Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1880-07-29

TO help her"
"Well, who do you suppose would
help you if you needed helpp" said Mr..
Jarvis, FOR want of better question.
Mrs. JARVIS eyes sparkled angrily as sne
answered:
Nobody. If you should lose your
property to-day / should be beggar,
without acclaim on any one for help.
You have always held your purse strings
so tightly that it has been hard enough
to ask for my own necessities, leaving
others out altogether. Many time a
dollar or two would have enabled me to
do some poor man or woman untold
good, but although you have always
said that all your property was mine,
never could and cannot now command a
dollar of it."
Lucky you couldn't, if you wanted
to spend it on beggars."
Donald, you know that I would
sperd money as wisely as you do. Who
was it that, only last week, gave a poor
lame beggar five dollars to pay his fare
to Burton, and then saw him throw his
crutches aside and make for the nearest
saloon ? Your wife could not do worse
if trusted with few dollars. You say
that the money is all mine, yet you
spend it as you please, while cannot
spend dollar without asking you for
it, and telling what l want it for. Any
beggar can get it the same way Christ
mas you bought presents for US and ex-
pected us to be very grateful for them.
A shawl for me OF the very color that /
cannot wear, setof furs for Lucy that
she did not need, drum for Robin that
has been a nuisance ever since, and a
lot of worthless toys that were all
broken up in aweek. There was forty
or fifty dollars of my money just the
same as thrown away, yet when ask
you to trust me with two dollars q week
you cannot imagine what use have for
it, and fear it will be wasted. I am
sure l could not spend fifty dollars more
foolishly if l tried to-"
"Well," snapped the proprietor, '.I
guess it is my own money, and | can
spend it as please. | guess you'll know
it. too, when you get another present" I"
''Oh, it is your money then. / under
stood you to say it was all mine, and in
tended to protest against your spending it
so foolishly. Ifit is your own, of course,
you have right to spend it as you
please, but ii seems to me that woman
who left parents and brothers and sis
ters, and all her friends, to make home
for you among strangers. a woman who
has given her whole life to you for fif-
teen years, might be looked upon with
as much favor as you give to beggars.
who are very likely to be impostors. /
know that you seldom turn them off
without help. Perhaps I would be
more successful if / appealed to you as
d beggar. l might say, kind sir, please
allow to me out of your abundant
means a small pittance for my comfort
1t is true that have enough to eat, al
though | work for my master from
morning till night, and if his children
happen to be sick, from night until
morning again, yet he does not pay me
rs much as he does his cook, and | am
often greatly distressed for want of a
trilling sum which he would not mind
giving to a perfect stranger! The other
day while he was from home, had TO
20 to the next station to see q dear
friend who was i'll, and, not having a
dollar of my own, was obliged to bor-
row 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 1 had
not even five cents to pay for handful
for her. Yesterday friend came to ask
me to assist in work of charity. 1t
was worthy object, and 1 longed so
much to give her a little money for so
good purpose, but though the wife of
a rich man / had no money. OF course
1 might ask my husband for money,
and if told him all about what I
wanted with it, and he approved of nv
purpose, and was in a good humor, he
would give it to me; but, sir, it is ter
ribly slavish to have to do so, even if
could run to him every time wanted
anything. People say am q fortunate
woman because my husband is rich, but
often envy the factory girls their
ability to earn and spend their own
money. And sometimes | get so wild
thinking about my helplessness that if it
was not for my children think I should
just drop into the river and end it all. -
Nettie! Nettie Jarvisi What are
you sayingp" cried the startled hus-
band at last, for the far away look in
her eyes as if she did not see him, but
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 way. He was
proud to be able to support his family
as well as he did. He was proud to
think he did it himself 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 flourish. He was not
one of the stingy kind-he liked to spend
money; and when Nettie. who was once
the most spirited young lady of his ac-
quaintance, came meekly to him for a
dress or cloak he was some times 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 any one had left his
wife legacy, thus allowing her to be
independent of his purse. The idea OF
her earning money, as his other work
folks did, never entered his mind. lie
" supported her." that was bis idea OF
their 1elationsi He never had happened
to think that it was very good of her to
take his money and spend it for the
good of himself and children. Henever
had thought that any other woman
would have wished big pay for doing it.
He had even thought himself 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 moi
generous, not even just to his vile