The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1870-10-07
afliafGlIamil.
LIFTING UP.


/ the phrase, " 3 word in season. it was
| of some startling, warning sentences
| which should strike her dumb with
sorrow and shame some awful rebHke
! that should rouse her, and fFighten her
i out of.an this weakness and misery at
i once.
For truly it was a poor, miserable
life that she was living now; and the
way out of it did not appear. Ten
years before, man and woman had
/ stood up, and promised fidelity and
! honor toward each 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, a home just
beginning to be theirs, four days of i'll
ness-and widow, with q mortgaged
| house and three babies, was left.
At first 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 incessanly. First
in a factory; where she had been a wea-
yer before her marriage. trouble
was about leaving the children. Sine
let her house, all but three rooms, got
a girl to come in through the day, but
it didtnot answer. Annie was burned.
Harry fell down the cellar stairs and
|
| Susan found a middIe-aged woman,
who was out of work, and had no per-
manent 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
dollars rent for her house; twenty-five
dollars she had to pay for interest,
twelve more for insurance and taxes,
/ on the house, which were sure to come,
and for clothing for herself and children.
/ She earned five dollars, sometimes
when the work went well six dollars,
a 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 comfortable meals,
kept the house tidy, taught Annie her
letters Susan washed and ironed even
ings, and felt as though Paradise-aII
that could be in this world without
Henry-was regainedY and dared not
think OF what would be in Spring, So
winter passed; they had known the
real comfort of a home. Spring came,
/ Mrs. Marshall was called to a good
place, and the reign Of disorder began
again. Very young girls were the on
ly housekeepe.5 that Susan could af-
ford; each made fresh havoc: and each
change was equal to a removal
There is a saying that three removals
are equal to one fire. Poor Susan; her
crOckery was broken, they had barely
dishes enough to put on the table, odd
things at best. The children's clothes
were scOrched; spoons were thrown
out in the dishWater; knives and forks |
and their handles taken Oft by by hot
water towels disappeared and left no
trace. Susan had not been an ecOnO- !
mist or a good manager, she felt that !;
but she had that interest which ones
own property inspires, and had never
throw II her things away.
The last attempt at a hOusekeepeF
was foolish girl who was said TO be
teachable and good-tempered. Alas
for the teachableness; only while you
stood over, to zp0in out the very place
and work, could she do anything. And
very soon the whole matter culminat-
ed by letting the baby fall out of high
chair. .--- a. .-r.fr --.r..-
a Unjust give my notice and take in
seWing,n said Susan which she did.
She sewed for sale shops, and for such
persons in the mill as she knew, who
could afford to put out work. For a
month or so all went we'll; she had
little money left of her wages, and some
Hours into the night, she could earn
three dollars week, and get through
with her house work. But it is hard
to support four people on tie three dol
lars it gOns, I should say, for this was
before the war. Then there were weeks
when she had Improbable work, or
when there was work only part of the
time, so that she only earned two dol
lars, perhaps only one dollar and a
Ealf. 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 mill work, this sit
ting hour after hour, with cramped
limbs, strained eyes and weary fingers.
Soon there were little debts she could
not meet; she grew discouraged, be-
came irritable, the children's noise
crazed her; she gave them a push,
sometimes, III her bury and anxiety
to finish her task.
About the middle Of the following
! winter 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 nobody was suited, Susan's
heart sank. One Saturday night, at
the end of a most unfortunate week,
her grocer pressed her for the payment
of this bill, and almost refused to trust
her for more goods. It was the first
time in her life that such a thing had
happened to her, and she was ready to
sink under the umiliatiOn-thougb
thankful that one drop of bitterness
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 pleas
ant faced boy of the establishment, and
she was asked humbly tOCaccept if, So
san did notaSend it back; as she had
done things from the same quarter be-
fore. The -children's necessities, her
own jaded, discouraged state, prepared
her, when this hour of temptation came,
to yield. What was the use of pride
while her children wanted bread
when soon the house that their father
worked 50 hard for would refuse them
shelter2 And could she ever earn
enough to pay rent and feed and clothe
them all? So before summer she was
married to Mr.. Powers, the middle aged
clerk at Mr.. RansOm's, and the old life
became thing of the past. Mr.. Pow
ers paid of the mortgage on the house;
and he bought new furniture in place
Of the broken, disabled stuff; but he let
some rooms, instead Of having all to-
themselves, as Susan had hoped.
NeatWOa persons could begin life to-
gether with less realization of what
each was to bear and to forbear. The
husband, now past forty, had been a
bachelor, waited on as q person of con-
sideratiOn, in the house where he had
| bOared for fifteen years. Susan's first
husband had treated her with tender
ness and consideration, much as if she
were a child. Now these two had
/ come together, one because a sweet face
made interesting by its black surround
ings, had charmed him the other be-
cause she wanted provision for her chill