Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1879-10-30

pins.
Anything in the way of trade, Mrs. AL
den. to-dayY' asked the man.
mo, think not. My husband does not
like to buy of peddlers. He says / always
get cheated"
" Have you not as good right to have suit
able apparatus to work with as he has? He
has a new horse-rake and a hay-tedder, and
his wife is washing in a tub tied up with a
rope, and a wash-board that looks as if No
abs wife brought it out of the ark, and a
leaky WATERFALL a dipper without a ham
die; a broken mop-handle-bless me! Mrs.
Alden! What is the use? You had more
money when you married than he had, and
L would have tools to work with that were
comfortable, to say the least. He never
stops to think what a thing costs, if he
needs it, or if it will make his work easier.
1t tires you more to get along with these
things than it does to do your work.
Mrs. Alden sat down and looked the pro-
perty over. It was ridiculous to get along
in this way. The peddler was right; she.
had more money than her husband when
they started life, and she had worked harder
than ever he had. She had managed every
way to get along and he never thought she
needed anything new or convenient. Her
setting out was almost worn out and moth
ing was ever replaced. "You must make
it do; it costs everything to live r!'-and so
she had dragged along year after year, and
things wore out and were not replaced. A
big lump rose in her throat as she sat there
thinking.
What do you ask for your wash-tubs?: ~
she inquired at length.
"Two dollars for the large ones; a dollar
and a quarter for the next size. Mop-han-
dies for a quarter, W~ash-boards a quarter,
dippers 20 cents, brooms 30"
"Hand me down two wash-tubs, if you
please-one of each size a zinc wash-boarL,
too"
Eyes; and a pail and dipper, too? 1
would have Them"
And she did have them, and sundry other
necessary things, amounting in all to the
little sum of S12. She paid in barter, such
as feathers, rags, eggs, dried apples and but
ter, and went to work with renewed cour-
age; but she knew that her husband would
groWl at the outlay and expected a regular
tempest at dinner.
She was not disappointed. But she had
got the things and was glad of it and could
not feel very bad. Alden opened his eyes
in astonishment.
"You paid twice what the things are
worth. I could have bought them cheaper.
Wn ani11l ha un Onf olo,,c q xv|ifn 1npo nor -
81 suppose / have as good a right to judge
of what | need to do my work as you have
to get things to make your work easy and
| made up my mind to-day that when /
needed anything | should have it hereafter.
You know that every article | bought to-
day was actually needed in the house. Yoa
have said time and again you would get
them, but you never remember it. 1t is a
hard position for a woman to be placed in,
to have to do her work and nothing to do it
with. 1t is like the ancient Israelites, COM
PEELED to make bricks without straw, and I
am not going to do it any longer"
Cali owing to the hoop bursting off the
Wash-tub to-day"
"Yes, that was the last feather that broke
the camel's back that and the new horse
rake came too near together. could not
avoid contrasting your c~onveniences with
mine ; and you can see yourself how it
stood. You have every new machine that
is intended to make farm work easy, and |
have nothing at all"
Mr.. Alden said no more, but ate his din
ner in silence, and the hired men exchanged
significant glances at each other. They had
thought and spoken of the patience which
the little woman had shown in working at
such a disadvantage. and always irving to