The record-union., 1891-11-28
A TEMPLE OF HYGEIA.

case there was something more than the
ordinary and general desire for this con-
yenient sum of money. Her tone bore
testimony to fierce longing, her whole
face was screwed into wrinkles by the
vehemence of her feelings, and her feat
ures gathered together in bunch so that
her mouth, nose and eyes had the effect
OF taking counsel with one another that
they might by their united powers taste,
sniff or spy out the desideratum.
But one hundred dollars to Mrs. Miller
was thing to be mentioned with sigh
Of despair. She had not for years had SO
much money in her hands ali at once.
There was very little ready money af1oat
IN all the town of Stebbinsville, the popu-
Lar method being to exchange directly the
actual goods of this world without resort
ing to an intermediary handling of dol
lars and cents. Thus, ii the grocer's wife
wanted new dress, the local draper took
II out in so many weeks or months OF
provisions. The doctor had meal from
The miller in return for his pills and nos
runs There was even case on record
~ nGT- GEldai Teil had been balanced Off
an salt pork. There was no bank in Steb
olnsvllle, and you couldn't get check
caShed short ofthe nearest large town. This
exclusive sway, but unfortunately it has
not been generally enough adopted 10
make 1t an entire success, and when Steb-
Dlnsvilllans have wants which other
StebblnsYllllans are not able to supply,
then comes the necessity for money.
Mrs. Miller's want was of the unfortu-
nate class just mentioned. No amount
OF butter and milk, her usual legal ten
der, could serve to purchase its gratiica-
zion. Nothing but cash-hard cash.
Mrs. Miller's lot had never been an
easy one Very early in her career had
come that day that comes to some people
the day on which she discovered almost
with jump that she had nothing more
TO live for. And soon thereafter had fol-
lowed the other day-the day upon which
she had realized in the midst of mental
and moral collapse that it was necessary
20 live still, nevertheless. She had con-
tlnued to exist doggedly for number of
years after this. She had even grown to
believe, with kind Of stoical enjoyment
OF the fact, that she could go on so for
ever II need be. But she was destined at
!aSt to surprise herself Just once more
By the time that others had resignedly,
comfortably accepted her own theory
mat her career was practically at an end,
Bhe suddenly famed up with a desperate
determination to make the most of what
remained of il. The most was not to be
very much-it was not to be more happi-
ness-only little less misery. She de-
nanded for herself the right to draw at
least one thorn from her flesh and to
spend the last of her days in healing up
The wound. The thorn, to descend from
1gurative nights, was Granny Miller.
1t Is an ancient and reprehensibIe GUS
tom to speak i'll of ones mother-in-law:
no doubt many really charming belle
mere suffers undeServedly from the
"black eye' which the social historian
tO nj Rr1fa TyN,.t
Miller-the mother-in-law of Mrs. Miller
she was, in fact, what is commonly
supposed TO be the pure type. She had a
lively idea OF her part in its popular con-
ceptlon, and was not a whit too good to
be the butt of all waggish jests, the time
honored wlttlclsmS that have been con-
cocted at the expense of her kind. She
was gossip, scold, gadabout and
meddler, bitter of tongue and prying of
eye; in her old age she had added several
troublesome inhrmities to her vices The
old woman had made for herself such
reputation that when her only son mar
RED her daughter-in-law stoutly refused
TO take her in.
Granny's husband some years before
this episode, dying with sigh of relief
had left his widow what from a Steb-
blnsvIlle point Of view constituted COM
Portable competency, but as time went on
this property, dwindled and dwindIad
snd in her old age the elder Mrs. Miller
came to be regarded as little better than
pauper. She was not above accepting
assistance from her neighbors, and had a
habit of borrowing pinch Of tea here
and half a loaf there, which habit was at
last openly recognized as begging
Finally the good people of Stebbins-
Vile, weary her importuning, made it
matter of scandal that the old crone
should be left alone of nights in her ram
shackle old house, a mark for practical
jokes and marauders with whom, never
theless, 1t may be parenthetically re-
marked, Granny was abundantly able to
cope; and it was at this time that the
young Mrs. Miller, weakened by trouble,
made concession and took her mother
in-law in. Adeline Miller had already at
this period renounced all hope of COM
Portable and decent existence. Her hus-
band, after many fluctuations had settled
into an acknowledged good-for-nothing.
Three of her children had died in one
winter of scarlet fever, and her only sur
ylving daughter, Susie, who worked in
the dairy with her mother, was a young
person not destined to comfort the de-
clining years of her parents. "Things is
so bad now, they can't be anv wuss.D
argued Adeline Miller-and so Granny
came. Granny came, and, to be brief
Satan came also! No pen and ink could
oepict what followed in the years that
ensued. Suffice it TO say that Adeline
Miller in estimating her own powers of
endurance had reckoned without her
guest. There came time at last when,
IN her own phraseology, Adeline "put
her foot down"
Granny" she said one day, 81 wish to
goodness you'd go into an old folks
home. can't STAN you no longer"
go into an old folks home? / amt
got any objection, Adeline," responded
Granny unexpectedly, none whatso-
ever; but it costs money!" she went on
with complacency, "a hundred dollars
Gown, I've heard. AT least that's what
they charged for Aunt Sairy Ma'shall,p
and the old woman grinned; she knew
that this was poser.
1t was very shortly after this that the
younger Mrs. Miller confessed to neigh
Tor that she wanted one hundred dollars
oreadftLEy. EFF 1 could on'y sell the
cows W sighed Adeline-but she couldn't
sell the cows and live. She had wild
Ilan for supplying neighboring asylum
Tor the aged with unlimited dairy pro-
ouce in lieu of the admission fee for her
mother-in-law, but she learned upon Sc
cret application to the authorities of the
institution that this method of payment,
even were she able to pursue it, would
lot be acceptable. She ransacked the
newspapers with terrible ea@erness in
search OF chances for money-making.
From time to time her hopes were
famed by promising announcements.
She invested dollar which she could i'll
spare in materials for work at home.
work which, according to plausible
argument, would speedily fill her lap
with gold. When the materials came by
the mail Adeline tremblingly undid the
package that contained them. She could
feel the power of Midas already tingling
in her hands. The package contained a
photograph, colored photograph of a
fat and fatuous young lady smiling
ranllalv with lins whose rcd had o,-i