The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-12-08
ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS.
How Mrs. Vranklin Secured Her
New Clothes.

stove, Mrs. Vranlllin rose, went in % her
bedroom and brought out a buno lie of
clothes
Il want you to look at these things.
jeremiah, she said, mildly.
What are they?" 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 NV
Sunday shawl"
Sine uttered the words quietly, and
waited.
''Well?'' said Mr.. Vranklin, still smok-
ing.
'Well?' she answered
He said nothing. She gathered MP the
garments with d look of disdain. and
piled them on chair
You're rich man." she said.
Rich, for a farmer. You are sixty and
l fifty years Old. Our boys are ma .ried.
l haven't had any money TO spend for
five Years. | IN "A sight to behold If
Were a servant ! should get wages and
not have to beg. No, | don't beg.
jeremiah. Since you don't offer il
yourself, I'm going to tell you tlat |
want money. | want u hundrc. dol
lars to buy me some new clotl rs 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
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 i coUld rather than ask for what
you didn't offer; and there's no need.
You're wcll-tO-do. | want to b. de-
cent and take a little comfort while
can l must. There. now. It's my
right,''
She had spoken her mind. ano Mr.
Nranklin felt that cl max ha ar
rived He had laid by u large sum.
lie was growing old and had no nesd
- pinch, hut the awful demand for 4
hundred dollars all in lump Was too
much for him lie had becon. u i To
Iva Maria's quiet way of mcndin,- her
old clothes and asking for no IN. nev.
and 1t had never occurred To him that
she would some time come down upon
him like tins
lie stared silently. and puffcd across
the stove the smoke of the chcs.D to-
bacco he burnt in 4 common cor l-cob
pipe The old rag carpet was clean.
The old chairs We're mcGdcd with car
pet bottoms. 1t was all tidy. but 4oth-
lf:r was new. Nothing pretty but the
srarlct gcraniums in their big pets on
the wiaIow-sill- lie had glvcI his
wife very little in their thirty yee - OF
married life; for all the furniture WAS
His mothers. She had helped him make
his fortune, selling butter AMI egg and
1
hands chcaply and well, weeIing -ege-
jablcs aud even riding the moving ma
chine, now and unen-Jnougn not very
lately. Conscience told him that he
ought to pull from his vest pocket the
crisp hundred dollar note ne had re-
ccived that morning for some hay At
the landing and say: Here, Eva Maria,
why didn't you speak before?' But
when greed takes possession o. the
heart of man, ii holds on like q leech.
Al he said, after the silence had re-
mained unbrollen for some minutes,
was:
well, Eva Maria, III think il over. "
To some women there is no agony
like asking a husband for money.
They want a love-gift, not aims.
Generally they have To ask ut last.
Eva Maria had nerved herself at last
in the misery of her shabbinesS to make
the speech above recorded, bat IL
seemed Il fearful thing to do. She lit
lie guessed that she had frigh -ened
jeremiah almost out of his senses.
"a hundred dollars he said t. him
self she must know what I've got
about me. She must mean To have 1t.
Fifty, now. I'd give. But hundred!
III get the money cha 'ged, and give
her nifty"
lie opened the door Of the passage,
crossed il and went into the parlor. IL
was Il cold, neat place. kept sacred for
Great occasions. 1t had CRATE IN it,
but it was doubtful if n tIre would be
lighted Their. that winter. 1t haC been
iuconvenisnt 70 take il down that sum
mcr. So fringed pink paper had be IN ar
ran..ed 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 ma lin curtains with realty
ilutcd rufilcs covered the green paper
blinds \ dish of wax fruit, covered
by q. glass shade, ornamented the cen
ter-table. and the horsehair furniture
had been So little used in two genera
ions that il looked almost new. The
Eases on the mantle were old-faShioned
blue ware. for which chIna-yOrship-
or would have paid Il great price.
Eva Maria should have fifty dollars,
but she had said she had 4 right to a
hundred. If he gave her the bill in his
pocket she would spend ii. 1t was Sat
urGay evening; he could not get it
changed that night-no, not unit Mon
day. If he locked it mp, she would
lsnovv. and take it out, perhaps, and do
Is she pleased with it. She had de-
clarcd her right" to it Eva Maria,
.lurnblest of the humble, meelsest OF
the meek, had spoken SO! Could it be?
This comes of these here strong
minded mectin's,'' said Mr.. NranSlin-
This was not logical, for Mrs Vranll-
lin had not>attended one of them
Women used to be biddable- They
are kicking over the traces now. No
body" soliloquized Mr.. Nranklin,
growing more and more ungrammat-
zeal with his wrath-"nobody ain't
coin' To ri le over me, specially "A wife
of mine. | must hide the money until
| can change it. She might look into
my pockets. She said she had a right
To il, and she looked determined.
At this moment he heard Il movement
in the kitchen. He believed il 70 be his
wife about To come in search of him and
tried 10 think faster.
The vases, Should he hide tho note
there? No; there were sun some ilssNi'
in the garden, and Eva Maria might I'LL
the vases with bouquets, as she some
times did on Sunday afternoons, setting
them for the nonce on the kitchen man
tel. No. the vases would not do. The
ingram carpet was tackled down tight,
the-surely there was step IN the
passage! The CRATE! There, under the
fringed paper, it might lie safely al
night