Sharp County record., 1880-11-04
WORKING FOR NOTHING.


cate-looking woman to boy about four
teen years old who had been in the hab-
it of getting her wood and water for
her. II find cannot spare the money
and | shall have to try and do the work
myself" =.
She said this in very sad tone OF
voice; so sad that almost any one would
have noticed it. But George Burch did
not notice it, or the sad look in her face
when She said it. The only thought in
his mind was that he should lose the
TWENTY-FIVE cents a week ne had been
earning.
"WBy? Don't I suit! I work as cheap
as anybody, l guess"
80, yes, you don't ask any too much
and you do your work well. But the
reason is only that cannot spare the
money, as small as the sum is. hope
YOU can find something else to do to
take the place of this, 1 am sure. |
wish could keep you, for | am afraid
drawing the water is going to be al
most too much for me. Here is your
money, George"
As he took the money and turned to
90, Mrs. Noble called to him:
George, l guess l shall have to get
you to bring me an extra pail of water.
may feel too tired to get it myself in
the morning. Here are three cents eX-
ira for it."
George took the three cents as a mat
ter of course and listened with satisfac-
tion to hear them drop down into his
pantaloons pocket with the other money
he had just received.
After he had gone Mrs. Noble seated
herself before her fire with a heavy
heart. 1t was gray November after
noon, and she felt more lonely than usu-
al. She felt sick, too, and she Won
dered how, with her failing strength, she
should be able to bring water from the
well, split kindlings and do the other
work which George had been doing tor
her. She wished that she had spared a
few cents more and got him to cut few
more kindlings, for it seemed to her she
needed day or two to get up courage
enough to do it herself.
Perhaps it seems strange to most of
you that it should seem such burden
to her-work that to you would seem 50
light. But Mrs. Noble had never drawn
pail of water or~split a'stick of wood,
She had until recently had plenty OF
money and servants to help her. Bat
within short time death took from
her her husband and only child Mis-
fortune of various kinds, which bows
and GIRLS would not care to stop and
read about reduced her large property
to very small one, and the
small one to an income so small
as to hardly support her comfortably. !
After the death of her husband she re-
moved to the little village of --, and |
occupied alone the cottage of which |
have spoken. Tears filled her eyes as
she thought of the past, of the dear ones |
now gone, of the far-diStant home of .
her youth and of her present condition
of loneliness ald poverty. She had a
brother, she supposed, somewhere in
the world but she knew not where. He .
had left home many years before, dur
ing some family trouble and had never .
made known his whereabouts. He was .
probably dead. So, because she had .
no relatives, no special friend to whom
she could 90 for help and no money to
spare for hiring her work done, she .
must try, sick or well, to do it herself.
Little did George Burch think what a
sorrowing hearthe was leaving, although |
tears were in her eyes when she bade
him goodbye. Perhaps we ought not
to expect a boy Of his age to feel or show
sympathy for such one. Still, can
so easily call to mind one of his age,
now gone from earth, who would have
been melted to tears by her tears, and
would have exclaimed, eagerly:
"Never mind the money, Mrs. No
bic. will get the wood and water for
nothing
So there has been such a boy, and |
know there are more. But George
Burch was of another sort and it must
not be wondered at. From his earliest
childhood he had been taught to get all
he could and to keep it. " Make every
cent you can, Georgia" his father
would say, land there's nothing to
hender We from being as rich as any OF
'em." That had been his motto, though
as vet he had not made himself very
rich by it. He had, however, a good
house and all that he needed. George
seemed to be born with love for
money. He would never lose chance
to make cent if he could help it. He
was willing to work and to work hard,
not because he loved to work, although
he really did love work better than
study, but because he loved the money
the work would bring. He was always
ready to lose half days school for
few cents, and it was generally re-
marked by his schoolmates when he
was absent; George is out making a
cent" George was never known to
work for nothing. "No pay, no work, "
was his way of repeating the MOTTO
When a neighbor wanted him to do an
errand he had no hesitation in asking:
"How much do you expect to give?'
and if he found that he was expected
TO do II for nothing, even II II we're
right in his way, he always invented
some excuse for not doing it. Don't
catch me working for nothing" he
would say with a shrewd look in his
eye-a remark which his father always
approved So, of course, he had no
idea Of working for Mrs. Noble for
nothinp