The Wahpeton times., 1886-11-18
THAT MORTGAGE.
BY SUSAN TEALL PERRY.

1t was the time for spring cleaning.
Mrs. Brewster has gone into the best
room to look about and see what
wanted doing. AS she threw open
the blinds, she heard a robin in the
maple-tree. 1t was q good sign, her
grandmother used to say, to have a
robin come and build her nest before
ones door. It had been q long win.
ter, one OF the most severe that the
New England inhabitants has seen
for years, and the bright sunshine
was we'll appreciated. If it had not
been for that mortgage, how happy
Mrs. Brewster would have been that
morning. But as she looked out o
the window upon the resurrectinl
earth, she exclaimed:
20, dear, there is always something
to hinder the full enjoyment of any
thing in this world; at least some folks
are always weighed down with bur
dens they cannot lift Off"
After making a thorough survey O.
the room, she passed into the large
farm-kitchen.
l brought you letter, Mis- Brew
ster:. Thought as how I was down tc
the village,,I I might as we'll bring ur
yourn and Mr.. Hull's folks mail
It's such hurrying times now that
farmers have all they can do tc
home."' s. =
20, it's. Eou, Mr.: Hawkinsv' Mrs
Brewster exclaimed, as she looked up
and saw tHf haired farmer stand.
ing in thsMoor, with, the spring sun.
shine falling all about; him. IA pleas.
ant ay,.tsn't it? Thank you for
bringing the letter" 49,. :
eyes, Mis- Brewster, it's as worm
as summer. Our wimmen folks want.
ed should put some garden seed in
to-day, but told 'em that ..one swal.
low doesn't make asummer,' Springs
deceitful critter, coquettish sort o1
a. gal. When you. think you've got her,
she hain't there.",'
Mr.. Hawkins passed out of the door
laughing HEARTH y,at his own wit. Mrs.
Brewster tore open the envelope. "It's
from Mariette, she said. She sat
down in the first chair she could find
and read the letter.
''There's plenty of good times in the
world, but like Glory McQuirk, I'm
never in EN- Maristte and her folks
are going to the sea-shore for the sum-
mer. That's the reason she hasn't
written before. She's had a dress
maker in the house for whole month,
making dresses for her and the girls.
I declare, Mariette does have a good
time"
She was talking to her husband
who sat by the kitchen stove mending
harness. He was one of those men
who never make repairs until just as
they are absolutely needed.
II suppose, then, they are we'll at
Mariette's," he remarked, by way oi
rejoinder.
"You know Mariette never thinks
she enjoys very good health" his wife
spoke up in a quick, energetic tone OF
voice. "It's fortunate for her that
she doesn't have to work as l do; il
she, did, she would have been in her
grave long ago. Father wasn't over
and above pleased with the match, but
you never can tell how men are going
to turn out. Some of them are sue.
cesses, but more of them are failures u
After she had finished speaking she
climbed up on a chair in the buttery
and began her hotse-cleaning in the
descending scale, reaching up to clean
off the topmost shelf. The door was
partly open, and from her eyrie in the
buttery her husband heard her voice
above the clatter of dishes and pans.
II declare, I'm perfectly discouraged.
It's a terrible strain on a woman to
be the wheel-horse and do more than
her share of the hauling and pulling.
What are we going to do about the
mortgage, if don't take those city
boarders again this summer"
Her husband kept on mending the
broken strap, making no reply; but
when his wife got down to the middle
shelf, she stepped from the chair, and
standing beside her husband, said.
"Luman Brewster, what are we go.
ing to do about that mortgage? You
know it will be foreclos ed this fall il
we don't pay it up" va
'There's time enough, Mary Ann;
don't worry SO; seven months yet, and
by that time something will surely
turn up"
'That is what you always say, Lu-
man, but should think by this time
you would find out that things dom t
turn up, unless we 60 to work and
make them"
The unfinished harness fell in sec.
tions on the kitchen floor, as Mr..
Brewster arose from his chair, after
he had finished speaking. But he
gathered the pieces together, and went
out to the barn. Mary Ann was in,
what he mentally designated, zone o1
her tantrums." He. always took
refuge in the barn when the subject oi
that mortgage was agitated.
As Mrs. Brewster went back to the
soap and sand and the pantry shelves,
she said aloud:
"Well, like Mrs. Poyser, in Adam
Bede, I've had my say. After all, per-
haps I'd better not have said it. It
aoesn'tdo any good, and I fear I am
falling into a habit of 'nagging,
which I despise in any woman. But
when folks feelings are working, bot,
tied up as mine have been 50 long
sometimes they will burst open ir
.,5s .s ss74 b