The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1884-06-05
MRS. TIPToS's TREASURER.

-4nTS d. llunQ0H, VI ODtDn StluOt.
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MRS. TIPTONS TREASURER.
If Mi. Upton had not been uncom-
monty careful in relation to scrip and
wallet, and had not tied his purse
strings so very closely that it was as
uuc6 as her life was worth to get them
open, Mrs. Upton might not have needed
= treasurer. But as it was. unable
to geta dollar without undergoing cross
examination, and receiving criticism.
and rendering strict account afterward,
and most usually unable to get it then,
as Mr.. Upton preferred making his own
purchases and getting his W change,
she was driven to her rag-bag. She
used to laugh at her jest about if, say
ing that if her resulting coin was ever
SO hard and shining, it vas nevertheless
rag-mouey. Rag-money or not, it was
unspeakably precious to Mrs. Upton.
1t may be that her frequent and dire
want of any sort of money made the
financial question one of more interest to
her than it might have been otherwise.
She read the accounts of the great for
tunes of great men with a real relish;
read the story of the sources OF Queen
Victoria's income, aud rolled the items
of the civil list under her tongue like
sweet morsels; read the daily statement
of the internal revenue, and all that
she could find about the National debt;
even read the monthly returns of the
great railroads, comparing them with
these usually given of the year before,
and fancying for one delicious moment,
as she read, that it might make a diff
ference in her dividends, she who never
had had q dividend, o ever expected
one She read all the debates on the
silver question-dry enough to crumble
as they were-to no other end than q
hopeless muddling of her wits, and ran
her eye yer the market quotations of
stocks and bonds, without ever finding
out what it meant when it said that
money sold for from six to seven per
cent.
It was rather a singular fact, consid-
ering her interest in the subject, that
she had never seen o bond. She knew
that Mr.. Upton had some bonds; but,
so far as she had any idea of them at
all, she figured them in her mind as re-
sembling either a small map on wooden
rollers or the bunch of decorated
shaving papers which she always gave
her husband at Christmas, receiving in
return from him q new pocket handker-
chief. There was just such a bunch
now hanging up by the desk in the little
back room that he called his den,
and she had treated it with reverence
for some time, as a species of emissary
from the Treasury of the United States;
it was n Of Mr.. Tipton's habits to put
~valuables in perfectly open and obvi-
Gus, and therefore unsupported, places,
in order to confound house-breakers,
which made her fancyconcerning it less
irrational. She never could forget Mr..
Tipton's inscrutable face when she
asked about it once, and he told her it
was q pen-wiper. OF course her iguor-
anee only added to Mr.. Tipton's con-
tempt for her feminine ealibre, and to
his conviction that women might be
trusted with their children, under
supervision, with care of souls and
care of sick and diving, but
that 20 valuable a thing as money was
not to be given into such weak hands.
Why should he show her a bond, that
she might know what the thing was
like There were some things thai
women had no need of knowing. The
consequence of all which niggardliness
and want of trust was that Mrs. Upton
had to resort, as I have said, to her rag.
bag.
That the good woman saved every
shred of thread, every travelling, every
scrid of paper to be seen on the floor
o~nly-gave her husband reason t think
that she was the neatest of neat house
keepers, as, of course, he had a RICH
that his wife should be. That there
never was a newspaper to be found tina
was more than a week old was rather
puzzling to him but then there wer,
fires to kindle, and window-panes tt
polish, and shelves to be covered, saving
paint, and carpets to be lined, ant
clothes to be wrappedu NJ and put away
and so, perhaps, that was all right
She had said once, in answer to hi
inquiry, that nobody borrowed them
"Well," he said then, ..you needn'
take a whole newspaper to kindle a fire
! can get q blaze with one wisp." Sh
always had a piece of soft cloth hand
todo up q u or a bruise, so that it hai
not yet occurred to him to observe tina
there were never any old rags in tn
house. On the whole, he had not sus
pected the existence of that rag-bag
that is, in any undue proportions
Every w~ell-regulated house had a rae
bag, the sale of whose contents ken
the tin-ware in repair; his mothers al
ways did. And SO, fortunately-or wa
it unfortunately ?-Mrs. Tipton's sourc
of revenue remained undiscovered an,
u~ndisturbed.
If NJ. Upton had looked into tina
receptacle he would doubtless hav
eraised the roof with his cutlery over tn
things which he would have seen a
SUCH time as any emergency require
the raising of some vast sum-say
dollar and a hall. Only an emergency
however; for under ordinary pressur
Mrs. Upton kept strictly within tn
line of cuttings and clippings, new
papers and letter envelopes. She ha
been able with this sometimes, takin
the whole course of the year, to hav
her old hat made over and get herseI
q couple of pairs of stockings with n
darns to make her tender feet burn lik
live Goals. She resorted TO extrem
measures only when extreme wan
goaded her, as now now when Ann
was going to graduate. and it was i'm
possible to induce her father to yield
sum sufficient for a new white dress fo
the occasion, to say nothing of a ne,
gown for herself that might not sham
the child among her mates.
You are setting the child a dreadfu
example of frivolfty," said Mr.. Upton
"tOne would think, to hear you talk
that there was nothing in the world bu
dress"
81 think this very unfair, Mr.. Upton.
said his wife. "You know how Ihave
-she wanted TO say pinehed. an
pared, and saved, but she knew Their
would be an outburst from her hus
hand who. on the principle that tw