The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1881-10-02
Mrs. Ketchum's Weathercoek.

L
Mrs. Ketchunn was getting her hus
bands supper; an humble meal o
roasted potatoes, broiled fsh and
brows bread. The Kitchen where
she worked Was q humble one, too
the ceiling smoke-stained. the wood.
work dark With sgs, and what little
| furniture it contained was DOOR and
common place to the last degree.
There lie no picturesquenese about
this kind of poverty, and no word.
painting of mine can supply any.
There was no picturesqueness abou!
Mrs. Ketchum either. Her sge you
could not so much az guess at. Her
hair, which was faded and rusty
rather than gray, WAS strained back
into pug about the size of an Eng
lish walnut, and her skin, in color,
was not unlike the shell OF that same
walnut. AS abe moved with short,
brisk step from cupboard to stove,
she now and then stopped for q mo,
nlent and looked out the window and
said, either to herself or to the fine
gray cat on the window. silE-
81 wonder what keeps Calvin 80
long,"
"Ah, there he ia" she said at
length, and enter Oalyin--a man
rather below medium height, with
the pallor and the stoop peculiar to
students, shoe-mskers. land other men
of sedentary habits. That be was
not student, glance would have
shown you, and second glance would
have convinced you that be aOas shoe
maker even if you had not seen the
little red shop in the yard, with the
sign Calsin Kctcham--over it, and
the name preceded By boot and fol.
lowed by shoe.
Good luck at last, Nancy" was
his cheerful sRlutatiou.
"Have you got a job?" said she.
Better than that" said Calvin.
''What can be better?" asked she.
"I've found something"
'"Tsint my scissors! cried she.
Well, l never did expect to see them
again"
"Sho, scissorsI" contemptuously.
"Oome, now, what is lt2 ! amt
good at guessing" said Nancy.
"What do you think of thati" said
Calvin, taking out large leather
pocket-book, and holding it before
her.
"sakes alive!" said she.
Sand what do you think Of that?'
opening it and showing the inside
stuffed with bills.
"Oh my! I never see su,h eight
10 my life! [ shall faint, l know I
shall. And Calvin" hesitatingly,
you are sure you did find it? You're
sure you come 5y it honest?"
Come by it honest? Do you take
me for thief? Ne. Calvin Ketchum,
as does custom work; warranted-rips
mended gratis? Me, as am ready TO
give 'em as MANY of my shoes IS
they'll find paper in the soIes Of?
WAL, l must say I do feel sot uponl"
81 didn't mean to call you thief"
'aid Nancy. ''The fact ia. Pm 90
clustered don't know what 1 he say
ing; where vast you found it2"
"Up here by Spinner's brook"
"And you haint no notion who
dropped it?" ----
"How should l have, when there'sI
been such crowd gein' to and from
he Fair? l s'pose there's forty men
their horses at the brook to-
Law, and how can l tell which on 'em
dropped this ERE wallet?"
There pears TO be something writ
IN it," said Nancy, examining it
closely. "But can't for the life of
ne make out what 'sis."
81 don't believe that's writing at
.ll," said Calvin-''it's just scrawl;l
ooks like hens tracks"
THAT looks like great a." per-
listed Nancy, pointing with her fore
niger. i
''About as much as it does like a L
said Calvin. +
"But thsy don't put harrers on
books" said Nancy. whereas
might be the beginning of the +
wner's name. I'll tell you what.
alvin. if you wss to show it to law {
er Sharp. he'd make it out in 9
49, q
ayes, and to lis own advantage,
10th Calvin. "Sharp by name and
harp by natur.' that's whats he is
md anyhow you might as we'll trust II
volt with lamb as lawyer with q
loney. Even the Bible says, woe
nto you, lawyers. ," g
"Waal, there's Parson Goldhead 6
low il to him; there amt nothing p
bout a woe on ministers, and he :
noWs a sight. they say :
"What should | show it to anybody Q
II? faint any business to go round L
untin' up an owner for it. Findings 81
avlng.' all the world over; and H. q.
Just say it's real sggravatin' of you, u
hen [ have a little bit of good luck, o
try to spoil it ell. I thought you'd u
tickled to death with the money. =" o.
And 80 l be-" said Nancy, "only X
can't help thinking about the man 81
lat lost it." "
'Let him come and claim it, and q
shall have it; if that amt lair, I p