The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1882-08-26
WIFE OR DRUDGE.

"Ten o'clock and the lunch basket
not ready to take to the field! AS usualF"
grunted Farmer Brewster, as he threw
himself into the rocking chair in the
kitchen and famed his flushed face with
his straw hat. ga quarter of an hour
wasted, very likely, Waiting here. Right
in the midst of as fine a hay-day as one
would wish to see! Now, my mother
used to have her lunch ready to the
minute whenever we came for it, and I
don't see why"
His jeremlade was checked by the ap-
pearance of his wife, who came out of
the pantry tugglng along the great
lunch-basket, almost t4o heavy for her
strength.
Farmer Brewster was young man In
spite of his grumblipg. Only twenty
three, tail. straight, healthy, with blue
eyes, rosy cheeks, fair, curly hair and
h lndsome face when it was not darkened
as now, by a scowl of discomfort.
An only son, he Inherited a large and
handsome farm, clear of mortgage and
debt, which supplied all the wants of his
household most liberally and gave him a
nice little sum of money to deposit in
the bank each year.
There was no reason why he should be
mean ,and yet miserly habits were gradu-
ally growing upon him far faster than he
knew.
Nor was there need of grumbling over
the household arrangements, since the
wife of his choice was q farmers daugh-
ter who knew we'll how to work, and who
had taken delight in setting her home in
faultless order whom first she came as
a bride to the pleasant Brewster place.
The same order reigned still from gar
ret to cellar of the old square house;
but Mrs. Brewster went through her
tasks mechanically now, or with nerv-
Gus haste and hurry that made them al
most unendurable sometimes.
The constant drop of water will wear
away q stone; and the constant fault
finding in which her husband saw fit to
indulge had nearly worn the patience,
the hope and the endurance out of the
young wife's heart.
The comfort and happiness of that
home hung upon thread, which frayed
more and more, hour by hour, under the
pain of unmerlted blame.
Yet George Brewster saw nothing of
this until the morning of which I write.
"There is the lunch and it is exactly
five minutes past ten," said Mrs. Brews-
ter, setting the basket down with some
emphasis at his feet. ''I was delayed
that much with the butter. It had to be
seen to before the sun got too high"
"My mother always churned before
breakfast observed George. rising
slowly to his feet.
His wife said nothing, but the color
rose hotly in her cheeks, till the lost
bloom of her girlhood seemed to have
come back again, and she raised her
eyes to his with look that startled him.
Very handsome they were-soft, dark
and velvety, with world of love and
tenderness in their depths.
Yet now they met his own coldly and
sternly, with such an expression that he
exclaimed:
''Good gracious, Letty You look as
if you hated me!'
ssI'm afraid I do" was the astounding
reply.
And with swift glance at the clock
Lefty hurried down into the cellar with
knife and pac to make her prepara
tions for dinner for six hungry hay.
makers.
afraid she hates mel My wifel She
that was Lefty Grover" muttered ne to
himself, in his bewilderment. "Why
what on earth : She must be going
crazy or something or other.
''Letty!' he called at the cellar door
''It is ten minutes past ten,' she an
swered, from the depths of the cellar
"If don't see about the dinner now, i
won't be on the table at twelve to the
minute, as your mother used to have it
I can't Gomez
"Well, if this don't beat all!' said HI
to the maltese and white cat who as
cended from the cellar and rubbed
against his legs.
A shout from the bayfield, reused hin
to the recollection of the days business
He went out and dispensed the treas
ures of his basket among the hungry
men, who praised Letty's excellent cook
ing with every mouthful they swal
| lowed.
cit is enough to make an old bachelo
like me sit down and cry to eat sucl
| raspberry shortcakes as that" said Solo
mon Wyse, wiping the crumbs of tn,
feast from his lips. before he dranl
sweet cider from the jug. ''Tell yo'
what it is, George, you drew a priz
when you went courting."
$50 he did And here's her goo,
health" chimed in another mower, as h
took up the Jug.
| George assented vaguely.
They were talking of his wife hi
| wife, who was afraid she hated himl
Never had the two hours between
lunch and dinner dragged so slowly.
| AS he rode round and round the fiel,
with the sharp rattle of the moving ma
chine he guided in his care, his min,
was continually busy with Letty's looks
and her words, and his eyes turned oftel
to the cream-colored farmhouse, behin,
| whose spruce green blinds his wife wa
busy preparing dinner.
ST used to think how happy I shoul.
be If ever persuaded 4er to come here.
he thought. sit is two years-why,
declare, it is two years this very day tina
we were married! I wonder if she re
members it, But it isn't very likely whe
she says she hates me-"
/ Did she remember? All, III that yer
remembrance Jay the sting!
All that morning, while she got break
fast at Eve o'clock, and washed dishes
swept the rooms, made beds, churne,
butter and prepared hearty lunch 70
six men, her heart turned back to tina
other morning, twenty-four months age
when the bright eyed country Made
rose at four o'clock to complete he
preparations for her wedding day.
How good, how kind, how handsome
he was thenl How his eyes followed hel