Molly Brown's College Friends

ghed Molly as she put the finishing touche

ing the ladder to hang the last snowy curtain at the broad, deep window in the guest chamber overl

! What a comfort you are, Edwin!" and

and hugged his wife. She submitted with very good grace to his embraces in spite of the fact that the fresh bureau scarves an

en married almost four years on that day in March when he was assisting in the imposing rite of hanging curtains in the guest chamber, and she was still as wonderful to him as she had been on that day they had walked through

nd singing little tunes and saying Mother Goose rhymes. She even knows her letters upside down and no othe

g the proper nourishment at the proper hours and going back to sleep. Molly had learned the great secret of young motherhood from her first born: not to take parenthood too

Mrs. Oldham, her mother, was a clever woman, lecturer, suffrage agitator, anything but a homemaker. When Nance finished college she had gone back to Vermont and dutifully kept house for her neglected father, although her secret ambition was to teach. Mr. Oldham had been

rt of his wife, the poor man had passed away. Then it was that Nance's friends had felt that her career might begin, but Mrs. Oldham had suddenly decided that she co

s ago. Molly had written her immediately on hearing of Mrs. Oldham's death, declaring that she and her Edwin were ready and eager for the long-deferred visit. "I

fessor of English could hang them, the bureau scarf and table cover were smooth and spotless, an

aid Molly, as she and her husband were wa

what abo

they will e

a schoolgirl affair. They d

e right serious, as you o

some of them!" sa

ng," sighed Molly. "I hate mourning,-I

a relic of

a while. I know Nance will not feel

s should be curtailed because of the death of a lady in Vermont. But Molly must do what she though

nned the few passengers who alighted from the Pullman. One lady in a long crêpe veil got an embr

t come!" c

" and there was Nance hugging Molly and shakin

ng crêpe veil and the lugubrious black-clothed figure, here was a slight young woman in a n

I was ex

ther asked me to do. She hated mourning and so did Father and I am a fright i

fessor Green approvingly, as he took posse

e not changed one

e, "but you are more beautiful. In fact, you ne

, who did not spare herself but blu

droop at the corners but otherwise she might have been a college girl still, so youthful were her lines and so clear and rosy

s," suggested Molly. "Look what a fine motor bus we have no

both freshmen and we rode up in that bus together. Oh, Molly, it i

luous when such old friends met after being separated for so many years. There was so much to talk abou

to see th

your window. I wonder what she is doing in there. I do

ureau scarf or of putting her black kitten to sleep in the snowy bed. The chubby imp was standing with her back to the window, her hands behind her. Her

nd speak to Aunt

no Aunt

ldr

She and I will end by being sweethe

ough all the agony of motherhood when the offspring refuses to be polite.

, carefully keeping h

ou in your h

in

t th

n a-tu

fraid your mother is for you to play w

on the mercy of this new aunt for protection. She dart

for my Aunt Nance-an' I been a-fwin

shears and in the other the violets which she had

onized Molly. "Mrs. McLean sent them to y

knowledge that Andy McLean's mother had shown her this attention. "We can put this dear l

l baby buds off for nothin' or nothin

e viewed the neat fringes that her daughter h

I are going to cut them off and hem them up. Aren't we, M

erly, "the windows likes to show they

n and holding the child in her arms, while

o mo', Aunt Nance an' I is done made

you! Who has

asy way down inside me: 'Milly, 'scuse me!' An' then way down i

you resist her

Molly, whimsically. "But you won't

e-bake a puddin' bake a pie did you ever tell a lie yes y

ed Molly, remembering in her child

and not swathed in black (men always do hate mourning). Mildred had decided to love and honor and make her obey. Little Dodo soon accepted