The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-04-18
A Mortgage Paying jug.

/
saw it hanging up in the kitchen
Of thrifty, healthy, sturdy farmer
in Oxford county, Maine-a bot
tomless jug! The host saw that the
curious thing had caught my eye, and
smiled.
"You are wondering what that jug
| is hanging up there for, with its bot
tom knocked out, he said. "My wife,
perhaps, can tell you the story better
than 1 can; but she is bashful, and
ain t; so I'll tell it.
"My father owned this farm before
me. He lived to good old age,
worked hard all his life, never squan-
dered money, was cautious trader
and good calculator, and as men
were accounted in his day and gener-
alton he was temperate man. l was
the youngest boy, and when the old
man was ready to 60, and knew it,
the others agreed that since l had re-
mained at home and taken care OF the
old folks, the farm should be mine,
and to me it was willed. I had been
married three years.
"Well, father died-mother had been
gone three years beforehand left the
farm to me with mortgage on it for
fifteen hundred dollars. had never
thought of itbefore. Isaid to Mollie,
my wife:
:" 'Mollie, look here. Fathers had
this farm for years, with all its magni-
| fcent timber, and his six boys as they
grew up, equal to so many men, to help
him; and he worked hard early and
late, and you look at it! A mortgage
| of fifteen hundred dollars. What can
I do?'
"And I went to the jug-it had a
bottom to it then-and took stiff
| drink Of something much stronger than
water.
"I noticed a curious look on the
face of my wife just then and I asked her
| what she thought Of it, for l supposed
she was thinking Of what l had been
talking about, and so she was, for she
said:
"'Charles, I have thought Of this a
| great deal and I have thought of a
way in which I believe can clear this
mortgage off before FIVE years are end
| ed.
"SaysI, 'Mollie, tellme how you'lld do
it,
She thought for a while, and then
said with funny twinkle in her blue
eyes, she said:
Charles, you must promise me
this, and promise me sacredly and SOL
emnly: Promise me that you will
never bring home for the purpose of
drinking as beverage, at any time,
any more spirits than you can bring
in that old jug-the jug your father
has used ever since I knew him, and
which you have used since he was done
with it.
"Well, I knew father once in a
while, especially in haying time, and
| in winter when we were at work in the
woods, to get an old gallon jug filled;
| so I thought she meant that | should
| never buy more than two quarts at a
time. I thought it over, and after a
little while told her that would agree
to it.
"'Now mind, said she, you are never
| to bring any more spirits than you can
bring in that identical Jug. And 1
gave the promise.
"And before went to bed took
the last pull at the jug.
"Well, [ went out after that, and
| then went to bed, and the last
thing I said before leaving the kitch-
| en-this very room where we now sit
was:
'We'llhaye the old brown jug filled
tomorrow.
"And then went off to bed. And
I have remembered ever since that l
went to bed that nightas l had done
hundreds of times before, with buzz
ing in my head that healthy man
ought not to have.
"Well, I got up the next morning
and did my work at the barn, and ate
my breakfast, but not with such an
appetite as farmer ought to have,
and could not think that my appe-
tite had begun to fail. However, !
ate breakfast and then went out and
hitched up the old mare, for to tell
the truth, I was feeling the need OF a
glass Of spirits and I had mt drop in
the house. I was in a great hurry
to get to the village. l hitched up
and came in for the jug. went for
it in the old cupboard and took it out
and
'Did you ever break through the
thin ice on swapping cold day and
find yourself over your head in freez.
ing water? Because that is the way !
felt at that moment. The jug was
there but the bottom was gone. Mol.
| lie had taken a hammer and SHARP
chisel, and, with skill that might
have done credit to a master work
man, she clipped the bottom clear
out of the jug, and then she burst out
She spoke-Oh! T had never heare
anything like it! No, nor have
heard anything like it since. She
said:
"'Charles, that's where the mort
gage on the farm came from! 1t was
brought home in that jug-two quarts
at a time! And there's where YOU
white, clean skin and your clear eyes
are gone. And in that jug, my hus
band, your appetite is going also. Y
let it be as it is, dear heart! and re
member your promise.
"And she threw her arms arount
my neck and burst into tears. Sh'
could speak no more.
"And there was no need. My eye
were opened as though by magic. In
single minute the whole scene passet
before me. Sitting on bench outsid
the door, I saw all the mortgages o.
all the farms in my neighborhood, an
l thought where the money had gone
The very last mortgage father ha
ever made was to pay bill he'll
against him by the man who had file
this jug for years Yes, I saw it as i
passed before me fitting picture
rum! rum!-debt! debt! debt! An
in the end DEATH And I returne