Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1847-06-25
MISCELLANEOUS.
From Graham's Magazine for July.
SALLY LYONS
FIRST md LAST VESIT TO TIE
.qLE-HOUSE.*
BY +. 8. ARTHUR.

/ llllG VI HE lldIplI utiltdln ntl h'ilb q W.
10 her, care, anxiety, and trouble were yet
strangers. The first few years of her mar
Iied life passed happily-for Ralph was one
of the kindest of husbands, and suffered his
wife to lean upon him so steadily, that the
/ native strength of her own character remained
undeveloped.
Ralph Lyon was an Industrious mechanic,
who always had steady work and good wa
ges. Still, he did not seem 10 90 ahead as
some others did, Notwithstanding Sally was
a frugal wife, and did all her own work, in
stead of putting him 10 the expense Of help
in the family. OF course, this being the case,
it was evident that there was a leak some
where, but where it was neither Ralph nor
his wife could tell.
"Thomas Jones has bought the piece of
ground next to his cottage said Ralph one
day TO Sally, "aEd says that next year he
hopes 10 be able 10 put up a small frame
house, big enough for them to live in. lie
paid sixty dollars for the lot, and it is at least
a quarter of an acre. He is going TO put it
all in garden this spring, and says he will
raise enough to give him potatoes, and other
vegetables for a year TO come. 1t puzzles me
to know how he saves money. He doesn't
get any better wages than | DO, and his fam
lily is quite as large"
81 am sure" returned Sally, who felt that
there was something like a reflection upon
her in what her husband said, "that Nancy
Jones doesn't spend her husbands earnings
more frUgally than ] do mine. Every week
she has a woman to help her wash, and | do
it all myself"
81 am sure it isn't your fault-at least |
don't think it is" replied Ralph; but some
thing is wrong somewhere. | don't spend
any thing at all, except for "A glass or two ev-
cry day, and a little tobacco; and this, Of
course, couldn't make the difference"
Sally said nothing. A few glasses a-day,
and tobacco, she knew, must cost some
thing, though, like her husband, she did not
believe it would make the difference of buy
ing a quarter Of an acre of ground, and build
ing a snug cottage in the course of a few
years.
Let us see how this is. Perhaps we can
out the leak that wasted the substance OF
Ralph Lyon. He never drank less than three
a-day, and sometimes four; and his
cost, for smoking and chewing. just
twelve and a half cents a week. Now, how
much would all this amount to? Why, TO
Just sixty-ive dollars a year. provided but
three glasses a-day were taken, and nothing
was spent in treating a friend. But the limit
was not always observed, and the consequence
was, that, take the year through, at least eigh-
ty dollars were spent in drinking, smoking
and chewing. Understanding this, the thing
is very plain. In four years, eighty dollars
saved in each year would give the handsome
sum of three hundred and twenty dollars
Thomas Jones neither drank, smoked, nor
~chewed, and consequently, not only saved
money enough in a few years 10 build him
self a snug little house, but could afford, du-
ring the time, 10 let his wife have a washer
woman to help her every week, and to dress
much more comfortably than Sally Lyon had
been able to do
The difference in the condition of the two
families set Mrs. Lyon to thinking very Sc
riously about The matter, aud thinking and
calculating soon made the cause quite plain
to her. Ii was the drinking and the smok-
ing, But with a discovery of the evil did
not come a cheering consciousness of its easy
removal. How could she ask Ralph to give
up his glass and his tobacco, to both of which
he seemed so strongly welded. He worked
hard for his money, and If he chose 10 enjoy
it in that way, she had no heart to interfere
with him. But from the time that Ralph dis.
covered how well his neighbor Jones wa:
getting along, while he, like a horse in a mill
had been toiling and sweating for years, anC
yet stood in the same place, no became dis
satisfied, and often expressed this dissatisfac
ton to Sally, at the same time declaring hi
inability TO tell where all the money he earn
ed went 10.
At length Sally ventured to hint at tn,
truth. But Ralph met it with
Pooh nonsensel Don't tell me that
glass Of liquor, now and then, and a.bit of to
bacco, are going to make all that difference
Il ,enft rnnlApah1a Deil., 49,.
hard, and | ought TO have a little comfort will
it. When Fn tired, a glass warns me up
and makes me bright again; and ! am sure
couldn't do without my pipe"
:" don't ask you to do so, Ralph" repli
ed Sally. g only said what | did, that yo
might see why we couldn't save money lik
our neighbor Jones. | am sure / am yer
careful in our expenses, and | havn't bougl
myself a new gown fer a long time, althoug
] an very bare of Clothes"
The way in which Ralph replied to hi
wife's suggestion of the cause of the evil CON
planned Of, determined her TO say no more
and as he felt some convictions on the sui
ject, which he was not willing TO admit, h
was ever afterward silent about the unaccouI
table way in which his money went.
In about the same ratio that the externi
condition Of Thomas Jones improved, did th
OF Ralph Lyon grow worse and warse. Fro
not being able 10 save any thing, he gradua
ly began to fall in debt. When quarter-d;
came round, there was generally several dc
lars wanting to make up the rent; and the
landlord, with much grumbling on his pa
was compelled to wait for the balance son
two or three weeks beyond the due-day.
length the quarter-day found Ralph with not
ing laid by for his rent. Somehow or olht
he was not able to earn as much, from sic
ness, and days lost from other causes; Al
what he did earn appeared to melt away Ill
snow in the sunshine.
Poor Mrs. Lyon felt very miserable at Il
aspect Of things; more especially, as in ado
ton to the money squandered at the ale-houi
by her husband, he often came home intoS
Gated. The grief to her was more sever
from ihs fact that she loved Ralph tenderl
This story is founded upon a brief ma