The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1870-11-04
Selected Miscellany.
LIFTING UP.


If Susan Powers had any idea about the
phrase, "a word in season." it was OF
some startling, warning sentence, which
should strike her dumb with sorrov and
shame; some awful rebuke that should
rouse her and frighten her out of all this
weakness and misery at once.
For truly it was poor, miserable life
that she WAS living now; and the way out
of it did not appear Ten years before, q
man and woman had stood up and prom
ised fidelity and honor toward eech other,
with as high hopes as any two people, with
the world all before them and their home
to make in it. could have. Five years OF
honest. hearty effort, home just begin
ming to be theirs, four days of llness-and
widow, with q mortgaged house and three
babies, was left.
Atfrst, grief for her loss, remorse for the
light appreciation of what had been hers,
the desire to do for his children what he
had meant, sustained her. and she worked
hard and incesssntly. First in a factory,
where she had been q weaver before her
marriage. The trouble was about leaving
the children. She let her house, all but
three rooms, got girl to come in through
the day, but it did not answer. Annie
VS. hurned; Harry fell down the cellar
stairs, and the baby got sick. After sew
eral trials, Susan found a middle-sged
woman who was out of work and had nc
permanent home, and who agreed to stay
through the winter on condition that she
could take in sewing and knitting when
she could get them to do. So here the
case stood; Susan had sixty collars rent
for her house; twenty-five dollars she had
to pay for interest, twelve more for insur
ance and taxes, leaving twenty-three dol
lars for repairs on the house. which were
sure to come, and her clothing for herself
and children. She earned FIVE dollars,
aud, sometimes when the work went well,
six dollars week. That went for food
and fuel Five people were to be warmed
and fed.
Mrs. Marshall, the old lady, soon came
to love the little fatherless things, and took
good care of them. She made the most OF
their mothers little means; cooked com
Portable meals, kept the house tidy, taught
Annie her letters; Susan washed and IRON
ed evenings. and felt as though Paradise;
all that could be in this world without
Henry; was regained, and dared not think
of what would be in the spring. So win
ter passed; they had known the real
comfort of home. Spring came; Mrs
Marshall was called tn a good place,
and the reign of disorder began again.
Young girls were the only housekeepers
that Susan could afford; each made fresh
havoc; and each change was equal to re
moval. There is a saying that three re-
movals are equal to one fire. Poor Susan
her crockery was broken, they had barely
dishes enough to put on the table, and odd
things at that The children's clothes were
scorched; spoons were thrown out in the
dish water; knives and forks had their ham
dies taken of by hot water; towels disep-
peared and left no trace. Susan had been
no economist, nor good manager, she felt
that; bat she had that interest which ones
own property inspires, and had not thrown
her things away.
The last attempt at housekeeper was a
foolish girl who was said to be teachable
and good-tempered. Alas for the teacha-
bleness; only while you stood over, to
point out the very place and work, could
she do anything. And very soon the
whole matter eliminated by her letting
the baby fall out ofa high chair.
81 must give my notice and take in sew
ing, said Susan; which she did. She
sewed for sale shops and for such persons
IN the mill as she knew could afford to
put OUT NCIh- tut . uOuIu w bO dl went
we'll; she had little money left of her
wages, and some months rent she did not
owe. After that the pull began. By
working all day, and some hours into the
night, she could earn three dollars e
werk and get through with her house
work. But it is hard to support
four deople on three dollars; it was, /
should say, for this was before the war.
Then there were weeks when she had un-
profitable work, or when there was work
only part of the time, SO that she only
earned two dollars, perhaps only one dol
lar and q hslf. She then took extra work
when she could get it, and sat far into the
night to get it done. 1t was new, and, for
her, harder than milk work, this sitting
hour after hour, with cramped limbs,
strained eyes and weary fingers. Soon
there vere little debts that she couldn't
meet; she grew discouraged, became irri-
table; the children's noise crazed her; she
gave them push, sometimes, in hurry
and anxiety to finish her task.
About the middle of the following win
ter her tenants moved, and the house lay
empty. She spent much time in showing
the rooms and in talking to applicants.
But as time passed and no one was suited,
susan's heart sank. One Saturday night,
at the end of q most unfortunate week, her
grocer pressed her for the payment of his
bill, and almost refused to trust her for
more goods. 1t was the first time in her
life that such thing had happened to her.
AID she was ready to drop in humiliation
though thankful that one drop of bitter.
ness was spared-the middle-aged clerk
Who usually waited on her, was not by:
she could not have borne that Yet when
an hour later, a large package was brought
to her door by the pleasant faced boy OF
the establishment, and she was asked
humbly 10 accept il, Susan did not send il
back, as she had done things from the same
quarter before. The childrens necessities,
her own jsded, discouraged state, prepared
her, when this hour oftemptation came, to
yield. What was the use ofpride while her
children wanted bread; when soon the
house their father worked so hard for
would refuse them shelter? And could
she ever earn enough to pay rent and feed
and clothe them all2 So before summer
she married Mr.. Powers. the middle-aged
clerk at Mr.. Ransom S, and the old life be-
came thing Of the past. Mr.. Powers paid
of the mortgage on the house; he bought
new furniture in place of the broken, mis-
cradle stuff; but he let some rocsas, in
stead of having it all to themselves, as Su-
san had done.
No two persons could begin life together
with less realization of what each was to
bear and to forbear. The husband. now
past forty, had been bachelor, waited
upon as a person of consideration in the
house where ne had boarded for fifteen
years. Susan's first husband had treated
her with tenderness and consideration.
much as if she we're child. Now these
two had come together; one because a
sweet face, made interesting by its black
surroundings. had charmed him; the other
because she wanted provision for her chill