fitted up afresh, from beginning to end. I know that, in the past, you
have used acid, gritty soaps on the basins and tubs, Martha, and my
plumber tells me you mustn't do it. He says it's ruinous. He recommends
kerosene oil for the bath-tubs and marble slabs. He says it will take
any stain out, and is much safer than the soaps. So please use kerosene
to remove the stains--"

Mrs. Slawson relaxed. Without the slightest hint of incivility she
interrupted cheerfully, "An' does your plumber mention what'll remove
the stink--I _should_ say, _odor_, of the karrysene?"

Mrs. Sherman laughed. "Dear me, no. I'm afraid that's _up to_ you, as
Radcliffe says."

"O, I ain't no doubt it can be done, an' even if it can't, the smell o'
karrysene is healthy, an' you wouldn't mind a faint whifft of it now an'
then, clingin' to you, comin' outer your bath, would you? Or if you did,
you might set over against the oil-smell one o' them strong bath-powders
that's like the perfumery-counter in a department-store broke loose,
an' let 'em fight it out between 'em. To my way o' thinkin', it'd be a
_tie_, an' no thanks to your nose."

"Well, I only follow the plumber's directions. He guarantees his work
and materials, but he says acids will roughen the surface of
anything--enamel or marble or whatever it may be. I'm sure you'll be
careful in the future, now I have spoken, and--er--how are you getting
on these days? How are you and your husband and the children?"

"Tolerable, thank you. Sammy, my husband, he ain't been earnin' as much
as usual lately, but I says to him, when he's downhearted-like because