The Republican journal., 1881-06-16
An Unpaid Servant.

wages.
"Why Donald said she, II thought
as had worked for you all the week,
would come for my wages, too. You pay
Jane two dollars week. surely | earn
that, and | would like very much to have
it as my own"
"Pshaw, Nettie, how ridiculously you
talk. You know that all have belongs
to you and the children-and don't | fur
nish the house and everything? What
under the sun would you do with the
money if YOU had it 2?
II know, Donald, that you buy the
ncccssarics for us all, and | am willing
that You should do so still. but | should
like 4 little money for my.yery own. We
have been married fifteen years, and in
all that time | do not seem to have earn
ed dollar. As far as money is concern
ed, might as we'll be a slave. | cannot
buy quart of berries nor book, with
out asking you for the money, and |
should like to be a little more independ-
ent."
Mr.. Jarvis, proprietor of the Jarvis
Mills, worth hundreds dsofthousands, laugh
ed derisively
''Nou're fine one to talk Of independ
ence, he said, "if YOU should start out to
make your own living, you'd fetch up in
the poor house soon enough, for what
could you do to earn a living! The
| girls in the factory know how to do their
work, and they earn their wages. When
| have paid them my duty is done; but
have to board and clothe you and take
care of you when sick. If | had to do
that for the girls, they would have pre-
cious little money left. can tell YOU
Donald, gave up good trade when
| married you. For five years had sup
! ported myself by it. and many time
since have | envied myself the purse Of
those days. As for my not earning any
thing now, Ileave it for you to say wheth
er it would be possible to hire another to
take my place; and how much it would
cost YOU to go without me year? |
! know the girls have but little left after
| paying their expenses, but they enjoy
that little 50 much. Allie Watson sup
ports herself and her mother with her
wages. and they both dress better than |
do. Jennie Hart is helping her father
pay Oft the mortgage on his farm, and
she is so happy that she can do So Even
Jane, the kitchen girl, has more freedom
than |, for out Of her own money she is
| laying by presents for her relatives and
will send them Christmas, us much for
her own pleasure as theirs. Yesterday
an Indian woman was at the house with
such handsome bead work to sell and, al
though wanted some money so much, |
had not dollar felt like crying when
Jane brought in her weeks wages and
bought half Il dozen articles | wanted so
much. You often say that all you have
is mine. but five dollars would have given
me more pleasure yesterday than your
hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of
property did"
'No doubt of that, Mrs. Jarvis. You
! have no idea Of the value Of money, and
would have enjoyed buying a lot of bead
trash that wouldn't be worth a cent to
anybody. Jane needs a guardian if she
fools away her money like that. She will
be in the county house yet if she don't
look out It's lucky that men do hold
the money, for there is not one woman in
a hundred who knows how to use it,"
"For shame, Donald Jarvis. You know
better. Look at Jerry and Milly Craig,
will you, and say that he makes the best
use of his money. She is at home with
her parents every night, making her
wages go as far as possible toward max
ing them comfortable, while he is carous-
ing in the village, wasting his time and
money and making brute OF himself be-
sides. And why does Mrs. Saffron come
to receive her husbands wages, then her
self. Simply because he cannot get by
a saloon with money in his pocket, and
if she did not get the money they would
all go to bed hungry the day after his wages
were paid. And | believe that every wo-
man that earns money here spends it as
wisely as the average of men, and | have
yet to hear of one Of them being in debt"
Mr.. Jarvis knew that he could not gain
say a word his wife had said, for they
We're all true. Luckily he thought of
Jane.
''Well, how much do you suppose Jane
will have left when New Year comes If
she should get sick how long could she
pay for such care as you have?"
at is not likely she will lay up many
dollars on hundred year; but she is
laying up something better, think. Last
winter she sent her mother a warm shawl
and a pair of shoes, and to her brother
and sister money to buy new school books
and the warm, loving letters they send
her do her more good than twice the
amount of money in the bank would
This year she is laying up number Of
pretty and useful things for them, and if
any misfortune should happen to Jane
they would be only too glad to help her."
"Well, who do you suppose would help
you if you needed helpg" said Mr.. Jarvis,
for want of better question. Mrs. Jar
vis's eyes sparkled angrily as she an
swered:
"Nobody. If you should lose your
property to-day | should be a beggar,
without a claim 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 9TH
ers out altogether Many a time dol
lar 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 cahnot now command dollar of it,"
"Lucky you couldn't, if you wanted to
spend it on beggars."
"Donald, you know that | would spend
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 Bur
ton, and then saw him throw his crutches
aside and make for the nearest saloon |
Your wife could do no worse if trusted |
with a 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 you
what want it for. Any beggar can get it
in the same way Christmas you bought
presents for us and expected us to be
very grateful for them. A shawl for me
of the very color that | cannot wear a
set offurs for Lucy that she did not need,
drum for Robin that has been nuis-
ance ever since, and lot of worthless
toys that were all broken up in week.