Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1870-11-03
Selected MISCELLANY.
LIFTING UP.

IL Susan Powers had any idea about the
phrase. s.a word in season." it was ci
some startling, warning sentence, which
should strike her dumb with sorrow 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 a poor, miserable life
that she vls living now; and the way out
of it did lot appear. Ten years before, -
man and woman bad stood up and prom
ised fidelity and homo toward each other.
with as high hopes es any two people, with
the world al before them and their home
TO make in it, conld have Five years of
honest, hearty effort, home inst begin
ming to be theirs, four days Of illness-and
ewidow. with a m ortgaged house and three
babies. was left
At first, grieffor her loss, remorse for the
light appreciation of what had been hers.
the desire to do for his children what he
bad meant. sustained her, and she voTke 4
hard and incessantly. First in factory
where she had been weaver before her
mar iage. The trouble VAS sboat leaving
the children. She let her house, all but
three rooms get a girl TO come in through
the day, but il did not answer. Annie
VS. turned; Harry fell down the cellar
stairs, and the baby got sick. After sew
ersl trials, Susan found q middle-aged
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 tne
case stood; Susan had sixty dollars rent
for her house; twenty five dollars she had
to pay for interest, twelve more for insur-
ance and taxes leaving twenty-three dol
- e Al
sure to come, and her clothing for herself
and children. She earned fivO dollars,
and. sometimes when the work went well.
six dollars week That went for food
end fuel Five people were to be warmed
and fed.
Mrs. Marshall the old lady. soon came
to love the little falherless things, and tooi
good care Of them. She made The most o.
their mothers little means: cooked com
far.able rnacls, heD. .l-e 4ozsc tidy, sz...saS
Annie her letts-s; Susan washed and IRON
ed evenings. aud felt as though Paradise
all that could be IN this world without
HerEy; was regained, and dared not think
of wat would be IN the spring. 50 win
ter passed; they had known The resl
comfort vi 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 Suss.n could afford; each made fresh
havoc; and each change was equal to re
moval. There is saying that three re-
movals are equal to one fire. Poor Susan !,
her croekery 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 ont in the
dish water; knives and forks had their ham
dies taken of by hot water: towels diSap-
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 rot thrown
her things away.
The last attempt at housekeeper was
foolish girl who was said to be teachab,e
and good-tempered. Alas for the teacha-
bleness; only while yon stood over. 20
point out the very pace and work, could
she do anything. And very soon the
whole matter eliminated By her letting
the baby fall out Of high chair.
81 must give my notice and take in sev-
ing" said Susan; which she did. she
sewed for sale shops and for such persons
in the mill as she knew could afford 70
put out work For a month orso all vent
we'll; she had little money LETT of her
wages, and some months rent she did not
owe. Alter that the pull began. By
working all day, and some hours into the
night she could earn three dollars q
werk aud get through with her house
work. But it Is hard to support
four dcopls on three dollars: IL 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 half She then took extra work
when she could get it, and sat far into the
night to get it done- 1t was new, ard, for
her, harder than milk work. this sittina
hour after hour. with cramped limbs.
strained eyes and weary fiagers. Socn
there we-e little debts that she couldn't
meet; she grew discouraged, became jrrl.
table; the children's noise erazed her; she
gave them push, sometimes. in a 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 nipht.
at the end of most unfortunate week. her
grocer pressed her tor the payment of his
bill, and almost refused 70 trust her for
more goods. IL was the irst time in her
life that such q thing had happened to her,
and she was ready to drop in humiliation
though thankful that one drop of bitter
ness was spared-tbe midile-aged clerk
who usually waited on her, was not by:
she could not have borne that. Yet when
an hour later, q large package was brought
tn her door by the pleasant faced boy OF
the establishment. and she was asked
humbly to accept il, Susan did not send il
back, as she had done thingsfrom the same
quarter before. The cbildren's necessities.
her own jaded, discouraged state, prepared
her, when this hour Of ftemptation came. TO
yield What was the use ofpride while her
children wanted bread; when soon the
house their father worked so hard lor
would refuse them shelter ? And could
she ever eern enough to pay rent and feed
and clothe them all? 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-
erable stuff; but ae let some rooms. in
stead of having is al 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. TIE husband. now
past forty, had been bachelor, waited
upon as q person of consideration in the
house where ne had boarded for fifteen
years Susan's first husband had treated
her With tenderness and confederation,
much as if she were a 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