Wilmington daily commercial., 1873-12-16
Farme.s wives.
THE PArHos THAT Is OFTEN sEES IL coUSraY
STORES.

TIE PATHos THAT Is OFTEN SEEN II C9USrGY
STORES.
The following contribution to an Iowa paper
will apply - many other rural ATTITUDES:
guess merchants who catch the country trade
6nd It q familiar scene enough-the farmers
wife hesitsting and hoping ard fearing over hsr
poor little purchases Of sugar and cahco-teA TO
one the calico is for the baby-Nhile the farmer
stands by, grumbling at her wants, andldol:ng
out the money ss il be we're giving it to some
sloushy, troublesome btgsAr, who hadn't suy
claim upon him.
Not being country merchan. l can't get used
10 the pAiufulness Of such scene. Il makes me
not only melancholy but mad, madder still when
l observe how meekly the wife accepts the re-
luctAnt pittance, and unqusstionsbly she seems
10 believe that the family groceries and proE.
AionB are OF her own private consumption.
presume very many Of these farmers wives must
return from such shopping experience feeling
decidedly like go many thieves aud assa5sinz for
having wasted their hush ands substance in
notous parcels OF LEoEn sugar aad uublsaehed
Ibeeting.
I've no doubt they do peuauca for il " work.
ing still harder through hrayest, and going with
out some extrATagauce they have Get their
hearts on-a pair Of shoes. perhaps or swell
dress for the baby. The little woman l saw to-
day looked az II she bGdsspsnt the golden autumn
alternately in the harvest fed and kitchen. A
kind, sensible face serious with maternal care
and Drowned by suu and wind, with pair Of
been sparkling With the hopes Of happy girl
hoo3-thSt looked az IL they nigh: sparkle sui
II given half chance.
II fact they did light up a good deal as she
looked In her husbands face . .how he sd.
nired baby in his new cap Tney darkened plt.
hunT enough when he saTagely called it hun-
bug and glArea a. both wife and baby as il they
were couple of brp &c WHOM he o lght to Kill.
You've spent Il pretty pie Of money, you
have be added with an audible grow.
m in n E1 a
Pour dollars and half and yet you ANT
a'i fed II the man's tongue had been ra
zor it couldn't have spoken more cutiipgly. 1t
cut the little woman. Her cheeks REDEEMED un-
der heir brorn, and felt rather than sa. that
tear. mad started TO lher eyes, and we're trem.
bling oD the crspy, curling lashss in spite Of
her brave effort 70 keep thGm back.
81 didn't think it was 60 much !" she faltered.
sOt course not Tour arithmetic 10 about
like the old womans dictionary You'd better
tackle the multiplication table when you get.
home
And here, having raised his voice for tie ben
eft OF the people standing near he looked
around for applauding smiles. IAe wife laugh
cd little, as II TO assure US that this was moth
ing but the tenderest bit OF pleasantly ia the
world, but knew the glory Of the new cap had
departed, and that all OF the purchases covered
by that mighty four dollars aud half would
smack of the gall of bitterness.
took look al this noble-t work OF God He
was quite in keeping with his conduct-a small
thin. wlry, smoke-drled specimen OF humanity,
with an aggressive beak Of uose and narrow
sloping shoulders, as il from creeping through
Imall places, The sort OF a man who wouldn't
be seen knocking his wife down and dancing a
Highland fling on her stomach but that almost
worse man Twas about to say, who day after
day emGitters and makes life hateful TO her with
Just such small. unceasug, legal meanness as
this which he exhibited to-day. man careful
to bis hoTses-because new horse costs more