Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1859-01-22
co RHNG A GRUMBLER.
Or, Three Days at Home.
By OLIvKR OPTIC.
CHAPTER FIRST DAY.

| By OLIVER OPTIC.
| ..T ai
CHAPTER FIRST DAY.
t "There, my dear, I brought you hom
three quarts Of berries" said John Paley, tn
blacksmith, as he set the basket down upol
the table.
"What in the world did you bring thre
quarts for? can't use no more than two,
replied Mrs Paley. ,.g
"Oh, well, now think of it, Mrs. Thomp
son wants quart, and wished me to get then
for her, if the man came along to-day"
"Hump? Now l think of it. want then
myself and Mrs. Thompson cannot hav'
them"
Never mind left quart at the sho,
for luncheon tomorrow she can have
them"
&c Do without yourself" ?"
I" Certainly if she wants them, she car
have them."
You take good care of Mrs. Thompson VI
added Mrs. Paley, with sneer
| Because let her have quart Of 'ber'
ries ?"
"Oh no, 1 guess not"
"I asked her to lend me her wash-tub
the other morning, and she wouldn't do it, "
replied Mrs. Paley, rather spitefully.
" Wouldn't do it3'
"No."
Wouldn't lend you wash-tub ~
John Paley was astOnished and indignant.
Mrs. Thompson was widow, who lived in
the next house, and he had frequently been
called upon to perform sundry little chores
which her lonely condition required; and
now to have her refuse to lend his wife a wash
tub was the highest ingratitude, and he re-
solved on the spot that Mrs. Thompson should
not have the berries.
"She is not an angel" added Mrs. Paley.
Z" never supposed she was. She would
not lend you a wash-tub?''
No, she wouldn't"
| "Fm surprised When was it ?"
Last Monday Morning"
Monday morning! You did not 60 to
her for tub on Monday morning, did
you ~
"I did, At what other time should want
a tub ?''
swell only asked for it, and it was mean
of her not to let me have it, after we have
done SO much for her." ...
We p John Paley wanted to say that
we, like the editorial singular, meant only
himself; but he did not wish to stir up any
more strife.
"She told ME she had clothes in it," con-
tinued Mrs. Paley. ....
Well?"
She did not seem willing to lend it to me;
so when she offered to take them out and let
me have the tub, told her she needn't trou-
BILE herself"
I" 1t was very wrong, Mary, for you to ask
her to lend her tub on Monday morning" "
"I suppose so if any one was wrong,
am the one," pouted Mrs. Paley, disgusted
with her husbands partiality and injustice.
Never mind, Mary. Is our supper
ready ?" ..-......
No; that wood you got last is such mis-
cradle stuff, it wone burn at ALL"
1T is the best 1 could get, and the best
there is, for that matter" ...,..
"How much cord ~
gave eight dollars cord for it,
GA fool and his money are soon parted"
A fool and her husband" But John
cut the sentence short, thinking it little too
wicked for the occasion. .....
"Just like you If theresa fool anywhere,
Pm the one"
-" Never mind, Mary Let us have supper
as soon as you can. | am going to the caucus
this evening"" .....
You are You never stay home evenings
now."
"Why my dear, have not been out of
the house of an evening for month"
Why need you go at all ~
because am deeply interested in the
election"
More so than you are in your wife," she
replied, petulantly, as she opened the stove
oven to see if the biscuits were ready.
I" declare! This is the meanest oven 1 ev-
er saw. 1t will not bake worth cent"
Have you just found that out,?" asked
John.
1t never was good for anything" ..
And so Mrs. Paley went on from one thing
to another, regularly and systematically con-
demning everything upon which she set her
hand. She was not suited. Everything and
everybody were out of joint. Nothing at all
went right; nobody could do anything to suit
her. ID ......... .-... ....-. s......
John Paley was not particularly happy in
his domestic relations. The porcupine temp
er of his wife was continual annoyance to
to him. 1t was very hard, to use his best en-
deavors to please her, and then fail. He had
tried to study her wishes, but they were mere
caprices, and in despair he gave up his at
| tempts. Nothing that he could do would
please her; nothing but that she found fault
| with him. ...
CHAPTER II-SECOND DAY. p a
John Paley was of an easy temper. He
was disposed to make the best of things as
| he found them, but there was no such thing
as compromising with incessant grumbling.-
| Unlike many others, he could not be driven
to the dramshop,nor even to the usual haunts
of loafers in the country places. He was OBJ
stinately bent on staying at home in the even
ing. He was fond of reading, and home was
the centre ofhis thoughts. Even the perver-
sity of his wife could not eradiate his deeply
seated love for home. - =
Still, home was not a pleasant place to him
at least not half so pleasant as it might be-
Mary loved him, that he could not doubt !;
During long illness, the winter before, she
had been unremitting in her devotion. A
piece of red hot iron flew into his eye, so that
the ball of it had nearly run out. He had
suffered the most intense agony. Day by
day he had groaned with anguish, and seen
the tears of his wife fall as she witnessed his
suffering By night, while he tossed in agony,
she had watched by him, nor slept for week.
His pain was hers and, while he suffered,
she never complained of the watching and
privation that his illness occasioned she new
cr used an ungentle world, even when, worn
ont with suffering, he became testy and i'm
She loved him she sacrificed all her COM
l E>rk<, l. Il L.