The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-11-26
ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS.
How Mrs. vranlrlin Secured Her
New Clothes.

stove Mrs. Vranklin rose, went into hel !
Bedroom and brought out bundle OF
clothes
II want you to look ut these things
Jeremiah" she said, mildly.
'.What are they2" said he,
She spread them out on the floor.
''That is my best Dress" she said. |
''Those are my best shoes. That is the
only bonnet I've got in the world but
my calico sun-bonnet, and that is my
Sunday shawl"
She uttered the words quietly, and
I waited
"WelIe" said Mr.. vranklin, still srnok-
ing.
"Well?" she answered.
y He said nothing. She gathered up the |
garments with look of disdnin, and |
j piled them on chair.
You're a rich man." she said. |
"Rich, fora farmer. You are sixty and |
l fifty years old. Cur boys are married.
II haven't had any money to spend for |
five years. I'm u sight to behold. If j |
were a servant l should get wages and
not have to beg No, don't beg,
jeremiah. Since you don't offer it
yourself, I'm going to tell you that I
want money. l want hundred dol-
lars to buy me some new clothes to
feel decent and comfortable in. I'm
really destitute. Why, I'm out Of fan
nell My calico gowns are patched at
the elbow. My shoe heels are twisted.
II can't go to church any more. for I've
turned my black silk twice. and the
back breadths upside down. I've
washed my bonnet ribbons. 1--we done
all could rather than ask for what
you didn't offer; and there's no need.
You're well-to-do. I want to be de-
cent and take little comfort while
can. must. There. nowl It's my
right"
She had spoken her mind, and Mr..
Vranlslin felt that a climax had ar
rived. He had laid by" q large sum.
He was growing old and had no need
TO pinch, but the awful demand for q
hundred dollars all in lump was too
much for him. He had become used to
Eva Maria's quiet way of mending her
old clothes and asking for no money,
and 1T had never occurred to him that
She would some time come down upon
him like this.
He stared silently, and pulled across
the stove the smoke of the cheap to-
bacco he burnt in n common corn-cob
pipe The old rag carpet was clean.
The old, chairs were mended with car
pet bottoms 1t was all tidy, but moth
ling was new. Nothing pretty but the
scarlet geraniums in their big pots on
the window-sin. He had given his
wife very little in their thirty years of
married life; for ala the furniture was
his mothers. She had helped him make
his fortune, selling butter and eggs and
lpot-cheese and flower roots, feeding the
Hands cheaply and well, wedding vege-
tables and even riding the moving ma
chine, now and ,then-though not very
lately. Conscience told him that he
lought to pull from his vest pocket the
crisp hundred dollar note he had re-
Iceived that morning for some hay mt
the landing and say: Here, Eva Maria.
why didn't you speak beforep" But
when greed takes possession of the
heart of man, it holds on like a leech.
iAll he said, after the silence had re-
manned unbroken for some minutes,
twas:
well, Eva Maria. I'll think itover."
To some women there is no agony
like asking husband for money
They want n love-gift, not aims.
iNUSheLtihiS LlicS unVt 10 uSlk at last.
Eva Maria had nerved herself at last
In the misery of her shabbness to make
The speech above recorded, but it
seemed a fearful thing to do She lit
tie guessed that she had frightened
Jeremiah almost out of his senses.
"a hundred dollars!" he said to him.
self. "She must know what I've got
about me. She nust mean to have it.
Fifty, now, I'd give. But IL hundred!
I'll get the money changed, and give
her fifty
He opened the door of the passage.
crossed it and went into the parlor. 1t
was cold, neat place, kept sacred for
great occasions. 1t had n crate in il.
but it was doubtful if fire would be
lighted there that winter. 1t had been
announcement to take it down that sum-
mer, SO fringed pink paper had been ar
ranged between the polished bars and
the rug drawn across the hearth.
photographs of several members of the
family hung by red cords..from the wall.
dotted muslin curtains with neatly
fiuted ru1fles covered the green paper
blinds A dish of wax fruit, covered
by glass shade, ornalnented the CEN
ter-table, and the horsehar furniture
had been SO little used in two genera
tions that it looked almost new. The
vases on the mantle were old-fashioncd
blue ware. for (which IL chlna-worship-
,er would have paid great price.
Eva Maria should have fifty dollars.
but she had said she had Il right to n
hundred. If he gave her the bill in his
pocket she would spend it. 1t was Sat
urday evening; he could not get it
changed that night-no, not until Mon
day. If he locked it up, she would
knONy nd fnlx