The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-05-12
SELECTED STORY.
Obadiah's Methods.


wherel" said Obadiah, Juggling wildly o
his whiskers.
eyes, indeed" said L, wringing m
apron, I'VE must. But Pm sure, Obj
dear, we are neither of us extravagant
We must eat, we must drink and W
must live."
And Obadiah and 1 sat and looked O
each other in sort of wild despair.
We had only been married 81.
months-Obadiah and 1. We wer
very young, both of us, and perhaps W,
had begun the world too early. Gu
relations told us we hadn't any bust
ness to marry; but as their gratuitou
opinion was all that they had eve
given us, we had never paid much at
tention to these utterances.
We had a little one-story cottage
Just on the high road, which was to LEI
cheap, because there was only Two
rooms and kitchen in it. But what
did Obadiah and l want with more
than two rooms and kitchen? / had
the new furniture which Grandmother
Newcomb had given me, and rag car.
pet which my mother had woven the
winter before she died. To be sure,
our accommodations were not expen-
sive, but we did not expect to hold
fashionable receptions, or give large
dinner parties.
Obadiah had plenty of work in the
wooden factory down by the depot, and
! hung out my little sign, Dtessmak-
ing and Millinery" and hoped that
some one would see it and give me an
order. But no one came. had
plenty of time after my housekeeping
duties were over in the morning, and l
couldn't be always beeswaxing the fur
niture, or arranging the china cup
board, or polishing the windows.
81 wish could get some dressmak-
ing to do" said 1, wistfully, for Oba-
diah's earnings were 80 small, and l
did long for dollar or two of my own.
"Why don't you advertise in the vii
lage newspaper" said old Mr.. Meggs.
Obadiah burst out laughing.
Advertiser" said he. Why, what
on earth do you take us for, Meggs? 1t
costs good deal of money to adver-
tise."
"It costs something, certainly" said
Mr.. Meggs, thoughtfully stroking his
chin, but then it calls public attention
TO the particular iron that you have in
the fire.
GA little local paper like that2" said
Obadiah, rather contemptuously.
cts local custom that your wife
wants, isn't it?" said Meggs.
And 1 never did think much of
said Obadiah.
So that settled the question; and af.
forwards, when the foreman of the
wooden factory cut down the wages of
all the worknen twenty per cent and
coal went up, and the winter set in
cold and hard, and we began to con-
slider the question of how we could
economize, the local newspaper was
almost the first thing upon which Oba-
diah settled.
"That, at least, is an unnecessary
extravaganza" he said,
| WINGED a little. The Boegsville
Herald had been my constant compan-
ion for more lonely evenings than 1
cared to remember.
"It's only two dollars year, Oba-
diah," said l, land really it is a very
interesting little paper"
"Just two dollars too much" said
my husband, cHrtly "The subscrip-
ton is just out. III tell 'em we won't
renew it. If you care so much about
it, Josie, you can easily borrow Mrs.
Meggs' paper.
I was silent. l never could make
Obadiah understand the deep rooted
aversion to borrowing" of any crea-
ture whatever that l inherited from my
mother.
So we cut down the weekly paper and
left off using butter and burned candles
a penny pound cheaper, and l cleaned
and rebound and new buttoned Obadi-
ans great coat instead of buying new
one, left off going to church because my
old cloak was too shabby and l couldn't
afford anything better.
And oh, how did miss the Boggs-
vile Herald.
off 1 could only get little dress
to do" said l to myself, Il
would subscribe again on my own &C.
count. But can't bear to ask Obadiah
for cent of his hard earned money"
l was sitting, very sad and lonely,
one freezing February day, by the win
dow, trying to mend one of Obadiah's
old waistcoats, when travelling ped.
dler, with a huge basket of china orna-
ments on his arm and bundle on his
shoulder, knocked at the door. He
nodded his head in an insinuating man
ner at me as answered his summons.
Couldn't sell you something this
morning, ma'am9" said he, with very
liberal display of very white and even
set of teeth. "anything in the way of
elegant mantel vases, statuettes, deco
rated china match boxes"
- have no money, said l, spiritlessly,
and / don't need any of your wares"
4" All, but you don't know what a
splendid article have here" he per-
sisted, loosening the strap which crossed
his shoulders and lowering the precious
package carefully to the floor. IA pair
of real wedgeboard faiences. Oh, don't
shake your head, ma'am, I shan't charge
you cent for looking at 'em, you know.