Louisiana capitolian., 1880-06-01
BATON ROUGE, LA, TEUSDAY, JUNE L, 1880

have enough to eat, and do not suffer
for clothing, but, although l work foi
my master from morning till night, and
if his children happen to be sick. from
night until morning again, yet ho does
not pay me as much as he does his
cook, aud am often greatly distressed
for want of trilling sum which he
wouldn't mind giving to a stranger
Tho other day while be was from home,
l had to so to the next station to see a
dear friehd who was i'll, and not having
rs d5lfE m mystw ss0slty y6,lsu
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 l had not even five cents to pay for
a handful for her Yesterday friend
came TO ask me to assist in work of
charity. It was a worthy object and !
longcd SO much to give her q little
money for so good purpose, but
though the wife Of rich man had no
money. OF couIse, lmight ask my hus-
band for money, and if told him all
about what l wanted with it, and he
approved Of my purpose, and was i'll a
good humor, lie would give it to me |;
but, Sir, it is terribly slayish to have to
do so, even if could run to him every
time l wanted anything. People say l
am fortunate woman because my hus-
band is rich, but l often envy the fac
tory girls their ability to earn and spend
their own money. Aud sometimes |
get so wild thinking about my helpless
ness that if it was not for my CHILDREN
l think l should just drop into'sthe
river aud end it ALL serge.
'Nettie! Nettie jarvis! What are you
saying 2 cried the startled husband at
last, for the far away look in her eyes
as if she did not see him but was look
ing to some higher power to help her,
touched his pride, if it did not his 3bcart,
for he had a good deal Of pride in a sell
fish sort of way. He was proud to be
able to support his family as we'll as he
did. He was proud to think ho did it
all himself He was proud that when
tho children needed new shoes he could
tell his wife to take them to Chrispen's
and get what they needed. And he was
very proud to call and settle the bill.
He did it with a flourish. He was not
ono of the stingy kind-he liked to
spend money; and when Nettie, who
was once the most spirited young lady
of his acquaintance, came meck]y to
him for dress or cloak, he was some
times tempted to refuse the money just
to show Der how helpless she was with
out him. Yes, he was proud of his
power over his family, and wanted
them to feel how much they depended
upon him. lie would have felt ag-
grievcd if anyone had left his wife
a legacy, thus allowing her to be
independent of his purse. The
idea of her earning money, as his
other work folks did, never en-
tered his mind. He Supported her.
that was his idea of the relations! 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 aud
his children lie never had thought
that any other woman would have
wanted 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 not gen.
erous not even just to his wife! Had
lie paid her SO poorly for the fifteen
wears of faithful labor for him that if
she had been obliged to begin the world
for herself that day, it would have
been as penniless' woman, notwith-
standing the house, and lands,and mills,
that he had SO often told her were all
hers F.; for he knew, as every one else did,
that not one dollar of all he had, would
tho law allow her to call her own.
How fast he thought, standing there
at the office window looking at the lit
tie houses where the mill hands lived.
Could it be possible tlatbis wife envied
them anything Could it he that he
was not as good man as he thought!
he had felt deeply tho wrongs of the
slaves whose labors had been appropri.
o{o1 1,v THAR ,nnutaru aud >vhon n no