Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1888-10-12

ana guess you IL DO as well as oIner
women do, Lefty. Now run up stars
to the garnet, dear, and get me my blue
jean overalls, that's good girl"
Lefty obeyed, but the tears were in
her eyes, and a big round ball was
rising up in her throat, and she could
hardly see the jean overalls, as they hung
up high on the end of the beams.
| AS she reached up a loose board in
the garnet floor tripped her; her foot
slipped through on the laths and plaster
below, and, with a groan, she sank to
| the floor.
The time passed on, and George
White grew tired of waiting.
He shouted up the stairway;
"Look alive there, Lettyl Do you
mean to be all day2"
But no answer came. He ran up
stairs to find Lefty lying on the floor,
with one leg broken just above the
ankle.
''Now you'll have to get some one to
do the work." said Lefty, not without
spice of malice, as she lay on the
calico covered settee, with her poor
ankle duly set and bandaged.
"Not if 1 know it, said George
White. Hire a lazy woman who'll
want dollar and half week and
her board into the bargain to do the
work of this house? 1 guess not!"
''But what are you gong to do?"
asked Lefty.
ITO do it myself, to be sure. Half
an hour every morning, and half an
hour every evening ought tc be enough
| to square up accounts"
WELL" said SIrs. White, 81 shall
! like to see you do it,
''Then you'll have your WISH" said
her husband.
| He rose early the next morning and
| lighted the kitchen fire.
"Pshaw," said he, as he piled on the
sticks of wood, "what does a woman
amount to, anyhow? What's the next
| lesson, Letty?"
81 always skim the cream and strain
the milk, " said Lefty, who was bolstered
up on the lounge, and was combing her
hair with more deliberation than she had
practiced for year.
"Well, here goes then," said George.
And period of silence ensued.
Presently he shouted.
81 haven't got milk-pans enough!"
''Of course you haven't" said Lefty.
"You must scald your yesterdays. You
know you said you couldn't set up tin
shop when [ asked for a dozen more last
month"
''They smell like boiling factory"
said George, disdainfully. "What ais
'em?'
"You should have scalded them last
night" sighed Lefty, wishing that she
had wings like dove that she might
soar into the milk room, and restore
order out of the chaos.
Here's a 60" said George. "There
isn't hot water"
ooh, George, you've forgotten to put
the kettle on"
$50 did," said her husband ''And
the sticks, hang 'em, are all burnt OUT"
"You know l wanted you to get ton
of COAL" said Lefty, ''but you said as
long as wood cost nothing but the chop
ping and hauling, wood it would be-"
''Have [ got to wait for that con-
founded water to heat?" groaned
George.
81 don't know anything else for you
to do" remarked Lefty, drily.
"Humph!' observed that lord and
master. whats for the breakfast"
CLAM and eggs, suppose
"Well, I'm up to that part of the pro-
gramme, at least" said he, cheerfully.
ooh, the dickens! What is the use of
keeping your knives so sharp? I've
nearly cut my thumb off! Where do you
keep the oatmeal? | can be attending to
your old milk pans while the breakfast
is cooking, 1 suppose. There Is nothing
like economy in work"
But it was mortal hour before the
milk was strained and the pigs fed, and
by that time the house was blue with
sort of smudgy smoke.
"Hullo," shouted George, coming in.
"What's all this-is the house on fire."
"No," said Lefty, calmly, "only the
breakfast has burned up."
George uttered a long sigh.
"Who'd have thought the fire was so
hot?" said he ''What am to do now"
Cook another, I suppose" said
Lefty.
''And what next?" demanded George,
fiercely.
"Why, set the table, and then clear it
away and wash the Dishes"
with this cut fnger?" complained |
the husband.
81 was obliged to do it all the weeks |
1 had a felon OIL my little finger" re-
marked Lefty. ''The young geese and
the turkeys ought to have been let out /
and fed long before this; and the three
calves in the barnyard to be attended |
to. And then there are the kitchen and /
sitting room to be swept and busted and |
the beds to make, and the string beans
to be picked, and the bread to bake, and |
the huckleberry pies to make, and your
white vest to be ironed, and the potatoes |