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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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sion, which she would explain to the satisfaction of all inquirers, by the remark that she was a “clarin’ up.” “She couldn’t hev things a-gwine on so as they had been, and she was gwine to make these yer young ones keep better order;” for Di- nah herself, somehow, indulged the illusion that she, herself, was the soul of or- der, and it was only the young uns, and the everybody else in the house, that were the cause of anything that fell short of perfection in this respect. When all the tins were scoured, and the tables scrubbed snowy white, and everything that could offend tucked out of sight in holes and corners, Dinah would dress herself up in a smart dress, clean apron, and high, brilliant Madras turban, and tell all marauding “young uns” to keep out of the kitchen, for she was gwine to have things kept nice. Indeed, these periodic seasons were often an in- convenience to the whole household; for Dinah would contract such an immoder- ate attachment to her scoured tin, as to insist upon it that it shouldn’t be used again for any possible purpose,- at least, till the ardor of the “clarin’ up” period abated. Miss Ophelia, in a few days, thoroughly reformed every department of the house to a systematic pattern; but her labors in all departments that depended on the co-operation of servants were like those of Sisyphus or the Danaides. In de- spair, she one day appealed to St. Clare. “There is no such thing as getting anything like system in this family!” “To be sure, there isn’t,” said St. Clare. |
