The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1888-01-21
sErn pAklN,s "FlccERlN,.' y
After ali His Work the Balance Re.
maIned In Heayen,

After ali HE Work the Balance Re-
mained In Heasen.
he was not q mathematician, but
from his youth up be had been '6eger-
I'M" as he pronounced it, Q form OF
expression common to most honest
business men, and some women, not
Bostonian in elegance, but very pop.
ular with "the masses"
He done some fggerin, when he made
up his mind to marry sweet, pretty
Nellie MARROW who taught in the pri-
mary department of the public school,
and had known him since she was q
wee toddler, and he was q gawky,
freckled.face schoot-boy.
1--WE been fggerin," he said to his
landlady, as he sat one night with
pencil and paper before him. She had
looked in to collect his board bill. q
week before it was due, to protect her
self.
1--WE figured it out that it's as
cheap for two to live as one. I mean
that it won't cost me any more to
get married and take care OF wife
than it does to live single. You see.
I've fggered it all out. The same fire
will do for both, and l won't have to
pay out for mending. and there's q
lot OF ways young man spends
money with his friends that he can
save if he has some one to look after
him. I've got it all down hele and
added up, and there is q balance in
favor of my plan on the credit side"
"He's figgerln' on the rule that
what amt enough for one is plenty
and to spare for two," thought his
landlady. "twon't work, but it. none
OF my affairs"
Seth Dakin married the little school
mistress, and for a brief year they
boarded with his former landlady ID
such a pinched and subdued style
that they were comfortably wretched
most of the time, and had it not been
for the genuine love that existed be-
tween them, could never have sur
vived their domestic hardships. At
the end OF the year Seth did some
more "fggerin'
This time he figured himself into a
house and lot, on some installment
plan, and it looked so feasible that
Nellie clapped her hands with enthusi-
asm-very thin, white hands they
were too.
care you sure it can be done?" she
asked anxiously, as she reckoned up
the long column OF figures. "Can we
ever pay for them?"
Easiest thing in the world, DEAR
Seth answered gently. He was very
fond OF his Nellie. If she had no cloak
fit to wear neither did he have any
overcoat, but went out on the coolest
day buttoned up and trim.
you've forgotten your overcoat,
Mr.. Dakin," said a polite friend to
him one day; "aren't you cold2"
S"N.n.n-ever w-wear o-o.ne." STAN
mered the poor fellow, shivering like a
hungry dog over bone, 81 s-s-should
d-despise to r-r-oll up Like an o-o-ld
w-womanv'
You see he was only q clerk on
beggarly stipend in q time and place
that demanded Injuries; carpets in
stead OF bare floors; meat and
pie instead OF brown loaves or cabbage
and beans; he could as we'll have turn.
ed cannibal as to have tried to do
without the kind OF food they had
been reared upon.
"Figgers don't lie," he said cheerful.
ly, "Nellie, we'll have home"
The house was built for them and
they moved in. For another year
they pinched and saved, and pared
down to the bone. Then Seth began
to "6gger" again.
This time it was the baby.
He was as cheerful and light-heart-
ed-not the baby but Seth-as if the
debt on the house was not staring
them in the face. He whistled and sung,
and one night he sat down beside Mel
lie and showed her two long columns
of credit and debt.
"I've been fggerin', "he said gaily,
"and that little shaver over there
isn't going to cost us cent. I've put
every thing down that he can posi-
bly, need for a year, and it only adds
up $50. Why, / can make that by
writing up books in the evenings this
winter"
Nellie smiled, but it was sad wan
smile. She began to see how Seth's
"fgerin' " came out-always deficit
instead of a balance, but she hadn't
the heart to discourage him.
The baby grew and thrived. His
mother was his nurse. She was also
chief cook and seamstress, as well as
mistress and housekeeper.
"I've been fggerin'," began Seth one !,
evening, "that the baby is the best !,
in the family. He keeps US,
from going anywhere, so we can't
spend any money for outside pleasures
If we try. And we're ever SO much
happier together, amt we, little mann
mar"
The little mamma looked very,
tired, but she assented with her whole
heart to what Seth said. Here was
her world. These two were her treas
ures.
They had barely been able to pay
the interest on their home with all of
Seth's ''fggerin',", when the baby was
taken very i'll and doctor was called
in.
Then followed O. dreadful siege of
sickness. The doctor came three and
four times day. The father and
mother were watchers and nurses
but at last the little fell
low was saved and the long, dreadful
anxiety was over.
Then Seth brought. out that WELL
known pencil and paper.
"Ive been fggerin'," he said, but
this time more gravely than was his
won't, "and it seems to me now, if
happens. that we'll have the
house and lot paid for inside OF FIVE
amt long, Nellie, is it?"
Nellie did not answer. She was
looking at the thin hand-oh, so
much thinner than hers had ever been
that held the fatal pencil in such /
iaunty way. Her eyes were full OF
tears.
you're worn out" he said kindly,
"but you needn't worry, dear, the
baby's all right now, and I've been
figgerin'."
ave been figuring, too" said Nell
lie, land after this / am going to be
OF the firm. You've lost
your place. Seth, at the store, but
I've taken it. I am glad I learned
ord mood a oh noo ~