knows why. Finally, there's the set of unofficial people—the rich or otherwise distinguished who live in Washington and must be cultivated. And we're going to gather in all of them, so as not to miss a trick. [Pg 45] The first one of the Burkes to whom I showed my books and explained myself in full was "ma" Burke. She looked as if she had been taken with a "misery," as she calls it. "Lord! Lord!" she groaned. "Whatever have I got my fool self into?" I laughed and assured her that it was nothing at all. "I'm only showing you my work. All you've got to do is to[Pg 46] carry out each day's work. I'll see to it that you won't even have to bother about what clothes to wear, unless you want to. You'll be perfectly free to enjoy yourself." [Pg 46] "Enjoy myself?" said she. "Why, I'll be on the jump from morning till night." "From morning till morning again," I corrected. "The men sleep in Washington. But the women with social duties have no time for sleep—only for naps." "I reckon it'll hardly be worth while to undress for bed," she said grimly. "I'm going to have the bed taken out of my room. It'd drive me crazy to look at it. Such a good bed, too. I always was a great hand for a good bed. I've often said to pa that you can't put too much value into a bed—and by bed[Pg 47] I don't mean headboard and footboard, nor canopy nor any other fixings. What do you think of my hair?" [Pg 47] I was a bit startled by her sudden change of subject. I waited. "Don't mind me—speak right out," she said with her good-natured twinkle. "You might think it wasn't my hair, but it is. The color's not, though, as you may be surprised to hear." The "surprised" was broadly satirical. "I prefer natural hair," said I, "and gray hair is most becoming. It makes a woman look younger, not older." "That's sensible," said she. "I never did care for bottled hair. I think it looks bad from the set-off, and gets worse. The widow Pfizer in our town got so that hers was bright green after she bottled it for two years, trying to catch old man Coakley. And after she[Pg 48] caught him she bottled his, and it turned out green, too, after a while." [Pg 48]
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