Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1877-03-29
In the Footsteps of The Astors.

! A MunSOn street man being told that
there were several pieces of tin which
needed mending, conceived the idea OF
getting an iron and solder and doing
the mending himself. His wife, filled
with vague forebodings perhaps, said
that the expense was such trifle that
it would hardly pay to do it ones self,
| to which he responded:
! "I'll admit that, in this one instance
it would not pay: but there is some
thing being in want Of repair every
little while, and if [ have the tools
here for fixing it we are saved just sc
much expense right along. 1t may moi
be much in the course of a year; but
every little helps, and in time the to-
tai amounts to a nice little lump; we
don't Want the Astors Juggling off all
/ the money in the country!'
He got the iron, one dollar and fifty
cents worth of solder, and ten cents
worth Of resin. He came home with
! these things and went into the kitchen
looking so proud and happy that his
| wife would have been glad he got
them were it not for an overpowerine
dread of an impending muss. He
called for the articles needing repair
His wife brought out a pan.
"Where's the rest? Bring 'em all
out. an let me make one job Of 'em
while I'm about it.
He got them all, and seemed to be
disappointed that there were not more
of them. He pushed the iron into the
fire, got a milk.pan inverted on his
knees, and with the solder in his hand
waited for the right heat.
s'That iron only cost q dollar, and
it'll never wear out: and there is
enough solder in this piece to dc
twenty-five dollars worth of mend
ing" he explained to his wife.
Pretty soon the iron was at right
heat, he judged. He rubbed the resin
about the hole which was to be re-
paired, and held the stick of solder
over it, and carefully applied the iron
It was an intensely interesting mo-
ment. His wife watched him with
feverish interest. He said, speaking
laboriously, as he applied the iron:
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
is-that.1-did-not:think-o getting this
| befOre-We-"
Then assembled through that ceiling
and up into the very vaults of heaven
the awfulest yell that woman ever
heard and the same instant the sol
dering-iron flew over tie stove. thu
pan went Gathering across the floor
and the bar of solder struck the wal
| with such force as to smash right
through both the plaster and lath
and before her Mortified gaze danced
her husband in ecstasy of agony, sob
bling, screaming, and holding on hi:
left leg as desperately as if it wa!
made Of gold and studded with dia
mOnds.
"Get the camphor, why don't you 2
he yelled. ''Send for doctor
Oh, oh, Pm dead man - he shouted
just then his gaze rested on the sol
dering iron. In an instant he caught
it up and hurled it through the win
dow without the preliminary of raising
the sash.
1t was some time before the thor
oughly frightened and confused woman
learned that some of the molten solder
had run through the hole in the PAL
on to his leg, although she knew from
the first that something of an unusua
nature had occurred. She didn't sent
for the doctor. She made and applied
the poultices herself to save expense
She said:
eve don't want the Astors Juggling
off all the money in the country
>1s-
An American Institution.
From the Methodist.
The wonders Of American marriage
would, if they could be truly describ
ed, interest European people more
than the rude and boisterOus life de
scribed by Bret Harte. 1t would as
tOnish a Frenchman, for example, t.
know that American fathers rear thei]
daughters in luxury, smile on thel1
marriages with penniless clerks, ant
make absolutely no provisions of :
steadfast kind for the future of these
| daughters. The Frenchman might
ask in amazement, not why poor hus
band is accepted, but how the daugh
ter of luxury is to be provided for, ant
on what resources her children are t
lean? He would probably be tol(
that the fathers mission ended witt
the daughters marriage; he would SEE
a c0mplacent smile on the father:
face as his friends congratulated him
and would slowly gather in that thi!
complacency had two factors: 81
have done my duty by her, and it il
over at last
For our part, we have ceased to pity
poor girls growing up in scanty homes
and marrying penniless young men
The girls are trained for the life tina
awaits them. They must be conten
with little all their lives but all theil
youth has been a preparation for sucl
content. But daughter bred in lux
urious idleness, taught none of thu
economies that belong to humble life
! and then married without dover, de
serves more pity than men usually be
stow upon her. And her husband, full
of enterprise and capacity, takes up ;
burden whose weight love may lighter
but cannot carry. Business failures
broken homes. miseries, and crimes lii
behind this curtain.
! There is no satire so keen, if we ha(
eyes to see and ears to hear, as tina
which is enacted when fond fathcI
gives the penniless youth. to whom III
also gives his daughter, a sum O.
money to be invested in business. Al
though any of US could overlook for ,
moment the perils of business-th'
fact that, failure is the rule and sue
cess the exception. Ina few years tn,
business will break down, and tn,
young wife, with children at her knees
will realize little what it is to b,
poor and the husband, whose bust
ness was broken under the strain O.
living expenses, will realize a littl,
what it is to marry portionless chilt
Of luxury. For she was really portion
less. The European system of dowe1
would have invested her fortune il
the most secure way, would have KEEP
it religiously secured to her AM
her children. SO that whateve
vicissitudes attended the business o
her husband, her living would hav'
been secure.
One View OF the Tramp Question.
The following extract from DIR. Ho]