The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-06-05

lover. Iney uiu CduoOu Liz W PiNiAAs
himself good deal on his domestic
virtues for two or three days, till ne
forgot them. The bundle seemed
heavier and bulkier than it used. but
then her husband had folded round and
covered the letters, and perhaps made
more of them that way. He had tied
up some other old truck with them, al
any rate, maybe just to steady them.
He'd never look at them again. Be
sides, they were her own; why should
she leave her loveletterS for all the
world to read? The love letters fol
lowed suit. Then Mrs. Upton looked
round for fresh forage. WHAT else was
there? She might take the cottonwood
out of the comfortable; but that would
be robbing her husband; she would not
do that-at least not till she couldn
help it. Those Congressional dOcu-
ments-well, cent and half pound
no earthly good! Mr.. Upton might
never know it, and then the case was
desperate. In they went with all the
rest; and she even took the scissors
and clipped the margins from every
book in the bookcase that really be-
longed to herself-few in number, but
atoms swell the amount. Searching
the house from top to bottom, there
really seemed to be nothing else she
dared touch.
Mrs. Tipton's stock ready, she lay in
wait for the tinman, in order to receive
him when Mr.. Upton should be away,
and it appeared to her for days as il
there were conspiracy between Proyi.
| dence and her husband to trap guilty
wife, if an ever so fond mother, by the
tinman's never going by except at times
when MIR. Upton was in the house.
She secured him at last. Rags had
not materially risen, he said, but still
they fetched a good price. ''Law sakesl
I'll have to get another team if there's
any more. This sorter means bust
less" said Mr.. Dustin. speaking er
business" he went on, emptying hei
poor store into his great burlap bags,
Its a pretty one they're in out to
Washington. Have foreign war OIL
our hands in no time if they don't haul
off, and rags up out of sight. Wish I'd
a seen the President in the beginning.
I'd "a gin him hint that ID "a saved
half the fuss. But they're all so sot
in til cir own conceit" Juggling and jam.
ming in the rags-'I calkerlate ii
wouldn't a done any greet good. But all
the science isn't in the bigwigs. Now
there's my gal, my little gal-you seer
her going by to school. l amt nt
manner O. doubt she could give then
fellers out there to the government
p'ints. She graduates next week
You've got gal, too, that's took the
course, ain t you? | see her. She and
my Priscy was neck and neck awhile
But blood'll tell, and the Tiptops
always was smart"
But not all Mr.. Dustin's adroit re-
marks diverted Mrs. Tipton's eyes from
his steelyard. She looked, perhaps, a
little more intently. and would have
been glad to trip him after utterance of
his opinion of the Tiptons. She really
loved her husband. after all, and in
spite of all; but under the phrase, 1.-The
Tiptons," she bound up every bad feat
ure in his character. The only trouble
that Anna had ever given her, indeed,
was the fact that. let her do what she
would, and favor whom she might, she
really was Upton.
Well. the deed was done. Her eyes
Sparkled as the reckoning was over,
honest weight this time if never before,
and sum in her hand such as She had
not been mistress of this many day.
''Good weight and good money" said
Mr. Dustin, counting it into her open
palm. "You never sand your rays,
Miss Upton, and l ne yer scale my
weights. Not the leastest mite
You're the sorter woman | like to trade
18th: but sakes alive some of 'em. they
jest fetch out thin oleful of rags and
expect hatful of money, and de :lare
I'm a-putting my tn Imb on. and amt
giving the truth, and they see the fig
ureS different, and they see the price o
rags in the paper, and know better'n
[ do, and | m a-cheating anyway
of all which enormitieS in times past
had Mrs. Ii pton been guilty. "Now
you,' said Mr.. Dustin, who, through 7
her anxieties, had all the conversation ,
to himself, '.you Just watch and see |
amt, and that's what like. Cheating
emf m the best friend and treasurer
of heap of women whose husbands are i
just leetle ust leetle -keerful.
That night the muslin was in the |
house; the next night it was cut ont, !
and when graduation day came there |
never was a prcttier little white rose
bud of a girl than Anna looked in her
new dress. And poor Mrs. Upton sat |
at home and pictured her child taking
the hOnors, her heart full, at one and !
the same time, OF longing and content;
and Mr.. Upton went and saw her do it,
and came home in a fine rage
What did Mrs. Upton care? She
had accomplished what she had under
taken to do. Il don't know what you
have to say about it," she declared,
gathering all her forces. at never
cost you one cent"
"Why not? Who did it cost? Who's
paying for my daughters clothes3
Where did it come from?"
Rags"
rags enough for that expense?
Never. Tell that to the marines.
Where did You get them?"
Il didn't steal the H." said Mrs Tip
ton, proudly. 81 saved them They
were margins, envelopes. letters-my
family letters, my love-letters She
thought family for half second. in her
that he might applaud.
He had sometimes praised her ingenuity
in saving.
"Your love letters" he roared. "And
is that all the sentiment you have? Did
you open the bunde?" he cried, in
vehement haste. ibid you read them
before you let them go? No? No!
Great heavensl Mrs. Upton, your
daughter II never wear such an evpen-
sive dress again if she should be
crowned Queen of England. My bonds
were in that bundle. Your daughters