The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1886-05-08
A Little story for Husbands.

my SudS are all over the moor SAID
Mrs. Alden, in tone OF dependency,
to her husband, as he came in to
wash his hands at the sink after oiling
his new horse rake.
"That is bad, Jennie. You will
have to let your washing go till to-
morrow; then you can borrow Mrs.
Selden's tub"
But this will all fall to pieces if it
stands, and we are expecting compa-
ny to morrow"
81 can't help it; | can't stop the
work to so off with it now. You
must make hay while the sun shines Ii
you do at all. Can't you tie it up, so
that it will do to-day? | should think
you might"
perhaps so, if you will help me.
What can / take?"
cob. anything for this time; but
really | ought not to stop a minute.
Where is your clothes-line?"
"The colored clothes are on it to
dry"
Chang them on the fence and let's
have it quick"
So Mrs. Alden trotted out and moved
her clothes and took the line down,
while Mr.. Alden stood In tae door ana
whstled impatiently.
"Do mop up this water, Jenny.
How can you stand in such a puddle?
There, ] forgot to get you q, new mop
handle, but you can make 1t go to-day
can't your"
II suppose | shall have to. You
promised to get one three weeks ago,
when you broke this. .
II know did, but | never think o.
it-a man has so many things to see
to. There, that will 90 this week; it
doesn't leak much. ! don't see what
made it break"
"The hoop rusted out. The old tub
has done good service; it has been IN
use > years"
"There, coniound it What didyou
leave the dashboard there for? Ihave
broken it all to pieces"
at IS worn out and rotten. ] wish
YOU would get me a new one. | can
never tinker it up again"
Grub your clothes with your hands;
my mother always did, and she never
had a dashboard in her life"
Alden marched off to the hay field
before he met with another catas-
trophe to take up his time.
He was hardly out OF sight before
tin peddler's carl stopped at thedoor,
containing a collection OF all articles
used in a family, from washtub3 down
to brooms, mops and pins.
Anything in the way OF trade, Mrs.
Alden, to-day?" asked the man.
mo, | think not. My husband
doesn't like me to buy from peddlers.
He says | always get cheated"
"Have you not as good right to
have suitable apparatus to work with
as he has, He has new horse rake
aud hay-tedder, and his wifeis wash
ing in a tub tied up with a rope. and
a dashboard that looks as if Noah's
wife brought it out of the ark, and
leaky water pail, a dipper without
a handle, a broken mop-handIe
bless me Mrs. Alden What ls
the use? You had more money
when you were married than he had,
and | would have tools to work with
that were comfortable, to say the
least. He never stops to think what
a thing costs, if he needs it, or If 1T will
make his work easier. 1t tires you
more to get along with these things
than it does to do your work"
Mrs. Alden sat down ard looked the
property over. 1t was ridiculous to
get along in this way. The peddler
was right; she had more money THAI
her husband when they started life,
and she had worked harder than ever
he had. She had managed every way
to get along and he never thought she
needed anytl i1g rev or convenient.
Her setting out was almost worn out
and nothing was ever replaced. "You
must make it do; it costs everything
to overland so she had dragged
along year after year, and things wore
out and were not replaced. A big
lump rose in her throat as shesat thGe
thinking.
"What do you ask for your wash
tubs ?" she inquired at length.
1.-TWO dollars for the large ones; a
dollar and quarter for the next size
Mop-handIes for a quarter, wash
boards a quarter, dippers twenty
CtnlS, DIOOIllS
"Hand me down two washtubs, #
you piease-one Of each size; a zine
washboard, too"
eyes; and pail and dipper, too? l
would have them"
And she did have them, and sundry
other necessary things, amounting in
all to the little sum Of S12. She paid
in barter. such as feathers, rags, eggs,
dried apples and butter, and went to
work with renewed courage; but she
knew that her husband would growI
at her outlay and expected q regular
tempest at dinner.
She was not disappointed. But she
had got the things and was glad of it,
and couldn't feel very bad. Alden
opened his eyes in astonishment.
fYou paid twice what the things are
worth. I could have bought them
cheaper. We could have got along
while longer"
81 suppose have as good a right to
Judge OF what | need to do my work as
you have to get things to make your
work easy, and / made up my mind
today that when | needed anything |
sHOUlO NAVE IL HSE6dLt6E. GU know
that every article bought to day was
actually needed in the house. Yon
have said time and again you would
get them, but you never remember it.
1t is a rough place for a woman to be
placed IN, to have to do her work and
nothing convenient to do it with. 1t
IS like the ancient Israelites, compelled
to make bricks without straw, and |
am not going to do it any longer"
"All owing TO the hoop bursting of
the washtub today
eyes, that was the last feather that
broke the camens oack; that and the
new horse-rake came too near togeth-
er. | could not avoid contrasting
your conveniences with mine, and you
can see how it stood. You haveevery
new machine that is invented TO make
teamwork easy. and / nave nothing
at all. y
Mr.. Alden said no more, but ate his
dinner in silence, and the hired men
exchanged significant glances at each
9th a. They had thought and snokan