The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1883-06-07
LOYAL W0MbNS WORK
The Fireside and the World Wide.
Helpful Hints and Friendly Talks.
Econd,c,cd By Kate B. sherpood, Toledo, o.

conducted 6y Kate II. SfertGood, Iotedo o.
Whenever ] think of the hopeless disorder of
David Copperfeld's little cottage, and the pa
thetic helplessness of his untaught child-wife,
Dora, there arises another picture, cheerful
offset to a sad and somber home drama. 1t is
the picture of David's bosom friend, Traddles
living gayly, joyfully, with his cheerful, capa-
bic young wife, Sophy, in a set of chambers on
the top-story OF tumble-down building in a
deeayed court reached by crazy old staircase,
feebly lighted on each landing by a club-head-
ed little oil wick, dying away in little dun
geon of dirty glass, as the exact Dickens SO
infinitely relates.
We stumble UP the old staircase rap at the
little door, and are admitted, first, into little
closet of hall. and next into little sitting
room, where we find the proud and happy hus-
band Of the dearest woman in the world )"
seated at a table and bending over some papers.
| The industrious young lawyer has not an in
come which admits of the separation of resi-
dence and office, and so he has made place for
his bride in that grim atmosphere of pounce and
parchment; red tape, dusty WATERS ink. Jars brief
and draft paper, law reports writs declarations
and bills of cost And there Sophy, with ex-
perience behind her and hope before. works
and plans with such tact and skill and cheer.
fitness that the glamour of perpetual sunshine
seems to illuminate every nook and Granny of
the dilapidated abode
: Our domestic arrangements are. TO say the
truth, quite unprofessional altogether" said
Traddles to his friend David, upon his return
from prolonged soiourn abroad to find the pair
married and settled. g Even Sophy's being
here is unprofessional" he added, "and we
have no other place of abode. We have put to
sea in cock boat, but we are quite prepared to
rough it. And Sophy's an extraordinary mana
ger!"
| And, truly, Sophy was manager. Their en-
/ tire SET of chambers consisted nf I'm tirae
rooms, but there Sophy contrived in the most
wonderful way, not only to carry on house,
keeping for two, but to entertain her friends
with toast and tea, and all with such loving,
cheerful, bright-eyed quality in her looks, that
/ her guests felt an exhiiefation and glow equal
/ TO that which may be supposed to invest the
diners in the palace of king. All their fine
| furniture consisted OF a flower pot and. mar
1 ble-top table, and they stirred their tea with
Britannia metal But there, too was the bread
| of contentment and the swect-tempered spirit
1 that throws glamour over priyations and cares.
| Sophy was poor curate's daughter down in
/ Devonshlre, with an invalid mother levying
many exactions, and with drove of sisters to
| lay an embargo on hand and brain. Neither
could they do anything without Sophy.
Whether it was to arrange disordered hair, or
set tune right, or to recall the name of place,
or to Write letter, or start piece of knitting,
or to sing songs, or whatever it might be, it was
/
/ front. And so when Sophy was transplanted
/ to her little rookery in London aud sat all day
1 IN a Darkroom, glancing down from her work
into sooty little strip of garden with pump
in it, she hummed her Deyonshire ballads with
such bright housewifely face as only those can
wear who have learned to measure the depth
of joys with the line and plummct of trial
and sacrifice.
| Sophy found plenty of time from her work
| to act as a copying clerk for her beloved Trad
dies, and very soon acquired the bold hand of
the English copyist and could throw off, well,
any number OF folios an hour.
Ny dear Copperfeld,n said Traddles, she
! is, without any exceptions the dearest girl!
The way she manages this place; her puntu-
atty, domestic knowledge, economy, and order;
her cheerfalness, Copperfeldl"
Indeed" the disappointed Copperfeld would
rejoin, Il believe you make yourselves, and
each other, two OF the happest people in the
world"
Il am sure we are two of the happiest peo-
| pie, Traddles returned. Il admit that, at all
| events. Bless my soul, when / see her getting
/ up by candle-hght ON these dark mornings
/ busying herself IN the days arrangements,
/ going out to market before the clerks come
into the inn, caring for no weather, deyising
the most capital little dinners out of the plain
| est materials, making buildings and pies, keep
ing everything in the right place, always so
neat and ornamental herself, sitting up at night
with me if its ever so late, sweet tempered and
encouraging always, / positively sometimes
can't believe it, Copperfeld."
INEXPENSIVE PLEASURES
And the pleasures of Traddles and Sophy-
! how very artless and innocent, and how easily
secured! They are 'inexpensive, but then
| they are quite wonderful" Iraddles would say.
| When we are home here, of an evening,
] and shut the outer door, and draw those cur
j Cbp rh.,a J4a
more snug? When it's fine and we go out for
walk in the evening, the streets abound in
| enjoyment for us. We look into the glittering
windows of the jewelers. shops, and I show
/ Sophy which Of the Acknowledged serpents
coIled up on white satin rising grounds |
would give her if / conld afford it and Sophy
/ shows me which of the gold watches that are
| capped and jeweled and engine-turned and
! possessed of the horizontal leyer-escape-moy
| ment, and all those sorts of things she would
| buy for me if she could afford it and we pick
out the spoons and forks, tish-sliees, butter
! knives, and sugar-tongs we should both prefer
| if we could both afford it; and really we go
away as if we had got fheml Then, when we
sometimes stroll into the squares and great
streets, and see a house to let, sometimes we
look up at it, and say, how would that do, if /
was made judge? And We parcel it out such a
room for us, such rooms for the girls, and so
| forth, until we settle to our satisfaction that
!
| be. Sometimes, we go at half-price to the pit
of the theater.-the very smell of which, in my
opinion, is cheap at the money,-and there we
! thoroughly enjoy the play, which Sophy be-
| lieves every word Of and SO do /. In walking
home perhaps we buy little bit of something
at a cook-shop, or little lobster at the fish
monger's, and bring it here, and make splen-
! did supper, chatting about what we have seen.
Now, you know Copperfeld, if I was lord
chancellor, we couldn't do this?n
What could be more cheerful, more beauti-
! full, more blessed than home begun like this,
and how richly Traddles and Sophy deserved
/ the ample house that one day became their
portion through patient industry and thrifty
economy But even then, when Sophy
| beamed down from the head of the table
| upon Traddles, who sat at the foot, over cheer
/ full space that certainly did not glitter with
Britannia metal was there more of real salts
faction and happiness than at the humble be-
| ginning2 No; a Thousand times mol 1t is not
houses, or lands, or lordly possessions or pala-
| tial furnishings, that secure domestic happiness
or heart content.
TIE AMERICAN sopHY.
| Now, if the English Sophy is a CHEEKY,
! lovable, useful helpmate, how much more does
| the American Sophy dance before our vision in
/ the beauty of her devotion and strength and
| independence. If America has her helpless
! little Doras, who never have learned and never
can learn TO be patient practical housewives
and mothers, how much more frequent and