The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1875-01-02
CHAPTER ~.
SOPHYs MISTAKE.

L ~~~N~ ~"J ""Sh I'"y PiN"~"'~" "NA' w
The door.
E 'Mrs. Homebody," said she, 81 am de-
lighted to see you. l think IF going up
town, where a good many of our friends
live, to look aOout little and see what l
would like to buy. Have you any obJec-
Hons, ma ami"
4 Mrs. Homebody intimated that she
didn't care much what became of her vis;-
fpr, provided she kept out Of the kitchen.
20 Sophy went up town, which, she un
ferstood the phrase, was up-sarret, and
there she visited one store-that is to say,
one trunk-after another, looking over
their contents with great deal Of curios-
ftE and talking to imaginary merchants As
- did 50, but finally returning every
ting to its place, with the remark that it
was pretty hard times, and she guessed she
fReuldn't buy-which was what she heard
I her mother say on similar occasions. AT
t'iast she came to the trunk in which \ was
buried. He heard her coming, and longed
70 get out, but could not speak. Under
ordinary circumstances greenbacks have
nothing to say except What yon read on
their faces, and that's not much in the
dark. Even when he entire money mark
ct is tight greenhacks merely get high"
and retire quietly to sleep it III.
This was favorite trunk Of Sophys, be-
cause it had brass knobs outside, which she
chose to consider gald, aud because, more
oyer, the upper part contained a venera-
BILE silk shawl and poke bonnet of very
ancient fashion, belonging To Aunt SOphrO-
t'nia. And when once, in the character of
Lady Gray, she had said to Aunt Sophro-
MIA (who was figuring for the time as the
Duchess Of East New York Dear Ouch
ess, If l should call at your c-old palace
GONE day, do you happen to have bonnet
and shawl that you c. .uld lend Inc for little
Sophy Homebodyl She hasn't anything
| fit to be seen, except what s locked III the
wardrobe for Sundays" the Duchess had
replied Certainly, my dear Lady Gray;
there q shawl and bonnet and gloves that
belonged to my Aunt Sopronia Only tell
your young friend to be very careful Of
them and bring them back in real good
erder."
On the present occasion, therefore,
Sophy, after pretending to ring at one Of
laA&e knobs, lifted the lid Of the trunk and
said brightly, ''Good morning. Isuppose
the Duchess is out It's no matter; will
just step up into her room after bundle"
Then she took out the shawl and drew it
| over her shoulders and pulled it back and
forward two or three times, as ladys lways
do, to settle it right. When that was satin
factory she extinguished herself with the
bonnet, which, once fairly on, permitted
her to see in no direction but straight
ahead. This formidable bonnet, with q
head away in the rear end of it, then
plunged its front into the trunkagaln, and
voice was heard saying from the int-rior:
''Why Eliza, where is the other glove"
Tor few minutes there was a very ener
getic search, extending gradually into those
down stairs parts Of the trunk with which
the Duchess had nothing to do Tho poke
bonnet rooted away af If it had been a rhi
noeeros, but finally it emerged triumI hSnt.
There, Elisa said Sophy, don't let me
ever catch you being 80 careless again. II
had not happened tI call that glove would
have been Lost and you might have been
put in prison, or sent to bed, or govdn, IS
knows. u
WitffGiat she shut the lid Of the golden
palace and went down stairs, with the
shawl TRAILING yard behind her, and the
bonnet scouting almost as far, one would
have said, in advance. On the fio)r below
she paused to put on her gloves, and %, in
the palm of the second glove she found X
Nov Sophy was by no means 50 ignorrnt
~ not TO know that Y vas money. Phil
osophers might doubt it; nevertheless, she
knew it. But her experience of money had
been confined to pennies and nickie half
dimes and ten cent notes, aud she thought
x was a ten cent note, only larger and
handsomer than usual. The discovery
seemsd quite providential to her. She
had been dunning her mother that very
morning for ten cents, fairly earned, ac-
eoriiag to agreement, by dressing her own
self (ah Sut the top button behind) for ten
mornings without once stopping to gossip
with the furniture or the canary, or pre-
tending that she was somebody else, or
worrying people with questions. SO she
trailed, % fast as dignity would allow,
down the next fight of stairs, to tell her
mother she had found ten cents, and to get
| permission tO con6scate it.
This brought her to the main floor, and
she still had 10 descend to the basement.
But Just as she reached the head Of the
basement stairs her mother, going to the
outer doOf below to answer a knock, and
not wishing, at that particular instant, to
appear e Lady Gray, and to be told by
her mother, in the presence of a stranger,
that she was merely silly child. traipsing
about in old duds that were a mile too
long for her, she drew back little and re-
l mained unseen. But she could see and
hear pretty clearly, and this is what she
saw and heard, though without under
standing il thoroughly:
When TIE door opened a threadbare,
STOPPING, premsturely old but very cheer
full and kindly man, with bundle in his
arms, stepped within. Good afternoon,
Mrs. Homebody have brought those
Chrstian Unions You know you wanted
prise for Mf. Homebody, perhaps" And
Old Morocco stold glance at Mrs. Home
body indicating All earnest hope that she
was in . real god d-natured, cash paying,
mood
But she Yves not particularly good-na-
tured Just then-nobody Is in the middle
Of baking land moreover she was in the
economical temper.
Eceann.J with some people means to
postpone paying debts and never to let 60
q bit Of money without being obliged to.
So she said, ihdifferently: "Well, you can
leave the hurdle and call again. We will
see if it sults
Old Morocco made another attempt. He
united the string, opened the bundle
fslyly putting the string in his pocket to
serve for another bundle) and displayed
the books.
There was no drubt it was a beautiful
piece Of work, and Mrs. Hnmebody could
not help saying so. But she still fought of
the evil moment of paying away money,
though she did not for an instant intend to
repudiate her obligations. Really" she
said, '.you must call again. cannot
possibly pay sRch large bill now"-here
she thought suddenly Of X up in the gar
ret and added. without great inconvsni-
ence: 'sThese are hard Times, you must