The fortunate calamity

THE Formans were at breakfast, at least two of them were. The others were absorbed with the morning mail. The table was neatly spread, the aroma of coffee was in the air, and th...

MRS. FORMAN and her two daughters, Ray and Florence, were in the attic studying the possibilities of certain stowed-away pieces of furniture; also arguing as to the merits—or po...

DESPITE the startling nature of that last announcement Ray answered the summons quietly enough; she was used to Jean. As she neared the living-room she could hear her uncle gett...

“OH, DEAR!” Florence groaned, as her ear caught the sound; “if Aunt Elsie is coming in here I may as well give up; I can’t sew, with her looking on. Why can’t she stay in her ro...

PRESENTLY he asked a question: “Wasn’t there something pretty shady about him, Aunt Elsie? I never knew just how it was, only—well, mother told us kids not to ask father any que...

Mr. Forman was on the couch in the little sitting-room resting from a day of hard work, while his wife read the evening papers aloud. His sister was the only other listener.

“JOSEPH, you must not think of your brother Derrick’s life as spoiled; it was far from that. No outward trouble could spoil the life of such a man as he became. The work he acco...

IT WAS after the lesson for the next day had been carefully gone over and argued out, and while Aunt Elsie was debating with herself as to the wisdom of referring to their forme...

from an ugly root named “Jealousy,” she would have been appalled; had any one told her this she would probably have indignantly denied it; yet in plain prose, she was jealous of...

IT WAS a book that laid bare a heart; the heart of one who loved him with a love such as he had not imagined a man ever gave to any boy but his very own. “If he had been my fath...

BUT she accomplished it; drenched to the skin and too much exhausted to give an account of her adventures or to answer the eager questions of Derrick and Florence. The mother cu...

“THEN,” said Aunt Elsie, pushing her advantage, “you see there is no pretence nor cowardice about it; there is just a plain common-sense decision called for, and if he shouldn’t...

“Y-YES’M,” he said at last, “or—well, some; and then—father has worries of his own. Mortgages are kind of worrisome things, I guess; a man has to keep thinking about them.”

AUNT ELSIE had become a woman of affairs; on the day following the “miracle,” while the family were adjusting themselves anew to the delights of the home which so nearly went fr...

“You see, I wanted to wait a while and talk to both of you together, but I don’t believe it can be managed. Instead, I think you and I will plan a nice little secret, and keep h...

“It is a deed transfer,” said the excited boy. “Yes, sir, it is! The whole rigmarole is here; the same thing said over half a dozen times, you know; and it’s for ‘Ray Forman For...