The Washington critic., 1886-01-16

might have done had been receiving
my pin money and had 1t all together,
but would at least get some articles
OF clothing in some way. ! had not
money enough TO buy a dress, so that
morning bought shoes and gloves and
chose for the latter medium tint
which would suit anything, for could
not tell what else | might be able TO
procure.
That evening Henry spread ont his
money on the table and placed his nc
customed sum within the leaves Of the
family Bible; then, as usual, he turned
TO me and asked: well, Rosy, my
darling, how much money have you?"
None" / answered. lie looked
surprised, and this time he took out 81
and handed it to me.
All the while had endured q great
deal of modification, yet had been TO
him invariably smiling and pleasant.
He never knew anything was wrong at
all, but really thought that, rs had not
spent what money had, there was no
use to give me any more, and | valued
our mutual affection too highly TO let
money come between us, though | was
woman enough to feel very hardly the
disappointment of not receiving that
little weekly allowance, and the morti
iication of wearing day after day the
same shabby dresses to Il boarding.
house table.
The next Saturday the same prob.
lem came up again. must spend what
] had or ] would not get any more (;
yet SO at time would not buy dress
nor bonnet, and if / should try to
save IL for such purposes ! could have
none at all.
After some dclibcration ! decided
upon getting some muslin and parasol
this time. These articles were not
what ! most needed, but they were
what the money would buy. Another
difficulty was that ] know nothing
about shopping in New York, and
could not ask any one to show me how
to spend SO at time when | had al
ready spent 81 for muslin, when, in
passing n store, i saw parasols in the
window marked 9S cents. / imme-
diately went in and bought one, but
as soon as came to the sunlight in the
doorway | saw 1t was of cotton mate
rial. That | considered waste of
money, so / turned back and asked for
a check for the amount, saying that |
would come and purchase higher
| priced one at another time. Then the
! idea came to my mind that the way
| for me to manage was to get these re-
turn checks every Saturday until / had
enough of them to my credit to buy u
dress and bonnet.
Thus, every Saturday evening could
answer Henry that had no money on
hand, and so regularly received the
small, though valued sum of So The
| time lost could not be made up, and it
| was very late in the summer before |
had the satisfaction of purchasing even
| one plain suit and bonnet to CORES
| pond; but had learned how to man.
age, and when the fall came on had a
sufficient number of return checks to
buy suit and shawl without having
to wait until half the winter was
gone.
How my cheeks used to burn when
/ would keep getting return checks at
the same store until they amounted
to $40 or Sl2. The floor.walker and
clerks thought was lunatic, l be-
lieve, but what else could / do?
Whether Henry fancied l had be.
come eXtravagant when each Satur-
day my money was all spent, / do
not know; but as it was gone he al,
ways supplied me, nor did he make
inquiries, either. He had never
known or thought ,',at he was sub
jccting me to any anxiety or discom-
fort, and | do not intend that he
shall know, and therefore hope that
he will not recognize this sketch.