Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1883-01-18
PORK AND POTATOES.
''Pork and potatoesl
Pork and potatOes."

Pork and potatoes"
There was little of rhyme or reason
in the monotonous reiteration Of these
homelv words, yet they had the designed
effect, for in the course of time the wide
eyed baby in the woman's lap began to
nod drowsy approval, and at last fell
into an uneasy slumber.
Carefully the singer placed it in its
little cradle and turned to her neglected
work. There was enough to do in all
conscience. So much she hardly knew
where to begin.
While she hesitated her thoughts wan
dered away from the untidy kitchen with
its yesterdays litter all uncleaned, its
drifting rolls of lint, its sink piled high
with unwashed dishes, and for the mo-
ment she was no longer pallid, hollow
eyed, unkempt drudge, but young and
pretty, sweet and fresh as women are
who put on wedding finery and wait
with happy longing for the new life, full
of blessed mystery.
''Four years ago." she thought, 81
was the happieSt woman in the world;
now l am one of the most miserable.
Four years ago 1 kept happy birthday
in my heart and home; now"
She gave a sharp, hard laugh and
turned to her work.
two smart and happy young people who
thought nothing on earth could make
them so devOutly thankful as to belong
wholly and entirely to each other. Their
marriage had been to them the best pos
sible celebration for the pretty young
brides birthday. They had begun life
in little hired house, with a little stock
of worldly goods and great and Won
derful fortune in store which they had
made up their minds to possess through
industry, economy and mutual en-
deavors.
How was it, Annie asked herself over
and over again, that in four years they
had come to thisP She remembered as
she washed and secured among the pots
and pans, how the girls in the shop
where she used to work had envied her.
Envied her for her handsome husband;
for her smart new dress; and had all of
them hoped for as good luck themselves.
Now, Marian rode in her own carriage
and filled it royalty with her silks and
laces. She had married an old man,
surely enough to be sure, but what of
thatP To-day she would sit at the head
of table loaded with silver, and groan-
ing under its weight of costly dainties.
There was Alice, fair and frail. An
ME thought, with a little thrill of virtu-
Gus pride, that she never spoke of Alice;
yet at her table to-day there would be
music and laughter, rare fruits and
flowers and costly wines. Though bet
ter women Stunned her, yet was she
clothed in purple and fine linen and Jared
sumptuously every day.
There was Kate Brown, and Avis, her
sister, elderly girls, and plain but their
birthdays were always to them high
holiday.
She began to sing again, and the
sweetness of her voice was all lost in the
bitterness that rang through the same old
words:
"Porl and potatoes!
Pork and potatoes!'
o. 1t was all they had in the house to eat,
and it was their birthday. their wedding
anniversary.
The door opened, and John came in;
not the fine, spruce young man who
smiled on her so proudly four years ago,
but a slouching man in dirty overalls,
with shabbiness written all over his
clothes, and care all over his face He
was smiling now and swinging plump
little turkey.
"Here. NANNY he called ''here is a
bit of birthday for YOU"
80, Johnr' she cried. elbow could
q dress or q BOOT
II did not buy it, - he answered, sold
Huxley gave it to me-"
IA charity bird. Shame on you,
John! Shame on you, poor as we are,
for taking charity. l will not cook or
eat, or have any hand in the disgrace oil
itr'
Throw it away, Them he answered,
''or give it to some one without your
cursed pride.' And without another
word he went out into the wind and
rain.
.'Charity! charity! charityr' how the
word rang through her brain! Not all
the sorrow, and poverty, and disappoint-
ment of her married life had ever
humbled her like this one gift.
Old Huxley had once been wou1d-be
lover of hers, and on former birthdays
had offered her many valuable trinket
This horrible bird, which John had
shamed her by accepting, was ample
revenge for many scornful refusals.
While her cheeks yet burned with
angry shame the door opened again.
Annie was a matter-of-fact woman
living in q poor quarter of large city
but for a moment her mind gave a great
lean back to the dim ages of nursery
lore. There in her little dingy kitchen
stood a woman, bent enough, wrinkled
enough for veritable fairy godmother
She wore a dress of silk and lace; hel
face was as yellow as the yellow colo
that linked itself about her skinny throa
and held the great bright stone thai
flashed and sparkled all over her claw
like fingers.
Before Annie in any wise recovered
from the surprise of her presence She
spoke in a sharp, rasping voice:
$50 you are Annie Brown, are you
And well-looking woman, so one look
only at your face. But what has M
sisters child to do with this filthy room
this tumble-down house, this forsakeI
street, and all this misery you seem part
and parcel OFF Take your baby, Annie
and come with me. You shall be lady
child, as your mother was before you
even if she did die in the poor-house
and I. hand-tied. 5000 miles away
''But JohnP" gasped Annie, wher
surprise would LET beE spsak'