The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-04-03
JONES s. CO.
By LITTLE MARY JANE JONES.

SOSS AoOS WY came Dy way OF New
YORK and Washington, and Panama
City, IN 8 steamboat, and ma brought a
maid to wait on her, and pa had black
teller named jim" and when they got
70 California pa bsd lots of money
was born at the Lick House, and You
ought to see my baby clothes. Jones &
Go. haven't the kind OF goods them was
because Maud has draggled them all to
pieces. Maud ia the baby, Six year.
old Maud Is, and it won't be long be-
fore she viii be clerk in Jones & Co. /
First babies always have the incest
things. Ma saws first babies are like
second wives. But keep getting away
from Jones & Co.
Well, am OF the opinion that after
pa bought his house on Van Ness ave
nue., he went into stocks, whatever that
means. Going into stocks must be q very
curious business, and some lines pa came
home looking splendid, and wanted to
buy everything, and laughed at ma for
being 90 mean, and not getting better
clothes, and then he wanted to drive 10
the park and 90 to the theatre. One
day he came home with a brand>new
carriage and span of lJng-tailed horses,
and negro coschman, and q funny
little daTkey for tootman. 1t was for
ma, and we rode every day. Then some
times pa came home and looked very
blue, and talked about stocks, and i
began TO watch pa, and noticed that
sometimes when he laughed loudest he
looked just az if be wanted to cry, and
then he sold the horses, and then the
house, and the furniture was sent to
auction, and ma che felt very bad. and
pa wasn't like himself any more, and
never told me stories nor kissed me and
once when Baby Maud was asleep in his
arms, he kissed her and cried, and when
l told ma, she said she guessed pa did
not feel very well, and that I must't
notice 1T, and then she cried.
Alter this we went to a boarding.
house, nasty mussy clearinghouse
Everything was well enough, only 8
clearinghouse amt like home.
Then the baby came, and it died, and
ma almost died, and / heard pa say tt
the man that kept the boarding house
that ne was pretty tight up, but it wa
all comm out right" and the next day
pa didn't have any watch, nor any sleeve
buttons. l didn't seem to notice it be
cause L seen that may be pa had sole
them to pay his board, and I heard D,
and ma talk away into the night, anC
sometimes ma cried, and pa would lool
In the morning just as if he hadn't slep
wink, and don't believe he had. One
1t was dreadful. Pa came home tipsy
and never seen ma feel so bad, ever
and then they talked i. over, and finally
ma went home to grandpa's, in New
York, with Maud, and I stayed with d.
to go TO school.
Then pa kept getting worse and worse
and we went to live in rooms and eat a
restaurants, and pa stayed out lat
nights, and guess he drank more thar
was good for him and I thought some
thing had to be done. So I said to d
one day: Pa, less go into business ant
open 8 store"
And he laughed and said: "Wha
kind OF store?"
Aud 1 said: "Oh, a candy store, or
stationery store, or a thread and needl
store, just such as women keep and Iittl
girls help in"
And pa laughed and said he woul,
think OF 1t, and when he came home tina
night asked him if he had though
about it, and he said he hadn't, and
said he had better, and he said he would
and that morning he didn't so out bu
stayed at home and wrote ma a lon
letter.
So next day I went into store Of
Polk street kept by nice lady who ha,
bad husband, where they sold every
thing, and she said in France they calle,
1t lingerie.
l uIdn't know what that meant be
cause it was French, and I asked her
she didn't want to sell her store, and sh
said:
"Do you want to. buy a-store, it'll
girl2''
And I said NV pa does" An,
she smiled and she said she guessed tn
sheriff would have a store to sell In fey
days, and / said l would tell pa becaus
he knew Mr.. Nunan, the sheriff. It wa
one of Mr.. humans men that sold pa
horses and furniture for him.
And the next day told pa about tn
store and what q nice one it was, and b
said he had been a dry-goods man once
had had large store, and sold silk dress
goods, and velvets and furs, and lace.
worth ever so much a yard, and Indi
shawls worth more than thousand do
lars apiece.
/ don't know exactly what pa did, bu
/ think something turned MP" a fe,
days af'erwSrd, for I heard him say b
had made raise" and he showed N
more than a thousand dollars in Qol
notes, and for day or two he carrie
them in side pocket, and mostly ker
his hand over them for fear they woul
jump out and fly away; and pa bough
me some shoes and hat, and stuff fC
aprons, and ] made them mvself. and
never saw pa look so happy since M
went away and one day he said 10 me
Vevie, l have bought the store O
Polk street, and you are to be my sale
woman and partner"
And sure enough, in q few DAYS y
went into the store, and over the doc
was great big sign of Jones q Co..
and pa said was the " Co." And wbe
l said, and so, ,iyou are JONES'"
blushed, and 1 guess he don't like h
old friends to know that he was selin
needles, and thread, and tape and thing
We had two snug little rooms in I'll
back of the store to sleep in, and mad
pas bed and swept ont the rooms, an
tidied things. AT FIRST pa shut up th
etore when he had to go down town O
business, but after little while tende
it and when there were two customers
the store / waited on one, and it WASH
long before I could make change an
sell things, and add up almost as good ,
pa could and by>and-by when he weT
down town tended store, and we hs
splendid times. We went out to a nj,
place across the street for our meals.
tended store when pa went and pa tende
store when ] went.
One day pa came in and looked drea,
full troubled, and when I said, "P
amt I a partner, and don't partners hay
q right to know everything, ard ain
you hiding something about Jones
Coz" And then 1 found out thst I
had bought too many things for Il
store, and that note for a thousand do
lars had to be paid, and there wasn't az
money TO pay it With, and that's VIII