Water Valley progress., 1897-05-01
A SHREWD WIDOW.
Gets a Good Income from Two Sets
of Furniture.

money i'll this city on eapltal small
in substance, but large in assurance,
were brought to my mind the other
night when l went TO take dinner
with friend said man about
town the other day. My friend, by
the way, is very prosperous and
highly paid executive officer in one
Of the big commercial concerns in
this city. He occupies for the win
ter season a set of apartments In
fashionable apartment house on the
Westside. Ashehadannounced his in
tention Of remaining in the city un-
| til June /, of course did not imagine
any connection betwe his house
hold arrangements and a big moving
van which | saw standing i'll front of
the door of the apartment house as l
approached. Men carrying furni-
ture jostled me as l entered, and l
said to myself; Here's some one NOV
ing out. But when | stepped out
of the elevator at my friends land
ing | met more men coming out OF
his apartments carrying more frrrni-
ture, under the supervision OF an auc-
tioneer. who stood at the landing
shouting instructions.
"Just within the door found my
friend and his wife and two servants
and children in company with man
whom | afterward found was city
marshal.
"At sight Of me my friend burst
into laughter. Come in, he cried,
we can receive you in novel man
ner.' The city marshal had just about
finished his work, and my friend led
me through his apartments. His par
lor was untouched, but every bed but
one and every bureau and chair had
disappeared from his bedrooms and
dining-room and kitchen, and the
carpets were gone from bedrooms and
hall. L guess l won't stay to dinner
| remarked, when | saw the bare con-
dition Of the dining-room. 'Oh,
yes, you WILL said his wife. 4 will bor-
row kitchen table and some chairs
from a neighbor, and we will get
along. Thank heaven we still have
the kitchen utensils and the dinner
left, but | don't know that we should
have had these if my husband had
not got home before the men got
|khrolgh {aking out the fafnturs
.,ssaNe ha1 dinner and PASSED the
evening vary pleasantly in the parlor
and / finally left the family Of five
narea-optnl one bed and parlor sofa
that were left. While We ate din
ner they told me how they came to b.,
in such fix.
"It seems that when they were
house hunting last fall they saw this
flat, and, liking its location, dickered
for its possession. A young widow
was occupying it, but her business
projects were not prospering, and
she was about to give up possession.
She owned the furniture that had lust
been moved out. She agreed to take
a lease Of the place up to June /, and
to sublet it to my friend with fur
niture with an advance of $25 a
month for the use of her furniture.
My friend hired it on those terms.
As my friend preferred to have his
own parlor furniture and some other
things, he discarded that much Of tho
widows goods. Then brilliant idea
struck her. The flat across the hall
was just being vacated. She saw the
leaving tenant, bought for tritle
some of his furniture, and moved in
that which my friend had discarded.
and advertised that flat to rent fur
nished. In few days she got ten
ant, and made a bargain with him, by
which she rcaped another income OF
$25 month for the use of her fur
niture in that fiat.
Everything went along all right
until the day / went there to diue,
when the city marshal had suddenly
appeared. 1t seems that the widow
had borrowed money on her furni-
ture, and still owed something less
than 500. She had fallen behind in
her payments, and the marshal had
came to foreclose the chattal mort
gage. The widow settled the debt
the next day and had the furniture
moved back. It was during the NOV
ing Of the furniture, my friend tells
me, that he first noted its paucity and
cheapness, and he declares that the
widow could have replaced it with