Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 February 1915 — GETTING MA AWAY [ARTICLE]

GETTING MA AWAY

By BARBARA COOBER-CUSHMAN.

(Copyright.) When we finally decided to go to - Chicago to live, Nettie said: "Well, we must take the canary and the cof-fee-urn, and —ma." Ma Just put her hand up to her face, so—a way she has —and smiled. She said nothing. That usually means considerable anxiety for the family. It certainly did this time. Pa went first, a week or two ahead, then ma was to go to finish settling, and Nettie and I—Nettie is twenty-five and I am only nineteen —were to follow two, weeks later. The main thing ;was to get ma off. Everything went beautifully as far as we were concerned. Nettie left the? office —Nettie works; she’s very clever; I Just help ma keep house —well, as I said, Nettie left the office for a whole morning to get ma a through ticket and check her baggage, and we both saw her aboard the express for Chicago. Truly, we nearly missed the train even then, because ma had packed her best bonnet. We bunted high' and low for it till nearly train time. Then Nettie finally concocted some sort of an affair out of a piece of crape that no one bad packed because we didn’t think it good enough. Well, I think I told you before, we Saw ma off, crape bonnet and all. Then Nettie sent a telegram to pa in Chicago, saying: Ma left on the noon train. Meet her tomorrow. NETTIE. Nettie and I were pretty busy that afternoon and evening. Several people came in, and there were a dozen and one things to be done about the house. So that night Nettie and I slept the sleep of the Just. We thought we knew where ma was. Next day Nettie went to the office as usual, and I was busy sorting out the papers in my desk when I saw a telegraph boy mount our steps and ring the bell. Maybe I didn’t hurry then! I Just snatched the telegram from that boy and tore it open. This is what I read: - ' jr Noon train is in from New Tork. Where IS Ma. PA. “It was signed “pa.” Nettie came along the street Just here, and I rushed to her like a maniac waving the paper at her and shouting in a high key: “Pa wants to know where’s ma.” Nettie stared at me in dumb amazement Then light came, and with it revelation. “Pat, she has stopped off at Philadelphia,” declared Nettie solemnly. I forgot to tell you that ma’s father. Grandpa Klein, lives in Philadelphia, and her brother and youngest sister. Weil, when we got ma placed in Philadelphia, mentally, we felt better. However. Nettie telegraphed back to pa to ease his mind: Ma left Tuesday. Probably stopped Philadelphia. Where is ma? ' NETTIE. That last sentence she Just put in for sarcasm, but at the end of a week it had come to be so well known at the telegraph office near our home, that the operator thought that it was some- sort of signal or code phrase. * She used to try different ways of spelling it to see if it mattered. Once she had it, “Where is maw?” Another time, “Where’s ma?” Sometimes she put an exclamation point after it; sometimes a question mark. Once she dust had, “W’s M?” but we knew what it meant. Our telegram became such a daily affair that it was like the newspaper or the milk. Every night we had a telegram for dinner. In the meantime, where was ma? 11. Of course, we found out afterward. Indeed, while we were fussing in New Tork, ma was taking her ease and a lovely vacation in Philadelphia. On the arrival of the New YorkChicago train at Philadelphia, no one was visible to meet her. So ma went to the ticket office, got her ticket validated, or extended, Or whatever it is that postpones the trip from one train to another, and then foiind that she had forgotten my uncle's new address. Ma thought a few minutes, and then went to the telegraph office, and there If she didn’t trace Nettie’s telegram! She found the address. Just as ma started up the street, she was met by a colored maid, who, recognising her from a picture that she —the maid —had dusted many times on the mantel in aunt’s sitting room, stopped and asked her if she was Mrs. Gilpatlick. Naturally ma said yes. She soon came to the house, and was welcomed with open arm#. It seems the telegram Tmrf not reached them, through some delay or other, so they did not know about meeting the train. .The family would not hear of mt’i leaving that night, and they coaxed and cajoled her day by day until she had stayed a week. > All tills time we had no word from her, and Nettie and I were getting {rightfully worried. Finally, at the end of the week—we jiiad telegraphed to the City of Friends twice —we received a dispatch saying: Stayed over Philadelphia. Am leaving tonight for Chicago. MA. Nettie and l We T|MGgd to *■ gSBM^A-GGgG^IJAIJ^

Next afternoon we got our daily. It was changed slightly: '->1 Ma not here. Where la aha ndw? Nettie groaned. I shrieked with laughter. ' % “There’s Bud in Wilmington, and Aunt Harriet in Washington," I gasped between my spasms of hilarity. It did seem too absurd. By the way, Bud is my younger brother. But Nettie looked unhappy. “This is too awful,” she sighed. “Will she ever get there?" This time we Mere at a loss. Ma might be in Wilmington, she might be in Washington, or she might not have left Philadelphia. So we decided to await developments. And indeed we did. We waited another week. In the meantime, ma had started from my uncle’s home with the best intentions in the world. She was go* ing to Chicago. v However, when she got to Wilmington the temptation was too great. So off went ma to see Bud, my brother. She went for an hour, and stayed two days. Poor pa! Well, ma thought die wouldn’t worry us with any more telegrams —that’s what she said —so she decided to send no word from Wilmington, but to go straight through to Chicago, which was now her one and only thought—until she got to Washington. But why continue? Exactly two weeks town the time ma waved a fond farewell to us at the Jersey City terminal she landed in Chicago. The trip usually takes 28 hours, except by the limited, when it takes 18. Pa, by this time, had business which took him to Duluth. He was staying at a hotel not far from the house which we had leased, waiting for ma to come and finish settling. When it became a necessity for him to go to Duluth for a day or two, pa racked his brains considering how he should describe ma to the hotel people well enough to have them put her in his room and look out for her until he got back. Penally he thought of her picture, which he always carried in his watch, and he gave it to the clerk. “This is my wife,” pa said. "Now, if she arrives before I get back, don’t let her go away again. Put her in my room, give her the best of everything, but don’t let her go away." This was on Friday. Early Wednesday pa came back from Duluth and found ma sound asleep, snug and warm abed. That evening Nettie received a telegram: Congratulations are In order. Ma Is here. PA A week later, when Nettie and I started to Join them, I sent a telegram. It read: Nettie and I are starting for Chicago. Where's ma?