comstock. “It cost like smoke. But I
watched her, and with a little help from you I can wash it alone next
time, though it will be hard work. I let her monkey with it until she
said she had found ‘my style.’ Then I tore it down and had her show me
how to build it up again three times. I thought my arms would drop.
When I paid the bill for her work, the time I’d taken, the pins, and
combs she’d used, I nearly had heart failure, but I didn’t turn a hair
before her. I just smiled at her sweetly and said, ‘How reasonable you
are!’ Come to think of it, she was! She might have charged me ten
dollars for what she did quite as well as nine seventy-five. I couldn’t
have helped myself. I had made no bargain to begin on.”
Then Elnora leaned back in her chair and shouted, in a gust of hearty
laughter, so a little of the ache ceased in her breast. There was no
time to think, the remainder of that evening, she was so tired she had
to sleep, while her mother did not awaken her until she barely had time
to dress, breakfast and reach school. There was nothing in the new life
to remind her of the old. It seemed as if there never came a minute for
retrospection, but her mother appeared on the scene with more work, or
some entertaining thing to do.
Mrs. Comstock invited Elnora’s friends to visit her, and proved herself
a bright and interesting hostess. She digested a subject before she
spoke; and when she advanced a view, her point was sure to be original
and tersely expressed. Before three months people waited to hear what
she had to say. She kept her appearance so in mind that she made a
handsome and a distinguished figure.
Elnora never mentioned Philip Ammon, neither did Mrs. Comstock. Early
in December came a note and a big box from him. It contained several
books on nature subjects which would be of much help in school work, a
number of conveniences Elnora could not afford, and a pair of
glass-covered plaster casts, for each large moth she had. In these the
upper and underwings of male and female showed. He explained that she
would break her specimens easily, carrying them around in boxes. He had
seen these and thought they would be of use. Elnora was delighted with
them, and at once began the tedious process of softening the mounted
moths and fitting them to the casts moulded to receive them. Her time
was so taken in school, she progressed slowly, so her mother undertook
this work. After trying one or two very common ones she learned to
handle the most delicate with ease. She took keen pride in relaxing the
tense moths, fitting them to the cases, polishing the glass covers to
the last degree and sealing them. The results were beautiful to behold.
Soon after Elnora wrote to Philip:
DEAR FRIEND:
I am writing to thank you for the books, and the box of conveniences
sent me for my work. I can use everything with fine results. Hope I am
giving good satisfaction in my position. You will be interested to
learn that when the summer’s work was classified and pinned, I again
had my complete collection for the man of India, save a Yellow Emperor.
I have tried everywhere I know, so has the Bird Woman. We cannot find a
pair for sale. Fate is against me, at least this season. I shall have
to wait until next year and try again.
Thank you very much for helping me with my collection and for the books
and cases.
Sincerely yours,
ELNORA COMSTOCK.
Philip was disappointed over that note and instead of keeping it he
tore it into bits and dropped them into the waste basket.
That was precisely what Elnora had intended he should do. Christmas
brought beautiful cards of greeting to Mrs. Comstock and Elnora, Easter
others, and the year ran rapidly toward spring. Elnora’s position had
been intensely absorbing, while she had worked with all her power. She
had made a wonderful success and won new friends. Mrs. Comstock had
helped in every way she could, so she was very popular also.
Throughout the winter they had enjoyed the city thoroughly, and the
change of life it afforded, but signs of spring did wonderful things to
the hearts of the country-bred women. A restlessness began on bright
February days, calmed during March storms and attacked full force in
April. When neither could bear it any longer they were forced to
discuss the matter and admit they were growing ill with pure
homesickness. They decided to keep the city house during the summer,
but to return to the farm to live as soon as school closed.
So Mrs. Comstock would prepare breakfast and lunch and then slip away
to the farm to make up beds in her ploughed garden, plant seeds, trim
and tend her flowers, and prepare the cabin for occupancy. Then she
would go home and make the evening as cheerful as possible for Elnora;
in these days she lived only for the girl.
Both of them were glad when the last of May came and the schools
closed. They packed the books and clothing they wished to take into a
wagon and walked across the fields to the old cabin. As they approached
it, Mrs. Comstock said to Elnora: “You are sure you won’t be lonely
here?”
Elnora knew what she really meant.
“Quite sure,” she said. “For a time last fall I was glad to be away,
but that all wore out with the winter. Spring made me homesick as I
could be. I can scarcely wait until we get back again.”
So they began that summer as they had begun all others—with work. But
both of them took a new joy in everything, and the violin sang by the
hour in the twilight.