Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1893-11-23
ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS.
How Mrs. vranklin Secured Her
New Clothes.

Mrs. Nranklin were alone by themselves
in the clean kitchen, sitting beside the
stove, Mrs Vranklin rose, went into her
bedroom and brought out n bundle Of
clothes
II want you to look at these things,
jeremiah" she said, mildly.
"What are thcyP" said he,
She spread them out ON the floor
THAT is my best Dress" she said.
"Those arc 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
waited.
"Wcll?" said Mr.. vranklin, still smols-
ing.
"Wcll?" she answered.
lie said nothing. She gathered up the
garments with look of disdain, and
piled them on n chair.
You're rich man." she said
erich, for farmer You are sixty and
| fifty years old Our boys nrc married
| haven't had any money to spend for
five years. I'm a sight to behold. II |
were n servant 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 ]
want money. I want n hundred dol
lars to buy me some new clothes TO
feel decent and comfortable in. I'm
really destitute Why, I'm out OF flan.
nell My calico gowns are patched ut
the elbow. My shoe heels are twisted.
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. I've done
all could rather than ask for what
you didn't offer; and there's no need.
You're well-to-do. / want 10 be dc
cent and take n little comfort while
can. must. There, nowl It's my
rightr
She had spoken her mind. and Mr.
Vranklin felt that climax had ar
rived. lie had laid by" n large sum.
lie was growing old and had no nccd
TO pinch, but the awful demand for
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 It had never occurred to him that
she would some time come down upon
him like this.
lie stared silently, and puffcd across
the stove the smoke of the cheap to-
bacco he burnt in common corn-cob
pipe. The old rag carpet was clean.
The old chairs were mendcd with car
pet bottoms II was all tidy, but moth
ing was new. Nothing pretty but the
scarlet geraniums in their big pots on
the window-sill. lie had gwen his
wife very little in their thirty years Of
married life; for all the furniture was
his mothers. She had helped him mako
his fortune, selling butter and eggs and
pot-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
ought to pull from his vest pocket tho
crisp hundred dollar note he had re-
ceived that morning for some hay at
the landing and say: Here, Eva Maria,
why didn't you speak bcfore2' But
when greed takes possession of the
heart of man, II holds on like leech.
All he said, after the silence had re.
manned unbrolSen for some minutes,
was:
"Well, Eva Maria, I'll think it over. q
To some women there is no agony
like asking husband for money.
They want u love-gifi, not aims
Generally they have TO ask at last.
Eva Maria had nerved herself at last
in the misery of her shabbincss TO max,
the speech above recorded, but Il
seemed fearful thing to do. She lit.
tie guessed that she had frightened
jeremiah almost out of his senses.
"a hundred dollarsl" he said to him
self "She must know what I've go
about me. She must mean TO have IL
Fifty, now, I'd give. But hundred
I'll get the money changed, and Civ
her fifty"
He opened the door OF the passage
crossed 1t and went into the parlor. /
was a cold, neat place, kept sacred 70
great occasions IL had a CRATE in II
but IL was doubtful IL fire would b.
lighted there that winter. 1t had beef
inconvenient TO take 1t down that sum
mer, so fringed pink paper had been NJ
ranged between the polished bars an,
the rug drawn across the hearth
|
j family hung by red cords. from the wall
! dotted muslin curtains with neatl
I futed rufiles covered the green pape
! blinds. A dish of wax fruit, covere
' by glass shade, ornamented the cen
4 ter-table, and the horsehair furnitur
g had been so little used in two genera
= tions that II looked almost new. TIL
n vases on the mantle were old-fashiono
Y blue ware, for which n china-worshiI
:. er would have paid n great price.
d, Eva Maria should have fifty dollar
l. but she had said she had n right TO
Or hundred. II he gave her the bill in h
y, Y pocket she would spend it. II was Sa
4 urday evening; he could not get
: changed that nighttime, not until MOI
day Il he locked 1t up, she woul
know, and take it out, perhaps, and d
z as she pleased with it. She had d
6 clared her right" 10 It. Eva Mari
- humblest Of the humble, meetest
the meek, had spoken so! Could 1t b.
I "This comes OF these here stron
!. minded meetin's," said Mr.. Vranklin,
- This was not logical, for Mrs. Vran
= lin had not attended one of them.
:. "Women used TO be biddable, Tn,
ii are kicking over the traces now, n
" body" soliloquized MIR. VranlSli
!, growing more and more ungramma
"a ical with his wrath" nobody air
ID goin' TO ride over me, specially wi
Of mine. must hide the money uni
| can change it. She might look In
,,, p,clrata Gba said she had "A ria