Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1874-08-07

|
his appearance, and was pleased when he
said he should call again and see how the
faucet worked, He did call again He
called again. He offered to show Melihdy
the way to the Methodist Church nearest
her masters house. He escorted her to
weekly prayer'meetings after awhile as
| regularly as Friday tame round, II we
are rather hurryipg our relation of a
matter which seemed to Melindy as grad
ual and as natural as the course of the
lseasons, IL Is to.denonstrate, that she did
have some small consultations and allevia-
ltions in.her new hfe, before we relate its
disagreeable features-for there were
plenty Of these. Mr.. Griffin was scarce
established in his new quarters before he
began to find 0ut-what many others
have found before him-that housekeep-
ing is more expansive for small family
than cheap Boarding. Little expenses
l crept upon his purse daily, that wrung
| his small soul bitterly He could not
| well afford the time to enter into the de-
1 tail himself; but he felt forced to do it,
and, after a series of exhaustive calcula-
tion add the experiment of two of the
longest months he had ever passed, he es-
tablished schedule of quantities and
prices for Melindy's guidance that she
both scolded and laughed over, but all
In vain. .
!" / should like TO know, Mr.. Griffin,
| however you're to have molasses cake
once week for your Sunday tea, and
sweeteRin' in the pies, and sass to your
! griddles (deai reader, she meant cakes
fried on a griddle It is an abstruse
figure of speech) on pint of molasses a
week."
"Leave off the cake, then, Melindy,"
responded the stern guardian of cents.
! And a pound of butter weeki My
goodness gracious! Your mother and me
used three"
| g"Well, you won't here. 1t is strange
enough how little il cost you two to live
| In Peterstown and what you spend here"
"Land alive ! We jest about lived on
garden sass, nd eggs, nd old hens md
salt pork. We raised the sass in the
garden ourselves, nd the chickens picked
up livin' round the lots. We killed off
I AL but two hens nd a rooster, hong in
the fall"
hWell, well, wellp growled Mr..
Griffin. We've got TO live; but l won't
have extravaganza"
"And won't starve, neitherr st1utly
answered MeliPdfy got aoad can t1epp tt places aDd
good wages, Mr.. Griffin. But calculate
to stay with you for a spell, if you treat
me halfway decent; cause liked your
mother real well and j GENE here u pur-r
pose. But--,r ~ - 4a %&as "a y
Mr. Griffin stopped the incipient threat
Melindy had cowed him. q He looked
with horror at the loss of time and
money that would follow on. another
overturning of his household gods.
"Well, well, Melindy, you shant
starve; only do your best to save what
you can. Living is awful in New York.
I'm not rich man, Melindy; but de
pend on you to stay. You promised for
a year, you know"
Mr. Griffin told two lies in this brief
speech; but far better men than he, yea,
men whom | have known mighty in
church and state, men. of spotless stand
ing and unimpeachable piety, will lie on
a matter of business. They don't call a
spade a spade, to be sure; lying has as
many aliases as sneak-thief. And to
lie about buying and selling is probably
sad but stern necessity In fact, as my
very candid washerwoman said to me,
the other day. "Sure, we'd niver get
along without bit iv lie sometimes"
| feel strange want of faith in her eX-
cuses and pitiful tales ever since. l
also find that do not believe with alac-
rity the statements of A, B and G. whom
| have casually detected in practicing
the same little necessity; but then | am
an old-fashioned person, out of date.
Yes, Mr.. Griffin told two lies. He said
he was not rich. 1t is true riches are
comparative. He was worth half mill
ion but how many men are worth three
whole ones. On the whole, / am ready
to agree with Mr.. Griffin's lie, for in spirit
it was true. He was poor man, poorer
than the cripple who sold him his daily
paper, for that cripple had heart and a
hOme-cellar if it were. 1t held a loyal,
loving woman's heart and the rich prom
Use of a childs joyful, tender life aluXu-
ries too great. for Mr.. Griffin. Doubly
poor he was, for he had no wealth of re-
| source, no true friends, no delight of life
and living, no enjoyment of his boards
except in their boarding, no keen pleas
ure of the eye that seeing him blessed
him, and the ear that hearing his voice
reJoiced One day there should ring in
his ears, too late, the awful admonition
that the poor of his sort receive:
Because thou sayest | am rich and
increased with goods and have need of
nothing, and knowest not that thou art
wretched and miserable and poor and
blind and naked, counsel thee to buy
of me gold tried in the fire, that thou may
est be rich"
The other lie was about Melindy's prom
Use. He had said Iexpect you to stay
with me one year on trial" and, being
| busted about some imminent matter, Me
| Indy made no answer. "Silcnce gives
consent" must be Mr. Griffin's excuse
| for this lie
SO Melinda stayed and economized
and grew thin, but happy; for after the
Nnl at.
retired to the small parlor and studied
the newspapers, made his plans for the
next days campaign, summed up his
gains and losses, gave that which he
4 called his soul to the utter contemplation
of stocks and bonds, lowered like a very
busy and anxious bee over the respective
morning-glory flowers of Harlem, Erie,
Pacific, New York Central, Airline and
so on, dd IlauSednl, betaking himself to
the deafness of an oyer-wrought brain
which took the place of sleep with him
about ten o'clock leaving Melindy free
7 for prayer-meeting or for housekeeping
I-the days one rest for her-when some
times good book John Perkins lent her,
sometimes the weekly paper from Pc
terstown, not unfrequently the presence
of John Perkins himself, come for "a
dish of talk" as Melindy said, satisfied
her honest, uneXactlng soul and kept her
content For it cannot be denied that at
first Melindy was bitterly homesck.
"York," as place of residence, had lost
all the fair aspect distance lent 1t. Broad
way and its tabled glories were two good
miles away from Melindy. She had
neither time nor money to explore its
magnifcence; she had not even been t.
Barnum's Museum. The ways of house
keeping in city fiat were entirely new
to her and very hard. Her outdoors wa;
gone, and every country housekeepel
knows what a refreshing margin out
doors" is. Melindy grew pale, sometimes
listless. She began 90 save ahetsmoHey
to turn and twist her dresses, old anc
plain now, into some vague attempt
at fashion. She would have been spoiled
washed out, and pressed down into |
drudge of the merest routine but fol
| JOhn perkins