Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1842-11-18
VOL. IX.-NO. II.
THE HOLE IN MY POCKET.
by JAMES II. PERKINS.

you that half dollar about you that l gave
you this morning!' ~ l felt in my waistcoat
pocket, and turned my purse inside out, but
il was all space-wbich is very different
from specie; so said to Mrs. Slackwaier,
give lost it, my dear; positively there must
be hole in my pocket "Tll sew it up"
said she.
An hour or two after, met Tom Stebbens.
Glow did that ice-cream SET z" said Tom.
at set" said |, "like the sun, gloriously :"
and as spoke, it flashed upon me that my
missing half dollar had paid for those ice
creams however, held my peace, for Mrs.
Sackwater sometimes makes remarks and
even when she assured me at breakfast next
morning, that there was no hole in my pock-
ct, what could do but lift my brow and say,
"Ah isn't there really"
Before week had gone by, my wife, who,
like dutifu helpmate as she is, always gave
me her loose change to keep, called for
twenty-five cent piece, that had been depos-
tied in my sub-treasury for safe keeping -
"there was poor woman at the door," she
said, that she had promised il for certain"
l"Well, wait moment" cried SO push
ed enquiries first in this direction, then in
that and then in the other but vacancy
returned borrid groan. "On my SOUL"
said thinking it best to show bold front,
"you must keep my pockets in better repair,
: Mrs. Slackwater; this piece, with | know
not how many more, is lost, because some
corner or seam in my plaguey pocket is left
: open"
: care you sure p said Mrs, Slackwa;er
: "Sure ay, that am, it's gonel totally
gone ~ My wife dismissed her promise,
and then, in her quiet way, asked me TO
change my pantaloons before l went out,
and to bar all agument, laid another pair on
c my knees. r..
e That evening, allow me to remark, gen
e tlemcn of the species husband" ] was very
1 10th to go home to Tea !: had half mind to
bore some bachelor friend; and when hun
e ger and habit in their unassuming manner,
n one on each side, walked up to my own
door, the touch of the brass knob made my
e blood run cold. But do not think that Mrs.
!, Slackwater is tartar, my good friends, be-
d cause thus shrunk from home; the fact
is was that had, while abroad, called to mind
% the fate of her twenty-five cent piece, which
rs had invested in snokc-that is to say,
e. cigars; and feared to think Of her COM
10 ments on my pantaloons pockets +,
Thus things went on for some months we
" were poor TO begin with, and grew poorer, or,
in at any rate, no richer, fast. Times grew
G. worse and worse; even my pocket book was
ii no longer to be trusted, the rags slipped
a. from it in a manner almost incredible TO rec
IN lale,-as an Irish song says, ,l.t. I'd
"And such was the fate of poor Paddy O'Moore,
S AS his purse had the rents he had the fewer.
e. At length one day my wife came in with a
q subscription paper for the Orphan Asylum.
nd looked at il, and sighed, aud picked my
ry teeth, and shook my head and handed it
back to her
Med Bowen" said she, "has put down
ten dollars" tasi-
he The more shame 10 him." replied, she
nu cant afford it he can Just scrape along any
n. how, and in these times ii ant right for him
sh- TO do it,"
nd Mr. wife smiled in her sad way and took
~, the paper to him that brought it.
- The next evening she asked me if could
nix 90 with her to see the Bowens, aud as
Sc had no objection, we started. ar
ek knew that Ned Bowen did small busi
~, ness that would give him about six hundred
its dollars year, and ! thought it would b,
worth while TO see what that sum would do
lei' in the way of housekeeping. We were adj
uns mitted by Ned and welcomed by his wife,
crv very neat little body, Of whom Mrs. Slack
less water had told me great deal, as they hat
un- been schoolmates. All was as nice as wax
re- and yet as substantial as iron; comfort wa
ms written all over tHe Iooui' NC e'eniH|
passed somehow or other, though we had m
ing refreshments, an article which we never hav,
anu at home but always want when elsewhere
,ro and | returned TO our own establishment
,be with mingled pleasure and chagrin.
ken "What pity" said to my wife, "tha
He'd Bowen don't keep within his income"
Who He does" she replied.
"But how can he, on six hundred dollars!
heir was my answer, "if he gives ten dollars t
! to this charity and FIVE dollars to that, an
'er~ lives so snug and comfortable too"
hey "Shall tell you p asked Mrs. Slackwate
up Certainly, if you can"
lieut. ellis wife," said my wife, "fnds it just a
,i" u" easy to go without twenty or thirty dollar
,sgs worth of ribbons and laces as to buy then
tbs, They have no fruit but what they raise an
'try have given them by country friends whoI
'e they repay by thousand little acts of kin'
ness. They use no beer, which is not e
sential to his health, as it is to yours an
.arj then he buys no cigars, or ice cream or al
he'd plies at one hundred per cent. on mark'
one price, or oranges at twelve cents piece, {
was candy, or new novels, or rare works that al
ice, still more rarely used in short, my dear nj
"a, Slackwater, he has no hole IN his pocket"
1,m 1t was the first word of suspicion my vii
ode had uttered on the subject, and it cut me
ious the quick. Cut me? should rather say
pee sewed me up-me and my pockets too; the
reai have never been in holes since that evening