The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1884-10-08

- more thu.
a.cA-so we sat there quite still Tor
a while Finally Beth spcAe: 81 sup
pose-w' hight make these rooms look a
little !easanter. We each have a few
pictures aad ~knicknacks."
"Do you suppose I would hang my
few pictures against this awful paper 2"
said Kate. "Besides, what would be the
use Just as we got everything nicely
fixed, some man would want the room,
and we should be invited to 60 up high
er. I've boarded in this house two
years, and in that time I've advanced
1 from the first floor Jack to the third floor
front, and two Moves more will take me
out on the roof"
"We blight go subwhere else," said
4 Mamie.
ooh! you poor little i%nnocentn
laughed Beth. you'd Change the
] place and keep the pain They're all
! about alike"
At this Mamie lifted such a woe.be-
gone face that I felt something must be
done.
"Girls" said I, in my most impressive
school-room manner.
But here there wal an interruption, for
Mamie left the rocking-chair and rushed
toward the bed.
Oh, Mamie !."'cried Kate, "don'tmuss the
bed; it's hard enough anyway" But
] she spoke too late, for under the CON-
bined influence of homesickness and in
fuenza, Mamie had flung herself on the
bed in a forlorn little heap, and was lift
ing up her voice in a hoarse cry.
This was simply dreadful.
Beth and | purred over and cuddled
her, and Kate slipped downstairs and
coaXed the cross kitchen girl into max
ing a bowl of sage tea, and by the time
she was back with it the invalid was
somewhat comforted.
When quiet was restored, l spoke
again. "Girls! let's 60 to housekeep-
ing Mamie stopped the bowl half
way to her lips, Beth sat upright on the
trunk, and Kate dropped the stick of
wood in her hand back into the box.
Where's the furniture coming from?"
Tsaid she.
u "Wholl pay the bills?' said Mamie.
"Wholl do the work?" said Beth,
@who was born south of Mason's and Dix
on's line.
"Well all do it." said I. answering
the last question first; land as for the
furnishing, that needn't cost SO very
q much; and about the bills-Kate, how
much do We all pay a week."
-Four times five is twenty, and two
dollars for washing makes twenty-five"
said Kate, with bookkeeper promptness.
q "Why," said Beth, beginning to be
eager, "lots of families live on less than
that, and pay for everything out of it
clothes and doctors bills and every
thing"
Well, we talked till midnight. and the
more we talked. the more feasible the
scheme seemed, and it was decided that
we should commence misunderstanding
the very next morning; and after Beth
and / had gone to our W room. Kate
came hurrying across to say she had
some spoons and forks which had been
her mothers, and that Mamie said she
knew how to make lovely waffles.
We expected a tedious time finding a
rent within our means; but it is aston
ishing how fortune helps those who try
to help themselves. That very week
q nice little scholar of Nannie's stopped
after school to say that her parents
were going to move out of the city.
We knew where she iived-a pleasant
house in a respectable locality; so after
supper Kate and l hunted up the land
lord, the next day we went in a body
to inspect the place, and the bargain was
concluded.
Between that time and our departure
we babe fair to lose u reputation of
being the o~uietest boarders in the house,
for every night there was talking and
laughing in one room or the other, while
we stitched and hemmed and figured
this last the hardest of all.
Kate, with q confidence born of much
handling of money, made put a list in a
twinkling, which list was perfectly sat
isfactory to all of us-until we inquired
prices. One thing we were agreed upon,
and that was, rigid economy, so we
~cheapened this and left out that, until it
looked quite reasonable.
Well, the first day of December found
US IN ''our own hired house, and as Beth
turned the key in the hall door, we felt
that we had burned our ships behind us.
The outgoing tenants seemed TO regard
our experiment in the light of a huge
joke, which they were willing to help
along, so they gave US a number of house
keeping things, among others a braided
mat, and a half-dozen plants Ill in bios
som, and sold us their range at a very
low price. Beside this, we had a couple
of bedsteads::w with the furnishings, a few
dishes, our trunks, and q half-dozen
packing boxes of different sizes.
Tie next fortnight was q busy one. We
rose early and went to bed late, and lived
in picnic fashion, while we painted and
pounded, and planned. We were in a
state of mind where we wished for no
advice. much less help, from anybody
outside; but after jammlng considerable
plaster from the walls, and skin from u
khuckles, we deci6el there were times
when q man could b, made useful, and
ut Nannie's suggestion a certain young
architect from the boarding house was
taken into our confidence, and did val
liant service in putting up shelves and
hooks.
One Friday night, with the last screw
IN the kitchen clock shelf, the work was