News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1882-12-07
Jones & 90.

Jones & Go.
L guess pa and ma were pretty rich
one time, for when they came to Califor
mia it was on their wedding tour, and
cost lots-came by the way of New York
and Washington and Panama City, in a
steamboat, and ma brought a maid to
wait on her, and pa had a servant named
jim and when we got to California;
say we Tn only IA now, but was not
born then, though that don't matter-I
guess pa had lots Of money. was born
at the Lick House, and you ought to see
my baby clothes. Jones & Co. haven't
the kind of goods these were, because
Maud has draggled them all to pieces.
Maud is the baby Six years old Maud
is, and it won't be long before she will
be clerk for Jones & Co. First babies
always have the incest things. Ma says
first babies are like second wives.
Well, am of the opinion that after pa
went into his house on Van Ness avenue
hewent into stocks, whatever that means.
| Going into stocks must be a curious bust
ness; and sometimes pa came home look
| ing splendid, and wanted to buy every
thing, and laughed at ma for being so
mean and not getting better clothes and
then he wanted to drive in the park and
go to the theatre One day he came home
with a bran new carriage and span of
| long-tail horses, and a coachman and foot
man.
Then sometimes pa came home and
looked very blue, and talked about
stocks, and [ began to watch pa, and no
ticed that sometimes when he laughed
the loudest he looked as if he wanted to
cry. and then he sold the horses, and
then the house, and the furniture was
sent to the auction, and ma felt very bad
and pa wasn't like himself any more, and
never told me stories nor kissed me and
once, when Maud was asleep in his arms,
he kissed her and cried, and when [ told
ma she guessed pa did not feel very well,
and then she cried. After this we went
to a boarding g-house-a nasty, musty
boarding-house. Everything was well
enough, only clearinghouse amt like
home.
Then the baby came, and it died, and
ma almost died; and I heard pa say to
the man who kept the boarding-house
that he was pretty tight up, but it was
all coming out right; and the next day
pa didn't have any watch nor any sleeve
buttons. [ didn't seem to notice it, be-
cause thought maybe he had sold them
to pay board and I heard pa and ma
talk away in the night, and sometimes ma
cried. and pa would look in the morning
Just as if he hadn't slept wink, and
don't believe he had. Once it was dread
full. Pa came home tipsy, and [ never
saw ma feel so bad, never and then they
talked it over, and finally ma went home
to grandpa's in New York, with Maud,
and I stayed with pa to go to school
Then pa kept getting worse and worse,
and went to live in rooms and eat at res
taurants; and pa stayed out late nights,
and [ guess he drank more than was
good for him, and I thought something
had got to be done. So I said to pa
one day
"Pa, let's go into business, and open
store"
And pa laughed and said /: 3" What kind
of store ?"
And / said ''Oh, candy store, or a
stationery store, or a thread and needle
store, Just such as women keep and little
girls help in"
And pa laughed, and said he would
think of it, and when he came home that
night | asked him if he had thought
about it, and he said he had not and [
said he had better, and he said he would;
and that morning he didn't go out, but
stayed at home and wrote ma a long
letter. So next day I went into shop
on Polk street, kept by a nice old lady,
who had bad husband, where they sold
everything. and she said in French they
called it lingerie. | did not know what
she meant because it was French, and /
asked her if she did not want to sell her
store, and she said:
g Do you want to buy store, little
girl ?" And / said My pa does. And
she smiled and said she guessed the
Sheriff would have store to sell in a few
days. [ said [ would tell pa, because he
knew Mr.. Newman, the Sheriff 1t was
one of Mr.. Newman's men that sold pas
house and furniture for him.
And the next day told pa about the
store, and what nice one it was, and he
had been a dry goods man once, and had
alarge store, and sold silk dress goods
and velvets and furs, and laces worth
more than 81, 600 apiece.
/ don't exactly know what pa did, bu
I think something turned up" few
days afterward, for I heard him say h'
had made a 'sraise," and showed me
more than one thousand dollars in gOlC
and notes, and for day or two he carried
them in a side pocket, and mostly KEEP
his hand over them, for fear they would
lump out and fly away; and pa bough
me some shoes and a hat, and stuff fo
aprons, and I made them myself, and
never saw pa look 50 happy since mi
went away, and one day he said to me:
"Vevie, I have bought the store OF
Polk street, and you are to be my sales
woman and partner.
And sure enough, in a few days We
went into the store, and over the stor'
was a great big sign of "Jones & Co.
and pa said l was the "Co." And whel
1 said, "And 50, pa, you are Jones" III
blushed, and 1 guess he didn't like hi
old friends to know he was selling needle
and thread and tape and things. W.
had two snug little rooms in the back 0