Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1890-08-14
RAG WITH HOLES.

49, board punctually, having
..,neans" as the neighbors said.
What the Potters would have
Zane without her board 10 help them
.hev could not think-now they had
!. Yet before Mrs. Potter's Uncle
rbeuezer died they had lived just as
,uauy other poor people live. Uncle
rhenezer had never helped his niece
At al since he gave her a modest
,onttit and hundred dollars in cash
~hen she married Rowley Potter, a
young fellow who was getting good
wages in the great rife factory at
II.
louise was pretty, capable, bright
Girl then; hut that was twenty years
ago. Now she was thin, sallow,
frettul woman. Potter still worked
in the rife shop" as they called it,
hut he had only 81 n day, more wages
than when he was married, and there
were four children. Lottie, 1S years
old, pretty, pert and vain, worked in
a hosiery. Tom, 16, was in a nut
and bolt shop" Idalla, girlof IA,
was leash girl' in Holmes & Har-
pers great dry-goods store. Tom
and Lofty paid their board, "Idy"
clothed herself, she could get bargains
and remnants SO cheap; when she
should be promoted into a "sales
lady," she, too, would pay like the
Others. The fourth child, little Davy,
was only 10; he went to public
school.
When Aunt Pratt wasleft widow,
she made up her mind to sell the
farm and board somewhere; she had
children, but she did have rheuma-
tism enough to tire her withits &c hes
and stiffness more than a family Of
the noisest boys and girls could
have tired her. The farm was a good
one, well improved, the house and
barns in thorough repair, and
there were six cows and two horses,
as well as plenty OF farming imple-
ments. She got $4,000 for the
whole. The neighbors said it was
worth more; the buyer said it was
worth less; so shrewd Aunt Pratt
considered the price fair.
Then there was 1900 in the
Dalton Bank, the slow accumulation
OF butter money, egg money, the
sale of poultry and calves; 5000 in
all, and every cent of it her own.
Squire Hart, of Dalton, who was ex-
'ecutor of the will, invested the money
in sa:e ways ut 6 per cent. and Mrs.
Pratt began to look about her for q
home. She knew that Louisa Potter
had felt hurt about her Uncle Pratt's
will; he only left to her her grand
mothers mahogany furniture ant
the savings bank book in which HI
had deposited the profits made ou1
of the Friesland hens and the whit
heller calf she had left in his hands
when she married-a sum amount
ing to 500 now.
But Louisa and her husband ha(
expected more, and Mrs. Pratt was
just woman, capable of understand
ing other peoples feelings; so she di'
not wonder. After much though
and without any suggestion from
them, she proposed to come into II
and board with Louisa. So the.
gave up to her Lotty's front bed
room, and put Lofty in with Ida
and as they cooked and ate in tn
same room where they sat evening
Aunt Pyatt's rocker, her foot-stoo
her small round table and her work
basket were established in the sum-
south window, where she could loo
down into the sky, for this tenemen
was on a corner, and the Potters ha
the third story fiat.
1t was great change for Aun
Pratt, but she was woman brougf
M in.the old Nav England foshiol
to do what she perceived to be q d,
ty, however unpleasant and painfu
without shrinking or complaint; an
she had made up her m ind that
was her duty to help the Potters.
She missed the fresh mir of tt
farm, the quiet of her own house, IL
new milk, the sweet butter, the GOO
bread; but she said nothing as 81
sat, day after day, in her windo,
knitting or mending, her big Bib
open on the stand, and her though
very busy with the things arour
her, as well as with the things tn,
are above. For Aunt Pra
;nad made a resolution to lea