Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-01-26
THE TWO MRS. TUCKER.


out. said Amasa Tucker, as he opened the
back door OF gray house. set on top of tree
less hill, tracked here and there with paths the
geese had made In their daily journeys to the
pond below, and only approached at the back by
a lane TO the great red barn and rickety board
gate set between two posts of the rail fence.
This was Wealthy Ann fuckers Homecoming
She had married Amasa that morning at her
father house in Stanton. little village 20 miles
away from Poets Mills. the town within whose
wide limits lay the Tucker farm; and had come
| home with him this early spring afternoon in
the old wagon behind the bOny horse that did
duty for Amasa's family carriage
Mrs Tucker was tall. thin young woman
with sad reticent face. very silent and capa-
bic. These last traits had been her chief rec
ommendation to her husband. There was no
sentiment about the matter. Old Mrs Tucker
had died two weeks before this marriage but
Amasa was "forehanded" and knowing his
mother could not live long had improved his
opportunities and had been 'sparkin" Wealthy
Ann Minor all winter. in judcious provision for
the coming event of his solitude
He had thought the thing all over and con-
Guided that wife was cheaper than q hired
girl, and more permanent SO. when he found
this alert, firm onted. handy girl living at her
uncle's. who was a widOwer on O great farm the
other side of the village. Amasa made her
to further intimacy. Wealthy liked better to
work for her uncle than for q stepfather with
six secondary children. but she thought it
would be better still to have a house of her own;
so she agreed to marry Amasa Tucker and this
was her home coming.
She opened the door into a dingy room with
an open fireplace at one end a window ON the
north and one on the south side. small PANIED
with old. green and imperfect glass and letting
In but just enough light to work by. One cor
DartltiOQpI q
pantry, and door by the fireplace led out into
the woodshed. The front of the house con-
tained two rooms. One opened into the kit
chen and was bedroom. furnished sparsely
enough; the other was parlOr. with high
backed rush-bOttOmed chairs against the wall q
round table In the middle, a fireplace with brass
andirOns and treirons, a family Bible on the
table and mourning piece" painted in ground
mar on the mantei: Green paper shades and
white cotton curtains. a rag carpet fresh as it
came from the lOOm--if its dinginess could ever
be called fresh-and straightforward sofa COW
cred with green and yellow glazed chintz, made
as dTeary an apartment as could well be mag-
ined. Wealthy shut the door behind her
quickly, and went to the shed for material to
make her fire. 1t was almost shutdown and she
was hungry; but che found only the scantiest
supply of wood and few dry chips for kim
ding However, she did her best, and she had
| brought some provisions from home, so that she
managed to lay out decent supper on the
rlckety table by the time Amasa came stamping
In from the barn.
He looked disapprovingly at the pie the bis
cult, the shaved beef, and the jelly set before
| him.
Il hope We amt a waster, Wealthy" he
growled.
There's vttles enough for township and
the amt but two OF u.s.
We'll, our folks sent em over and you no
need to eat EN-. she answered cheerily.
II ant gOln TO; don't We breakintO that ell
set it by; sometime or nuther somebody may be
a comm. and you'll want of it,
Wealthy said no more: they made q supper of
biscuit and beef, for the pie also was ordered
''set by"
She was used to economy, but not to stingi-
Ness, and she excused this extreme thrift in her
husband more easily for the reason that she had
been always poor. and she knew very we'll that
he not rich, to say the least But it was
! only the beginning
Hard as Wealthy had worked at her uncle's
here she found harder burdens she had to draw
and fetch ali the water she used from an old
fashioned we'll with a heavy sweep picturesque
to see. but weaTlsOme to Use: wood was scarce
for though enough grew on the hundred acres
that Ama>a owned, lie grudCed its use.
II STA Mt cut down no more than is really
needtn! he said. when she urged him to fetch
her load: Woods alters q CROWN when We
dont cut II. ana maxim for lumber: and lum-
bers better to sell. sight than cOrdwOod. Ye
must git along somehow with brush; mother
used ter burn next to nOthin'."
she did not remind him that his mother was
bent double with rheumatism. and died of the
NTH attack OF pneumonia. Wealthy never
wasted words
Then there were eight COWS to milk, the milk
10 strain set. skim. Churn or make into cheese
ana nothing but the simplest utensils to DO
Win. cloth held over the edge of the pail
| served for stralner, the pals themselves were
| heavy wood, the pans old and some of them
| leaky, the holes stopped with bits of rag often
TO be renewed. the milk room was in the shed
3 pTrcf oJ,t,
freeze there in the winter and only aired by one
small Slated window; the churn was an old
| wooden one with dasher. and even the '.spad-
die" with which. she worked her butt er was whit
tied out of maple knot by Amasa himself, and
was heavy and rough
! Then, to her belonged the feeding OF the pigs
gaunt. lean animals. with sharp shouts ridpy
backs, long legs and thin TANKS. deep-set ewes
that CLEANED with intelligent malice and never
stated hunger Wealthy grew almost afraid of
! them when they clambered upon the rails Of the
pen in their fury for food. and tapped their
pointed ears at her. squealing and fighting for
the scant fare that she brought. For Amasa I'M
deried and oyerW Orked everything that belonged
to him.
Then there were hens to look after-the old
fashioned barn-dOOr ''creepers" that wanted food
too and yet catered for themselves in great
measure and made free with barn and yoodshed
Tor want OF their own quarters, and were deci-
mated every season by hawks owls, skunks
wcasels and foxes, to say nothing of the little
Chickens on which crows and cats worked their
VIII II they dared to stray beyond the ruinous
Old coop contrived for them by Amasas invent
I've genus out of sticks and stones.
Add TO all this the cooking. washing baking
and sewing. the insufficient supply o. pork. DO
tatoes and tough pies. the IBID dinners" whose
strength lay in the vegetables rather than In the
small square OF tat pork cooked with them. of
which Amasa invariably took the lions share
These accommodating and never-ceasing labors
all wore day by day on the vitality.Of Mrs Tuck
or. and when to these were added an annual
baby, life became terror aud a burden to the
poor woman.
But what did Amasa care? He too worked
from sun to sun"
He farmed in the hard old fashion with rude
implements and no knowledge but
"My father done it afOre me- so am a pOIn
! to do it now, 10 use talkin'" One by one the
wailing puny children were laid away in the lit
tie yard on top Of a sandhill, where the old
fuckers and their half-dozen infants Law al
ready; rough Enclosure, full Of mullens. bur
docks and thistles, overrun with low blackberry
vines and surrounded by rail fence 1t had
been much handler for the fuckers to have a
graveyard close by than to travel five miles to
the mills with every funeral: and they were not
driven by public opinion I'm regard to mOnu-
ments; they all lay there like the hearts that
perish, with but one slant gray stone to tell
where the first occupant left his tired bones
Two children OF Wealthy's survived, Amasa and
Lurana, the oldest and youngest of seven
AmaSa, cOnsiderate, intelligent bow who
thought much and said little, and Lurana. or
"Lury." as her name was generally given. a
mischieyIOus, Self-willed little INN the daliuhf