The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-12-08

pected US to be thankful for them. A
shawl for me OF the very co.or l can not
| wear, set of furs for Lucy that she did not
need, drum for Rotin that has been q
nuisance ever since, and lot of worthless
toys that are broken up in week. There
were forty or fifty dollars of my money just
the same rs thrown away, yet when / ask
you to trust me with two dollars week you
can not imagine what use have for it, and
fear it will be wasted. l am sure l could
not spend fifty dollars more foolishly If
tried.
"Well," snapped the proprietor, al guess
it is my own money. and can spend 1t as
please. l guess you'll know it, too, when
you get another present"
''Oh, it is your money then. I understood
you to say that it vas all mine, and pre-
tended to protest against your spending it
so foolishly. If tits your own, of course you
have right to spend it as you please, but
| it seems to me that woman who left parents
and brothers and sisters, and all her friends,
to make home for you among strangers, a
woman who has given her whole life to you
for fifteen years, might be looked upon with
as much favor as you give to beggars. who
are very likely to be imposters. know
that you seldom turn them off without help
Perhaps L would be more successful if
I appealed to you as beggar. might say:
/ Kind sir. please allow me out of your abund-
ant means small pittance for my comfort.
1t is true have enough to eat. and do not
suffer for clothing; but. although 1 work fer
my master from morning to night, and if
his children happen to be sick. from night
until morning again, yet he does not pay me
as much as he does his cook, and am often
greatly distressed for want of trifing sum
which he would not mind giving to per-
feet stranger. The other day while he was
from home, had to go to the next station
to see dear friend who was i'll, and not
having dollar of my own, was Obliged
to borrow the money from his cook. was
so mortified And not long since the berry
woman came with such nice berries to sell,
and my little girl who was not well, wanted
some very badly, but had not even five
cents to pay for a handful for her. Yester-
day friend came to ask me to assist in a
work of charity. 1t was a worthy object,
and i longed so much to give her little
money for so good purpose, but though the
wife of rich man / had no money. OF
course might ask my husband for money,
and if told him about what wanted with
it, and he approved of my purpose, and was
a
sir, it is terribly slavish to have to do go,
even if could run to him every time
wanted anything. People say am for
tunate woman because l am rich; but
often envy the factory girls their ability to
earn and spend tneir own money. And
sometimes l get so wild thinking of my help
| lessness that if it were not for my children
think l would just drop into the river and
end it all.
''Nettiel Nettie JarvisI What are you
saying2" cried the startled husband at last
/ tor the far away look in her eyes rs if she
did not see him, bit was looking to some
higher power to help her. touched his pride
if it did not his heart, for he had a good deal
of pride in selfish sort of a way. He was
proud to be able 10 support his family as
we'll as he did. He was proud that when
his children needed new shoes he could tell
his wife to take them to Crispin's and get
what they needed. He did it with -four
ish. He was not one of those stingy kind;
he liked to spend money; and when Nettie,
who was once the most spirited young lady
of his acquaintance, came meekly to him for
dress or cloak, he was sometimes tempted
to refuse her money just to show her how
helpless she was without him. Yes, he was
proud of his family, and wanted them TO
feel how much they depended upon him.
He would have felt aggravated if anyone
had left his wife u legacy, thus allowing her
to be Independent in her purse. The idea
of her earning money, as his other work
folks did, never entered his mind He "sup-
ported her," that WIS his idea of their rela-
tionsl He never had happened to think
that it was very goOd Of her to take his
money aud spend it for the good of himself
and children. He never had thought that
any other woman would have wanted big
pay for doing it. He had even thought him
self very generous for allowing her money
To get things to make the family comfortable
Things began to look differently to HIM Just
now. Could it be that he was not generous,
not even just to his wife Had be paid her
so poorly for her fifteen years of faithful
labor for him that If she had been Obliged
too begin the world for herself that day, it
would have been as a penniless woman,
Notwithstanding the houses, the lands and
mills that he had so often told her were all
hers; for he knew, as every one else did,
that not one dollar Of all he had would the
law allsw her to call her own
How fast he thought, standing there at
the office window looking down at the little
houses where the mill hands lived. Could
~ UO pOSclOlo Ills Wllc CuftCu butIu any
thing2 Could il be that he was not as good
a man rs he thought? he had felt deeply
the wrongs of the slaves, whose labors had
been appropriated by their masters, and
when a negro who had worked twenty years
for his master before the emancipation freed
him, came to Jarvis mills, friendless and
penniless, the heart of the proprietor swelled
with indignation at such injustice. He was
eloquent on the subject, at home and abroad,
and wondered how any one could be SO
cruel and selfish as to commit such an out
rage against justice. He had called him q
robber manga time, but now Donald Jarvis
looked to himself very much like the old
slaveholdersl Massa Brown had taken the
proceeds of Cutfee's labor for his own with
out even ''thank you" for it. True. when
Cutiee ate be had given him food, when be
was sick he had given him medicine. and he
had clothed him, too, just rs he himself
thought best. Mr.. Jarvis had married
lovely, conscientious woman, and for fifteen
years had appropriated her labors. Her
recompense had been food and clothes, such
MS be thought best for her; little better
than Cuffee's perhaps, but the similarity of
the cases did not please him. He had ex-
pected his wife to be very grateful for what
he bad done for her, but now he wondered
that she had not rebelled long ago Had
his life been mistaken Had his wife no
more money or lib rty than Cuffee had in
bOndagel Was Donald Jarvis no better
than Massa Brown2