New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1886-07-21
THE LITTLE BLUE BOOK.

Mack Holt and Paulina Merritt were
married. 1t was a very quiet affair,
but it meant much to them. There
was no great reception, a crush of
toilets, scarcely hiding the vulgar Curl
osity, a display OF bric-a-brac and sill:
yer, with a menu that made pater
familias groan when he settled the bill
Their wedding tour was not extended,
being from Parson Warehouses door
to the little cottage on Front street,
but it had all the romance and lovely
sentiment of.the more important So
ciety events, which are chronicled in
the fashionable gazette
Paulina had been cook in an aristo.
cratic family FOR some years; Mack
Holt worked at the ssmilP' for forty
dollars a month, until he was able to
put fifteen hundred dollars into quite
a portentious house; this left a thou
sand dollars as mortgage, at four
per cent. on long time, provided the
interest was promptly paid, otherwise
they might expect foreclosure at any
time. Paullna, too, had been econom-
lcal; she had always demanded large
wages, received many gifts from her
mistress, and was able to furnish their
house with a good deal of genteel
taste.
We would not have you think that
Mack and Paulina were ordinary peo-
pie; they were not. Mack was a keen,
enterprising, sagacious workman,
and Paulina had an unmeasured
amount of that Yankee gift called
faculty" They had the respect of
their employers and were able to main
tain their position with dignity and
success.
Now they had joined interests
"set up for themselves. How invi.
ting the fire looked on the hearth, as
they stepped into the coy parlors,
all their own, with skill displayed in
its appointments that many mis-
tress might envey for her drawing
room. The house had the atmos-
phere Of home. Paulina had
lived so long among artistic
furnishings and been loved so we'll by
her mistress, she had caught the art
OF moulding common faDrics into ele-
gance. The dining-room and kitchen
were SO handy" Our fathers built
their houses and then divided them in
to rooms. Woman's work was not
considered; and how hard it became,
with no conveniences or skill displayed
in the arrangement of the living-room.
Mack and Paulina put their heads to-
gether on this matter. The dishes
from the table with few steps could
be taken to the china closet, then
through a slide door to the pantry,
and from the pantry through another
slide door to the kitchen sink.
The kitchen sink was not too
large, and every step would
count in accomplishing the
house-work. They, intending to live
in the whole house, furnished it with
that object in mind. There were no
"best rooms" mouldy and damp. The
sunshine entered every apartment at
some hour in the day, and they did not
believe in closed blinds, save in the
very hottest of the weather.
The economy that determines one
to live in their kitchen, save when COM
pany are present, is a short-sighted
policv-it narroWs the horizon of ones
life and warps the whole nature.
Paulina's house was an ideal one in
many respects; they were working peo-
pie and not ashamed OF it, but they
did not believe that necessarily shut
them away from culture and elegance.
They were determined to make them.
selves all that they were able, without
false pride or envious humbleness.
The tiniest rift in the lutte will spoil
the harmony Perfection is not in the
gift of Dame Fortune "The best laid
plans of mice and gang aft aglee," and
SO we may expect that Mack and Pau
lima would have their share of the
misfortunes OF life They had
a good Setting OUT" and, the
best OF all, they provided it them
selves; but the best grip we may have
Of life will not always save fall. It
is no joke to get a living, in a large
sense OF the term, from the world; a
living that is sweet, gracious and ex-
panding.
That night they figured up their in
come, and made their plans. Mack
earned $3.50 a year. Paulina had
promised to work one day in the week
for her old mistress, for which she
would receive 81, making $50 a year.
Their united income then would be
$532. They would live on $25 a
month; this with $40 annual interest
would consume $40. 1t would take
them six years at least to pay off their
mortgage. They would then have
$l92 to pay on their place every year.
All this sounds well, but the tragedy
Of unexpected is our danger. Fig
ures will not lie, but they often CON
ceal the hard reality. If they had
succeeded in their worthy undertake
ing, this sketch never would have been
written.
They had expended all their ready
money for the first payment OF the
house and it's furnishing. 1t was very
complete in every way, a good cellar
cemented on the bottom and we'll