The Placer herald., 1872-02-24
TIIE BROKEN GOBLET
"Clara. are we short of goblets ?"

| Harry Thurber asked the question of his
wife, at the breakfast table, He was book
keeper in downtown store, in reception Of
fair salary, and had been married five
years.
"Goblets ?" repeated his wife, with start,
and her delicate, handsome features were
wrought upon by something which very
much resembled fear
eyes," added the husband, with empha-
ses. 81 asked if we were short of goblets." !"
"You remember, Harry, l told you sew
eral days ago that we needed few more. !"
"How many goblets, in mercy's name,
am l to buy in year"
"Not many, Harry. You have bought
only two dozen since we were married."
"And what has Lecome of them?"
"They got broken"
"Broken! | should say so!'
MIR. Thurber had split muffin upon his
plate, and now looked for the syrup. He
was very fond of maple syrup upon hot muf
fns-for his wife's folks in the country sent
him the purest and most delicate syrup to be
found anywhere; and his wife was not to be
excelled in the art of cooking.
"Ah! how is ihis?" he exclaimed as his
wife handed him the syrup in small glass
pitcher. "Where is our syrup-pot?" ?"
81 am sorry, Harry"
Glow? Is that broken, too ?"
eyes. Eva hit it with her elbow while
she was helping me clear off the table last
evening. Poor little thing. She has been
sadly"
"Great help you must have expected from
child like that" interrupted the husband,
sneeringly.
Upon this little Eva, bright-eyed child
Of almost four Summers, cried that she
could "help mamma lots
But Mr.. Thurber was not to be turned
from his bent.
"Goodness gracious" he exclaimed, eff a
man were made of money he could not run
such an establishment. You must remem-
ber that times are not as they were few
years ago. Things cost almost double what
they used to. That syrup-pot | paid dol
lar for! My soul may dig, and dig, and
dig, and III never get dollar ahead if we
are to go on in this way, Yesterday it was
a new platter for meat"
"Hary," interposed his wife, bescech-
ingly, ''the platter was not to replace a bro
ken one"
"But bought it, didn't l ?"
eyes"
"And next, goblets are wanted, Are
these to make broken ones good 2"
"Of course. But-remember that for
five years"
go, yes-I remember very well that dur
ing the five years it has been break, break J.,
break, something, all the time. And now
it is new syrup pot! Thunderl I'll buy an
iron one, and see if that will stand the
racket
Harry" plead the wife. "you magnify
the evil. think that there are very few
families that break less crockery than we do.
| am as careful as can be. and l am sure
Eva is not at all destructive"
"And yet, retorted Harry, with unnec-
essary vehemence, 81 find myself called upon
aarmingly often to make good your break
ages. tell you | can't stand it'll"
Like all men who assume untenable posi-
tions, endeavorng to hold the same against
reason and good sense, Harry Thurber be-
came more and more indignant and harsh as
his wife interposed the gentle remonstrance
of truth and necessity, until at length he
arose from the table, with the exclamation
upon his lips that:
ga man, nowadays, needs to have an in
dependent fortune, ii he thinks to marry and
keep house!
"Oh! Harry"
"It's SO, Clara! Zounds You don't
have to earn the money. If you did you'd
be little more careful"
"Careful of what"
Careful of achatP-My-of everything
of goblets, and syrup-pots, and-O, bah!
Smash away-break 'em up-tip over the
pots and kettes-ratte the glass and shiver
the china--t's all right can pay for it
O, yes!
Clara could make no answer to this speech; ;
and giving way to the emotion that had been
pulling for long time at her heart-strings,
she covered her face with her hands, and
burst into tears.
go, yesw cried Harry. "That's the
botberp And with this he seized his hat,
and hurried from the house.
Let it not be thought that Harry Thurber
was willingly unjust, or inclined to fault
finding. On the contrary he was naturally
frank and honorable, and entirely free-heart-
ed; but like thousands of other free-hearted
men he was swayed greatly by his emotions,
and his emotions very often ran into wrong
channels. lie wended his way to his place
of business under a cloud. He loved his
wife dearly, and he was never happy when he
left his home with the shadow OF ill'teeling
upon the parting.
"Plague take it!' he muttered to himself,
ga fellow can't stand this kind Of thing all
the time, 1t costs too much to buy crockery
ware just to break up" -.
So plead the evil spirit; but the spirit of
Consideration would have told him that but
very little of bis substance was wasted or
destroyed by his wife. By and by his bet
ter nature found room for the expression OF a