The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-07-07

to admit that he was the one so much
to blame.
al tel you. uncle, Phebe has not the
faculty of getting along with her work
that some women have. 1t takes her
longer than it needs to get every meal.
am sometimes almost surprised"
1t certainly does take her longer
than it need to. have plainly seen
that, aud now, young man, Pn teach
you lesson. You are to rake hay to-
morrow, / believe. I'll fix you a rake,
and FL see you use it." And the irate
old man smashed all but three teeth out
of good rake and handed it over to his
nephew. There's your implement,
and I'll come out and see how you get
on with it. There'n be no shirking,
either. Everything Ihave seen of your
indoor home conveniences have been
just of that order. Your wife works
with three-toothed rake from morn
ing till night. Ii is good to be saving
and lay up money, but not if you must
grind it out of the life-blood of those
who should be nearest and dearest to
you. No more new rakes for you until
/ see different order of things in the
housei Let Phebe make out list OF
all she needs as we are together this
bhCh oO lOu uAhW % ShOCh
and foot the bill.''
"Why, uncle, you never kept house.
You know nothing of a woman's de-
mands. 1t would sweep every cent ]
have"
Let it sweep, then. Money gotten
dishonesty as that was had better go to
the place it was stolen from. You have
been robbing your wife of her life-pow-
er, her health and her happiness these
three years. 1t is time you begin to
make reparation. 1 have preached
economy to you, it is true, but l never
preached dishonesty. If you can't keep
your wife in decent way, break ur
and let Phebe go back to the good home
she came from. You can go into o
store in the city and make your own liv-
ing"
What a desolate picture it was! Leave
his pleasant home, his wife and boy,
and take up with the old, solitary lodg-
ings in boarding-house! He felt lone
some at the bare suggestion. Uncle
Aleck went on:
81 should like to give your wife this
piece of advice: The next time you even
hint about what is needed in the house
keeping, and what is not, and suggest
retrenchment here and a cutting of
there. l want her to walk out and give
orders to your hired man; tell him how
much grain he must give the horses,
how much salt to the sheep; how he
must scrimp the wheat when he sows
it, and the corn when he plants 1t. She
may tell him to tie up the broken har-
row with a string, and not go to the
expense of getting it mended, and shall
insist ON his going ahead if the plow
handle is broken-it is too trifling
thing to stop the work for that. All the
fault find with Phebe is that she did
not do this long ago. If she had given
you good setting down on the start,
and taught you to mind your business,
it would have been a blessing all
around"
1t was pretty plain dealing. but it was
a great eye-opener to the young man.
He sat upon the piazza for an hour in
the moonlight and thought, and thought.
Whatever his meditations were, one
thought was uppermost--he must gain
ground with Uncle Aleck or his chances
were slim. That little talk had, as
Mark Twain would say, knocked more
conceit out OF him than fit of sea-
sickness" Humble-pie'' may not be
very palatable, but it is sometimes just
the diet to bring one around right.
Slowly and soberly the young man
"came to himself" and then the FORE
most thought was: What a wretch i
have been; Can Phebe have a spark OF
love or respect left for me?"
There must have been something good
in the youth, or that loyal heart could
not have held fast in her affection for
him through thick and thin, as she
had done Uncle Alexis visit was
godsend to her. He saw a new order
of things established in the house. and
hung up the three-toothed rake in a
conspicuous place in the barn as a stand
ing object-lesson. Phebe scarcely knew
how to get meals in her renovated
kitchen, but her face was as bright as
her new saucepans.
Phebe soon won back her roses, and
went about her duties blithe as a sing
ing bird. She would always laughingly
head her husband off whenever he be-
gan to allude to the old times, and .'set
down naught in malice" but charged
the whole to ''our youth and inexpe-
rience."
When Uncle Aleck came back the
next year to the christening of the slit
tie Caroline" he made out to her the
deeds of some valuable property, and
added codicil to his viii in which the
ivory picture was bequeathed to this
namesake of the fair lady who, to him,
was always young and beautiful
Country Gentleman.