, 1884-03-08

took their wedding trip TO Peet's Mills in the
new and sensible farm wagon Amasa had
just bought, with q strong, spirited horse to
draw It.
II want yo,i should look around, Mary he
had said the night before, -and see WHAT'S
needful here. Iexpect most everything IS
wanting, and we can't lay out for finery.
But first Of all get what1l make your work
easy. Your weddin'' present will come along
tomorrow; to-day wen buy necessities"
Mrs. Peet had not sent her only girl empty
handed to the new house. A good mattress,
two pairs Of blankets, fresh, light comfort
ables, and some cheap, neat, white spreads;
a set of gay crockery, a clock, aud a roll Of
bright ingram Competing had all come TO the
farmhouse soon after the brides arrival; her
ample supply of sheets and pillow-cases,
strong towels and q few table-clothes had been
sent the day before, so this sort Of thing was
not needed; but there was a new churn
bought, altogether new furnishings for the
dairy, several modern inventions to. make
the work Of a woman easier, a set of chairs,
a table, and an easy lounge for the parlor,
some cretonne covered with apple blossoms
and white thorn clusters, and pals, brooms
and tinware that would have made Wealthy
q happy woman, crowded the over-full
wagon before they turned homeward-
The old house began to smile and blossom
under this new d~ispensation, and the new
mistress smiled, too.
Amasa MIXED the Cows for her, and lifted
the heavy pals Of milk to strain into the
bright new pans; he filled the woodbox by
the stove twice a day, put a patent pump
into the old well. and, as 1t stood above the
house, ran a pipe down into a sink set in the
woodshed, and 80 put an end to the drawing
and carrying of water. %
The fat, round, placid pigs that now en-
joyed themselves in the new pen he took care
OF himself.
"Ta'nt for women folks, +" he said.
you've got enough to do, Mary; there's
the garden you'll have an eye on, and the
chickens, il you're a mind to; I'm going to
build a hen-house and a yard to it right Off,
thatm be good enough for you as well as the
chickens; and 1 want you-shall promise if
any time the work gets a might hefty and
worries you, you'll speak right out. l can
afford to have everything else worn out
rather than my wife"
Really, it paidi 1t does pay, my masculine
friends, to give any woman a kindly word
now and then; If you had done it oftener, or
your fathers had in the past, the rights of
women never would have angered or bored
you as they do now; or unsexed and made
strident and clamorous that half Of creation
which is and always was unreasonable
enough to have hungry hearts Try it and
seel
Amasa was wise above his generation; a he
had seen his mother suffer, and learned les
son. Mary never pinned for kindly apprecia-
ton Of her work, or help in it. When she
had a door cut through into the parlor, the
stiff chairs and sofa banished, the fowery
curtains hung at either window, the gay
,---t ,-@ I@..,, n-l 10 fha Axu f,.ps
ture set in place, with her wedding
present-an easy stuffed rocker-drawn
up to the table, she had still
sense enough left to make this hitherto
sacred apartment into a real sitting-room,
where every evening she and Amasa
| rested, read or talked over the days doings;
and when the first fat rosy baby came, and
Mary was about again, it added another
pleasure to nave the old cradle beside them
all evening with its sleeping treasure.
Can l tell in words what a sense of peace
and cheer pervaded this household, in spite
OF some failures and troubles If the rye
did blast one year; the two best cows die, an
other; II a weasel once invaded the new and
| wonderful hen-house and slaughtered the
best dozen of Plymouth Rocks; if sweeping
storms wet the great crop of hay on the big
meadow, or an OK broke its leg in a post hole
still there was home to come back to, and
a sensible, cheerful woman to look on the
bright side of things when Amasa was dis
couraged.
But on the whole, things prospered; and as
Amasa heard the sweet laughter of his happy
children, and met the calm smile of his wife,
he could not but look back on his mother's
harTassed and sad experience, and give a
heartfelt sigh to the difference between the
two Mrs. fuckers, unaware how much it was
due to his own sense of justice and affection.
There are two morals to this simple sketch.
my friends: One is the great use and neces
sity of being good to your wives,
Accept which you like or need most. In
the language of the ancient Romans: "You
pays your money and you takes your choice.'