The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-12-11
She took out one of the cakes and held it

She took out one of the cakes and held it
almost lovingly.
Dear mother" she said, tenderly, show
good she always is to mew
1t was absurd, preposterous, it was pitt
full, buther husband realized thatnothing-
not a diamond tiara, nor a grand piano
would have been so acceptable gift, or
had represented so much happiness to her,
as that box of sapolio.
1t was in April that the baby was born,
sweet, plump, pretty baby, who didn't
seem to appreciate its advantages in being
born into ''the best-scrubbed family in the
state" as Harry called it. He hoped that
the advent of this young stranger would
make change in the frightful neatness of
his home. 1t seemed to him it would be
impossible to keep house with baby in
it so clean.
But he soon discovered that he was mis-
taken. The baby was not expected to pro-
duce any disorder; it was simply another
object to be scrubbed.
Harry stopped moment one morning
as 1t was having its bath. He was just
going TO his business, and he stood by the
side OF the tub pulling on his gloves. The
baby-poor little red atom of humanity
cried all the time, and seemed to resent
the application of soap and water in way
that appealed to the fathers heart.
Jennie" he said, don't wash that
child out OF existence"
She looked up at him Indignantly. Her
llns were compressed and her face was red
and shiny with her exertions.
This is my child" she said, firmly,
and 1t shall be clean if we both die doing
it."
Her sentence was not grammatical, but
/ If no 1oF OF If
an edlct. 1t compelled conviction on the
spot. He knew then that neither prayers
nor entreaties, neither the hope OF happi-
ness, nor the fear of misery, nor even the
lives of those dearest to her, would stop
her IN her clean career. The inherited vice
was stronger than all else
He bent over and kissed the top OF the
baby's head
"Well, little one," he said, good luck
to you! I'll gather up your little bones,
after your mother has bleached them well,
and mourn over them"
Harry" cried his wife in a shocked
tone, why. Harry"
But he ran, laughing, down the stairs.
and she turned to the baby again with a
sigh.
No one would ever know how much her
husbands levity cost her. We can all
bear opposition to our religion more easily
! than ridicule of it, and cleanliness was her
religion. But, like the apostles of old.
who preached so much the more after
each fresh persecution, so Jennie. after
every little scarcasm of her husbands. re-
/ doubled her clearly eXertions. On this
/ particular occasion the baby nearly lost
an ear under her searching and vigorous
/ ministratiOns.
She had concluded not to engage nurse
/ for the child, but to get along with the one
/ servant, who had always proved sufficient,
and then have women come in by the day
/ to do the heavier work. This sounded
/ like an economical plan, but it WASH I.
! There were women who came to wash, and
women who came to iron, women to sweep.
| wash windows and clean the piazzas.
women who scrubbed in the attic and
secured in the cellar, special women who
/ came to wash blankets, or lace curtains, or
/ clean brass or scOur tin.
! Harry christened their house "The
| Working Women's Home" lie said it
was so infested with them that he had a
| strange sense of loneliness on the rare
/ days when they didn't come. He declared
that woman with a damp cloth in her
/ hand seemedto him an essential feature OF
/ every room. They looked bare and I'M
I
He was patient and loving, and as cheer
/ full as man could be who "had to scrub
| every breath before he drew it." But at
last there came a day, or rather an even
/ ing, when he determined to have an earn
est, sensible talk with Jennie and try to
reform her
| Harry had been compelled to borrow.
/ 1t was not large sum, but it weighed
] heavily upon him. He hated, as most
men do, to preach economy to his wife,
! but it had to be done, so he nerved him
/ self for It,
She was darning some minute holes in
her own white stockings when he began.
| She had never worn colored ones; she
! considered them dirty"
Jennie" he said, II want to 90 over
these accounts with you, if you have
/ time"
She put down her work and looked at
the paper while he explained the various
| items.
"You see, DEAR" he said, pleasantly,
''that we have been extravagant. Well
have to turn over new leaf and retrench
somewhere"
81 am so sorry" she said; ''what can we
| do? l can make the grocer's bill smaller.
/ We can do without so much fruit, for in
! stance"
He laughed at her suggestion. Think
soap is the biggest item on the bill, be
said, lightly, "and l don't suppose you
could do without that"
"No, Jennie" he added, seriously,
don't you see, dear, it's these confounded,
| DAYS work that have made the mischief"
''But they had to be done"
/ "Had they, dear? | don't believe other
/ people spend as much time and money
cleaning as you do. Why, Jennie, every
thing is wearing out The house looks
! like some thin horse, whose bones begin
/ to show through his skin. The nap is
coming off the carpets and the furniture
all shows wear. Don't you think you beat
! ii too often?"
NO. she answered, shortly.
"And my. clothes, Jennie, why, they
used to wear twice as long. don't think
brushing them so much agrees with them.
Il never heard of going dirty to save
your clothes" she said sarcasticaliy.
ooh, Jennie, be reasonablel I've
| laughed at you and let you go on and do as
YOU pleased, but it's getting serious. 1t
doesn't make us happy, it doesn't make
us comfortable. It's simply fiendish. Be
| sides, we can't afford it. It's more expen-
sive than smoking. 1t costs more than
/ poker playing. It's vice-thats what it
/ is, a positive vice.
He laughed, but Jennie's eyes grew
strangely bright. There was no tears in
! them, She sat up very straight and tail,
and said in a low voice.
"When | married YOU, Harry / knew