The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1876-10-11
ssGREAT EXPECTATIONS. ,,
BY GEORGE DUDLEY LAWSON.

BY GEORGE DUDLEY LAWSON.
.'Heigho y said Sammy Alillet; ..this
is the straw that fits both proverbs ::
it shows how the wind blows, ' and
breaks the cancels back, > betokens
a cold blast and q complete fracture. z
}Z 'sWhat's the matter now o. asked
Mrs. Sammy, as she rested her brush
armed hands on the stove She was
blacking. ''You haven't lost your
place, have you, or been warned out
again because the tormenting rent is
two whole months behindhand p
'tWorse than that. Uncle Polydor
is coming: He writes to say that we
may confidently look for him on Thurs
day. Here it is Monday, and not a
cent in the house how in the world
will we manage his soups and chick
ems and jellies- much of either, but
little of all. he is such an invalid
[ wish Uncle Polydor was in Labrador,
frozen several miles deep in an ice
berry,
''For shame, Samuel Millet - cried
Mrs. Sammy, rising to her feet, and
tracing in black lead the course of her
finger in following and replacing a
stray lock of reddish hair which swept
her face. ''Think of little Sammy and
Jennie and Willie and Minnie, and
s'There, there, my love, enumera-
ton is both useless and suggestive,
and I have heard it twice year ever
since we have been married. The old
story, my dear-a rich relation and
poor expectants. His money keeps
him alive; our poverty is killing us
by inches; you and I and all of us will
be under the daisies long before Uncle
Polydor Millet thinks of dying, and
then where is all our sacrifice, our
pinching, or scraping, that he may
have luxurious ease for a fortnight,
and we comfortless toll the other fifty
weeks of the year?''
''Let us make the best of it. and
hope for even better return,'' replied
Mrs. Sammy, who was a bright little
body, ever prone to look on the sunny
side of everything.
every fine, my dear, but hope is a
poor diet; you can't fry it,or butter it;
or pledge it at the pawn shop
"But you CAN enjoy it, and dream
about it, and be just as grand as the
princes and princesses in the fairy
tales; and when the castles tumble
down they don't make any dust or
noise or hurt anybody. Uncle Poly
dor has never given us anything but
his company as yet, but he is, O, so
rich =! and we'll get the more by biding
our time.''
Samuel hadn't the heart to dampen
her spirits by telling her how miser-
able he felt over the prospect. Only
by the closest economy was he able to
keep bread in the mouths Of his fam
lily now; but when at least two dollars
a day more expenses were to be in
even his trustful reliance on
good luck was powerless to cheer him.
Uncle POlydor has sold out a prosper
Gus business in the ship chandlerying
line some twenty years ago, and sim
ply because (he did not scruple to
avoW it) the seven OF eight boys of his
three brothers in the country would or
might be thrown on his hands in the
of clerks, to be taken care of
and instructed in the mysteries Of
trade and commerce. But when the
boys grew up and married, the re-
tired ship chandler divided his days
among them, visiting them all twice
or thrice a year, and gracing their re-
spective households from week to a
month at a time. He was rich, and by
and parsimony, was adding to
his wealth year by year, but never a
penny fell among the generation of the
Millets he patronized.
Even his travel was wrung from
them in the guise of drives in the
country or little company trips on the
railroad, when he was ready to leave
town. He was an invalid by profes.
sion, and could only subsist on the
daintiest and choicest food, and con-
trived to keep each nephew and wife
disposed to cater to him by equivecal
hints which the nearer always inter-
preted into promises of sole legatee-
ships, with attendant conveniences.
AS a consequence, no poverty was dis
cernable in the houses where he So
journed tables were always furnished
with his favorite viands, and shabby
apparel was replaced by weekday use
of Sunday suits; plenty seemed to
reign where he appeared, and with the
children he was prime favOrite, for
his advent meant meat at every meal,
and pie after dinner. Uncle Polydor
had a distaste for stale food, and so
took the children's part that few
scraps were left for return dishes.
hashes, or stews. But the heads of
the families groaned in secret, and
only smothered their resentment when
the thought of 81 will and bequeath'
came into their minds.
Sammy Mil]et, underpaid clerk in an
attorneys Office, was about to be made
a periodical victim once more, and the
notification nv 1attnr-stamn kindly