The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1877-10-02

our income by any hocus pocus 2--sucli
things have happened. What should we
do p"' f,l 3sft .
"Do? Why, do what other people
do. Everybody seems to get along.
Creditors allow you something, don't
they-so much a day ~ And then Rex
burst out in great laugh, and cried:
You are certainly incorrigible, you
lovely little idiotv' And we were off for
a drive, and that was the end of that les
son.
Every once in while Reginald used
to have one Of these fits of economy. His
mother would say to me, when she came
over: " Acquiesce in it agree with him
do your best to meet his wishes, when the
fit is on; he'll soon get all he wants Of
it, And so he did. -z.--.-zz-.-
You know our little place on the Maui
ginog beach 7 Well, it's so lovely that
we determined to make it our permanent
home, and go to the city and hotel for
two or three of the worst winter months,
but give up the city house, and have only
one establishment. Gen, Durccau's is at
the head of the cliff, and he lives there
the whole year round. Mrs. Gleason s
directly adjoining, and we are down be-
low on the Long beach, where l don't
know how many ships have come and no
end of aotsam and jetsam. as Rex calls
it, Spurs come ashore; bales; bottles
holding letters; drift wood half ground
to powder; once l picked up a sailors
cap, and once, do you believe, cradle
with little baby in it, sound asleep, and
rocking 50 sweetly on the waves-l did
so want to keep it; but, OF course mo-
Their had to turn up, rescued, too, ON the
other side of Gen. Durceau's cliff Well.
one afternoon, Rex and were walking on
the Long beach, making believe look for
the quicksand. 1t was after dinner time
we had expected Col. McManus, but he
hadn't come-and of course was nicely
dressed. / always do dress for Rex, but
l had taken unusual pains, to-day, Tor
Rex had some business reasons for desi
ring to make an uncommonly good i'm.
preston on the colonel. The colonel was
securing charter for some tremendous
undertaking-tunneling Cotopaxi or the
the Atlantic, or something of the sort,
sure to make the everlasting fortune OF
all included, and Rex wished to be inclu-
ded; and the colonel was SO irascible,
and so important and pompous and
naughty, that we wanted that he should
have the best of everything; SO, in his
absence, magnificent dinner was spoiled
and my superb toilet lost. | had never
worn my dress before, either it was just
the lovelicst shade OF royal purple. mel
ted amethyst, and it was deadened, and
half covered with black lace, my best and
dearest, fine as a cohweh. ut course II
..~-a-.--'-.----- s,S..oir ~ ufr'"E. -
us have a five minutes stroll" said Rex.
" Perhaps the old blokc went to the other
station; Ill send Terrence round;' and
/ had just thrown on my scarf, and gath
cred my dress up out ofharm's way-thc
beach couldn't hnrt my gold cable chain,
nor my pink corrals, born of the sea it.
sclf-and had run after him. We hadn'
taken ten steps before l found that the fit
was on, and that he had it bad The fac,
was, that, comfortable as we were, Rex
had become discontinued among richer
people, and was nursing the idea that he
should like to be millionaire, and there
were some excellent schemes and chances
for capital that he knew about, and il
vexed him to think he had no capital to
spare; and he dwelt on it, and dwelt on
it.. 1t seemed to him SO ignoble to be
living off his grandfather's entailcd estate
and to be making nothing Of bis own
and as we spent every penny, every year
he decided that the way to get any CAPT
tai was to save some, and that l was the
one to save it, and if he could only force
me into beginning. the thing would be
done by natural momentum. But there
could he change the spots on the leop
ard
"See herer' said he that afternoon, as
we walked, "look at that! Enough wooc
to last us the year round, thrown on this
shore, and nobody picking upa stick o.
it,"
cit is nothing but chips" said I.
"Chips ?" said he. - Let me tell you
chips make as good blaze as heart car
wish. We could burn these chips in
every CRATE we have; and some OF then
are goodly pieces"
"And 90 without our beautiful sea
coalfre r 5a
"Our sea. coal costs us thirty dollars {
ton, and these chips cost nothing. Isup
pose if they did cost thirty dollars ton
ships would be chartered to bring then
from the ends of the earth. AS tits, Ter
renee could be gathering them when he
has nothing else to do. And as for beau
ty, Clara, should like to soc any one
compare the beauty of any coal with thai
of drift-wood blaze, rolling all manner
of splendid alkaline dyed flashes of col
or up the chimney
ooh, WE'LL" said l, if you think il
will be nice to have baskets Of these pow
erty stricken chips standing round the
hearth, making no end of dust and lit
ter, the fire fed every two minutes, OF
else all out, and the little sparks swapping
everywhere, you'd better try it. There's
no excuse for wood-fire, anyway, unless
it's of whole logs, with tremendous
cole of rod heat. in huge chimney big
enough to warm castle"
81 But they'd certainly burn in a kitch
en- stove"
"Id like to hear you asking Nora tc
burn them instead of her Lackawanna
and Franklin. They'd have time to dc
nothing else in the kitchen but feed Tho
fire. 'Tisn't even in the right shape fol
/ k;ndlings there"