Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1868-12-18
How We Obtained A Home.


,It5S
Is .EStis BY AN.oLD. CITIZEN. EfFsss
1t was dreary November night; the
rain had been falling all day, and I was
thoroughly and inwardly disconsolate,
when my little wife met me at the door.
"Why, viii, what has caused you to be
so later said she; "the tea has been
stepped this half hour, and really began
10 fear that some one had taken a fancy
TO your watch, and caused you an un.
pleasant delay"
This remark was made with reference
to an ancient time-keeper which l carried
"a huge watch which had belonged to
my grandfather. My wife was always
predicting that some gentlemanly footpsd
would seek to possess himself of this val
liable, If was not more careful about eX-
hibiting It, The truth was, she was sorry
IN her heart that could not afford bet
ter one, and so che took this method to
banter me-
We sat down TO tea that night in our
cozy little back parlor, beside cozv CRATE
fire, and the fragrant and stimulating 90.
long, and my wife's CHEEKY talk, soon
caused me to forget my long walk, and
the drenohing rain, and the unpleasant in.
cidents of the day.
"Do you know, my dear" said l, break
ing open a white, creamy biscuit the
while, and laying on slice of yellow but
ter, "do you know had some very seri-
GUS thoughts on my way home tonight ?"
"Oh, no doubt you did" said she, "you
thought perhaps in fit of mental abstrac-
| ton, thinking how much you made on the
last corner in speculation"
AL this was decidedly naughty. You
see had managed to save thousand dol
lars, and friend of mine knew 1t, and he
also knew of nice "corner" on wheat,
and the half of my humble pile he said
was sufficient seed for rich harvest on
such "corner" as was preparing. Well,
/ invested, partly to please my friend, and
good deal to please myself, TO make a
| little money quick, and the result was the
| following Saturday night-Will Aitken
minus FIVE hundred dollars.
NO." said /, nothing of the kind. l
was thinking how hard it is to be poor.
How nard to toll on year after year, and
just barely make living. Here we live
in rented house. We have lived ten
years. We have paid out in rent for this
| little cottage three times its first cost. A
man ought to own the house he lives in,
| If it be buta she'd have never seen the
time when | could spend money for a
house. When fortunate in a speculation,
have let my funds slip through my ting-
ers, don't know how, and my regular
salary is only sufficient for our yearly ex-
| penses"
"Do you mean to say" said she, looking
at me archly over her cup, "that you
would willingly compel the wife of your
bosom to live in a smaller and cheaper
structure than this? Do you really ?"
"No, no." said i and, indeed, if
were to think Of building a cheap cottage,
where is the money to come from?' and
then groaned audibly over the aforesaid
Corner"
"Well," said she, "I am glad you are
still devoted husband, and not disposed in
the least to play the tyrant; but would it
not be well, now that we are on this sub
ject, to see If there is not some way open
to liberty? For my part, would like to
walk over patch of ground which we
could call our own. Do you know" said
she, "that l have never cared anything
about flowers here. 1t is not because l
am not fond of flowers, as you well know,
but it seems so ridiculous to be cultivat-
ing flowers on rented ground. How l
would like to be the mistress of little
yard, and then the flowers would be my
own"
uG ldCL Is, my Wllt udu U6Gu always
talking after this manner. She wanted me
to build a house, even though it had but
one room. And so / answered her Eyes,
yes, but where is the money to come
from?" and again thought of the "cor-
ner."
"Well," said she, "this is the first time
that you ever seemed to see eve to eve
with me as to love in cottage When
the thousand dollars were in the bank,
you insisted that we had not enough; now
that the half is gone, l say that we still
have enough to begin with, and my feel
ing is strike for your altars and your
fires"
BY this time we were through tea, and
taking cigar from off the mantel, l sat
down in my easy chair, leaned back, took
two or three whiffs of smoke, and said to
her my dear, will you be kind enough
to inform me how shall go to work to
build house for five hundred dollars ?"
In the meantime she had drawn stool
to my feet, and was sitting, looking up at
me, her rosy face lustrous and beautiful in
the gas-light 1t had been difficult from
the first for me to Withstand that face. /
believe | had never yet refused any re-
quest of hers save to abandon my cigars
and build cottage, and now l felt my
time had come, and so l pulled away at
my seed Havana with uncommon zest
."NoW, Will" said she, "listen. l hear
there are lots for sale in G., great
large lots, on long time, at three hundred
dollars each. 1t is only six miles out by
rail, and property they say is rising in
value there every year. My plan is this /:
Go down and buy a lot now, and get ready
to build in the spring"
Yes" said I, "but you forget tho
money"
"Stop," said she, pulling with her tiny
hand at my beard, "you pay down for
your lot 800, and have nothing more to
pay for two years. We shall be able to
replace the money by spring and have
$500 TO begin our house with. We can
build cozy place, large enough for you
and me, for 81 600"
"Yes," said /, "knocking the ashes
from my cigar, "but where is the remain
ing $500 to come from?"
"Look here" said she. ave now pay
here $500 for rent, do we mott This
amount, at least, we shall save in the new
house. You can readily borrow on the
security you will have the remaining $500,
and by little economy we shall be out of
debt in fifteen months from March next,
save the 5000 on the lot"
est yes Salu L, anu SuCn mouse
as we shall have-oh, dearl"
Well, was influenced by my good little
wife. We went down one sunshiny day
and looked at the lots and closed bar
gain, and in the spring our house was
commenced and ready for occupancy be-
fore the first of May. 1t was not so large
a cottage as the one we had left there was
no gas, and l had myself helped to dig
well but somehow there was strange
exhilaratjon of feeling on getting .settled
in our new abode. The affair, too, had
cost more than we anticipated by $500, so
that we were in debt on the house alone
500 on moving in. / felt quite uneasy
over this debt the first night. This feeling
quickly passed off, and as we began to put
out trees, make garden, and prepare for
family Of chickens, our estate seemed
so immense that the debt thereon was
trifing