The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-11-18

death she had enough to pay the ex-
penses of the journey and leave three
hundred. OF that she. had paid one
hundred eighty dollars for the place,
one hundred was placed in the bank
and the remaining twenty was for inn
mediate USE 81 believe / will ven
ture to spend five dollars on the house
now, and the rest must be done as /
earn the money" thought Mrs. Weston
One dollar bought glass enough to sup
ply the broken panes. "Uncle john"
when Mrs. Weston spoke to him in re-
gard to some shingles to mend a few
spots in the roof, said that he had
part of bunch that he would not use,
and that she was welcome to them, and
the next day brought them over, bring
ing a ladder or his next visit, and
neatly patched the roof. He also gave
her an excellent recipe for a white
wash that she applied both outside and
in, the materials for making costing a
few cents less than dollar. Her house
was now sweet and clean, and her next
work was the yard. The sticks and
stones were removed and the yard was
carefully raked. Wild clematis, strug-
Cling for life beside the fence, was care
fully removed and planted at the little
front porch. A flower-bed was made,
and the two or three flower roots still
alive placed in it. Aunt Mary gave
her some seeds, and promised as soon
as it was a little warmer some slips from
her house plants. Uncle John brought
over grapevine; he said his garden
was full, and that branch had fallen
down and rooted, and it seemed too bad
to throw it away. Mrs. Weston thanked
him heartily, and planted it at the back
of the house, facing the east. The
sprouts were cut away from the foot of
the few plum and cherry-trees in the
garden. The currant-bushes were
scarcely more than roots, but she care
fully divided them and set them in an
orderly row at the side of the fence.
One dollar hired man to pillow and
drag the garden. 1t was almost too
small to dignity by the name of garden,
but by thorough cultivation she meant
it to yield nice quantity of vegetables
for their use. She bought hen of her
next neighbor a few days after her
arrival at Mortified, and now her hen
was clucking to brood of downy chick
ems in coop in one corner of the
yard. The coop was of her own manu-
facture, one of the boxes in which her
goods were brought, with side re-
moved and narrow Stats nailed across.
One bright afternoon in June I'M
Gle John" came up the street and,
pausing, leaned upon the gate, while he
took careful survey of the house and
its surroundings. "Well, welll'' he
soliloquized; "she has improved the
looks of the place. l guess I'll 90 in
and talk to her" He was quite right,
the place did look much better. 1t was
an exceedingly pleasant sight that
lovely afternoon. The house shone
dazzlingly white from its coat of white
wash; the clematis was reaching up
graceful arms over the little porch;
rosebush was putting out fragrant buds;
the flowers in the new bed were begin
ming to bloom; the grass, as if grateful
the whole yard with soft turf, and only
two or three small bare spots were visi-
BILE. In front of the house two large
apple-trees furnished a pleasant shade,
and gave the completing touch to the
picture.
"And so you don't feel sorry that
you came to Northfield?" Uncle John
asked.
"No, indeed! / do not. have sue
ceeded far better than / dared hope"
was the reply.
Yes, if you wanted to sell this place
you could get at least seventy dollars
more than you paid for it,"
~ was not thinking anything about
the value of the place, for l don't care
to sell. But l have work steadily, l
have been able to meet our expenses
and to add few comforts to the house.
My children are at school, they love
their teacher andare progressing as well
as could wish. Our garden will soon
be help to us; the children do large
part of the work Saturdays and out of
school hours. l guess we shall have
some plums and apples; it looks favor
able now. Next week | am going to do
some painting on the inside woodwork
| am not engaged to work at any place
and all the leisure time have l en-
ploy in work to make our home pleas
ant. bought quantity of white lead
and intend to paint the sitting-room
white. l shall add very small quantity
of lampblack, to make light grey for
the bedrooms, and little more to make
darker shade for the kitchen. To
paint the whole room will not cost over
dollar in paint, believe-not much
over, at any rate. l shall apply it
myself"
"Mr. Wentworth and his wife are
coming soon to see u.s." Uncle John
said, as he departed, they will be
over to see you while they are here"
"Do you know" Uncle John said, a
couple of weeks later, as he was taking
Mr.. and Mrs. Wentworth to the depot,
on their departure from Mortified,
"that woman only had three hundred
dollars money capital, but in common
sense, energy and SNAP she has
more capital than many who count
capital by Thousands! "-Ndtional Stock
man and Farmer.