The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1871-10-27
Ny Story.
BY ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS.
From the Congregatlonalist.l

OvercOat, and hung it up without speak
ing.
There was always something prosy
about Hiram and me. / suppose there
always will be. It's i'm us, both of us.
l don't know that we should have got
married, if it hadn't been-it is such
prOsy thing to get married about here.
You go right along, you know. You
see so little of anything but each other,
and the quarters bills, and measles, and
Thursday evening meeting.
You don't read much poetry, and you
don't see much company, and it isn't Of
ten there's a concert, and it isn't once
year that YOU read novel, and that IS
when you have the influenza-and
don't think, all things considered, that
anything is quite so prosy as novel
and an influenza taken together.
But on the whole Pm sorry about il.
/ don't think we should have been any
happier if we'd been the other kind of
people; for / often tell Hiram there Is
another kind Of people, after all.
"Is there ~ he says. "Well, l don't
know, Paulette."
And I don't suppose he does. And 50
We jog along.
Happy?
PM not used to writing for newspapers.
/ never tried to do such a thing before
in all my life; and when you ask me if
we're happy, if Hiram and are happy,
declare | don't know what to say
Happy?
believe that I never have stopped to
think, since | was married, whether |
was happy or not. l used to think a
great deal about il before. All girls do
cry about it nights when they're not
too sleepy. Since I've been married,
have not had the time to think about
that nor anything.
Now that it comes up, it seems such a
ridiculous question! Hiram and hap
py? l should like to know what busi-
ness 4 man and his wife have to be any
thing else! OF course Hiram and are
happy.
or course, at least we were that even
ing when he came in and unbuttOned
his overcOat and hung it up before he
spoke; generally he spoke just in latch
ing the door: "There, Paulette?n OF,
"HOw's the baby ~ or, at least what q
cold night it was
Now that was what made me say that
Hiram and were prOsy. Some people
would have gone OFF like needle gun il
they'd had what Hiram had to say
Hiram just unbuttoned those buttons,
six of them, slowly, and he hung his coat
up by the loop, and took off his woolen
comforter
Then he came to the fire, and then !
saw how white he was, and then felt
myself turn sick and faint in my chair
was holding the baby, and / could
not Jump And if pushed him down
he would have cried at the top of his
lungs for an hour. So / ran and emp
tied the sugar out on the dining-roOm
table, and sat him down there, and the
children came running in, and | shut
them all in, like flies in a mOlasses jug,
and went back and got down on my
knees by Hiram.
you've had another ~ said l, and !
said it fast and hot.
"Yes," said Hiram; but he said il
slowly
"The worst one yet. / was helping
about a barrel. Don't worry, Paulette;
rve got over it now; il was three hour,
back. was only pushinga little at the
barrel.u
'Dincks shouldn't have let you -
said /.
"Dincks wasn't i'm said ne "'He'd
just run over TO the Office. The boy
couldn't do it alone. 1t was flour.
choked and fell, / think 1t wasn't 81
much the bleeding as the faint. They
took me into the counting-room, and
Law across two chairs till / got over it.
Pm quite over it now, Paulette. My
lung isn't very sore. l wisl4 Paulette
that YOU WOuldni-'
And there before my eyes. he choked
and dropped again.
Well, | got him to bed. He wouldn't
listen to Il doctor. We couldn't afford
it, he said, and we couldn't. And what
could he do? and what could / :
SO l got him to bed myself, and | de-
clared | couldn't tell which worried mt
the most for an hour or so, that Hiram
was going into the consumption, Ol
what a collie those children were getting
over the sugar-bowl Bat that, / sup
pose, was because / am prosy. Foul
children with collie, to a prosy person
seems at the time of il so much wOrs,
than anything else that can possibly
happen.
BY one o'clock he was over ii. HI
slept, | think, and had cup of tea, anC
reused quite bright and strong. -
he sat up in bed, and finished his sen
tence:-
"-Wouldn't worry said he, begin
ming where he left of.
Dear me ~ said /, for he frightened
me.
l came and set down on the edge o
the bed. was tired enough to drop
ana worried enough to cry.
Don't - said he.
u don't mean tor said l.
NO" said he, 81 know YOU DON'T
And 4;m then he lay back again upon the
III Hiram im' said I, sit might lust as
wen .lI come now as at any other time"
Just as we'll" said Hiram
Its better than to ,VorrI, aio,,,.s, g,
"A great deal better.n sSid TTisS ~
You must tell Dinclzs toN,,.aIlt illIt'ln;
81 shall,n said he; 'sPII disoI,,oM ".
ernership this week-if | [pa,T paIt- ,l
was going to support the family y VINO
'Tll support the famiIv1 sa;d +,
'FOr who would if I couIdn,tS ~,
support the family if you'll only 90 !, :
sleep"
every well" said Hiram; and don,
suppose he had the least doubt of it. :
he turned over and went to sleep.
Hiram went to sleep; but l didn't
The children cried till three. Fror
three to six | sat up in the rocking-chai
tothink. There was just so much thinl
ing to do, you see, and j can't thin
very well unless the house is still-pel
haps l don't think often enough to kno'
hOw-and it's never still at our hOus
except when all the children are asleel
So sat in the rocking-chair till siI