The Red Cloud chief., 1880-07-15

WIZ toioA u SatltAo "Sats q v VI het'
for Lucy that she did not need. a drum
for Robin that has been a nuisance ever
since, and a lot Of worthless toys that
were all broken up in a week. There
was forty or fifty dollars of my money
just the same as thrown away, yet
when l ask you to trust me with two
dollars a week you cannot imagine
what use ! have for it and fear il will be
wasted. j am sure / could not spend
fifty dollars more foolishly if / tried
to-"
"Well." snapped the proprietor. 81
guess it is my own money. and j a
spend it as | please. guess you'll
know it. too, when you get another
present"
"Oh, il is your money then. / under
stood you To say il was all mine. and
intended to protest against your spend
ing it so foolishly. II it is your own, Of
course, you have a right TO spend it as
you please, but it seems TO me that a
woman who left parents and brothers
and sisters, and all her friends, tomake
a home for you among strangers, n
woman who has given her whole life TO
you for the past fifteen years, might be
looked upon with as mich favor as you
give 10 beggars. who are very likely to
be imposters. / know that you seldom
turn them off without help. Perhaps l
would be successful il i appealed
TO you as a beggar. might say, Kind
sir, please allow to me out of your
abundant mea a small pittance for
my comfort. 1t is true | nave enough
to eat, and do not suffer for clothing,
but. although | work for my master
from morning till night, and, if his chill
dren happen to be sick, from night until
morning again, yet he does not pay me
as much as he does his cook, and 1 am
often greatly distressed for want of a
triiiing sum which he would not mind
giving To a perfect stranger! The other
day while he was from home, / had to
90 TO the next station TO see a dear
TREND who was i'll, and not having a
dollar of my WI | was obliged to Dor
row b money from his cook. | was
so mortified! And not long since the
berry-woman came with such nice ber-
rles to sell, and my little girl. who was
not well, wanted some very badly, but
L had not ever five cents to pay for a
handful for her. Yesterday a friend
came TO ask me to assist in a work Of
charity. Ii was a worthy object and |
longed SO much To give her q little
money for so good a purpose, but
~thoughthe wife of a rich man | had no
money. Of course | might ask my hus-
band for money, and if l told him all
about what>A wanted with it, and be
approved Of purpose, and was in a
good humor, "a would give it to me;
but, sir, it is terribly slavish to have to
do SO, ever if fcould run to him every
time wanted anything. People say /
husband is rich, but | often envy the
factory girls their ability 70 earn and
spend their own money. Andsometimes
1 get SO wild thinking about myhelpless-
ness that if it was not for my children l
think l should just drop into the river
and end il ALL"
"Nettie! Nettie Jarvis, What are
you saying9" 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 itdid not
his heart, for he had a good deal of
pride in a 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 all himself. He was
proud that when the children needed
new shoes he could tell his wife to take
them to C~rispin'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 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 sometimes
tempted to refuse the money just to
show her how helpless she was without
him. Yes, he was proud of his power
over his family, and wanted them to
feel how much they depended upon
him. He would have felt aggrieved if
any one had left his wife a legacy, thus
allowing her TO be independent of his
purse. The idea of her earning money,
rs his other work folks did, never en-
tered his mind. He supported her."
that was his idea of their relations! He
never had happened to think that it
was verv good of her to take his money
: and spend it for the good of himself and
his children. He 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 10
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
|. he paid her so poorly for her 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
rs n ~penniless woman, Notwithstanding
the houses, and 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 allow her to call her own.
=. How fast he thought. standing there
|, at the ofice-window looking down NJ
the little houses where the mill-handS
lived. Could it be possible that his
wife envied them anything? Could il
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 hear,
of the proprietor swelled with indigna-
, ton at such injustice. He was eloquen,
r on the subject at home and abroad. and
, wondered how any n could be sc
cruel and selfish as t. commit such an
outrage against justice. He had called
, him a robber many a time, but now
|, Donald Jarvis looked to himself very
much like that old Shareholder Massa
, Brown had taken the proceeds Of Cuffee's
; labor for his own without even ..thank
you'' for it. True. when Cuffee mus,
, eat he had given him food. when he was