The Winslow mail., 1900-11-29
know whether

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dollars and 25 cents" conveniently
forgetting to mention, however, the
three dollars and a half tied up in the
corner of a handkerchief ready for
the next bargain day expedition.
Six twenty-five. Well, now. you see
that goes on the left hand side of this
cash book, and we will call it the
balance on hand Now you will put
down whatever I give you next pay
day on the next line, but in this first
column, and if you get any money
from anywhere else, it goes in there,
too. Now on the right hand side OF
! the book | have ruled several col
umns, and have put such headlines on
them as Groceries, Meat Fuel and
Light Car fare,' Furniture Cloth
| ing 'Sundries.' Now whenever you
spend any money for anything, put it
down under it's proper heading, and
at the end of the month we will foot
up each of these columns and carry
the totals into the last column, so
that we can see what we have spent
for each kind of things every month. "
won't that be nice?" exclaimed
the delighted pupil, "and how easy it
is after all.''
Easy enough, provided you put
everything down and are careful to
put it down in it's proper place"
"Oh, I'll do that, never fear"
"All right, now We'll let you go
ahead for a month and then we can
see what kind of job you make of
it. If it's done properly, we may be
able to transfer these items to the
ledger and SO have that going, too
Good for you, Joe; you are a
jewel; you shall see what fine book
keeper l shall make before the month
is up" and she lost her awe of the
plishments in her affection for the
man who had promised to love, honor
and cherish her until death should
part them.
Young uns, so cents. Whew! but
Nets getting extravagant with those
kids
Mr.. Smyler had reached home a lit
tie earlier than usual on the Saturday
afternoon which closed the first
month of Mrs. Smyler's bookkeeping
Not finding his wife at home, he let
himself in with his own key, and re-
membering that this was the day for
closing up the accounts of the house
for the month, he took down his
wife's cash book for an examination.
With all the dignity and Importance
of an auditor on his first assignment,
he opened the book and beginning at
his own entries on the first of the
month, he looked down the column of
receipts, which appeared to be all
right. He then turned to the expen-
ditures, and had gone but short dis
tance when he met something not
usual in orthodox bookkeeping.
AS has been implied, Mrs. Smyler
had 'taken a course at a shorthand
school before her marriage, and while
she had not made any phenomenal
success at the business, it was for the
reason, as she put it, that Joe had
spoiled her chances by marrying her
too soon. Nevertheless, she was en-
thusiastic in regard to the school,
the system she wrote, and the bust
ness of shorthand writing in general
She still continued to write startling
epistles to her former school friends
an expert in their particular method
of shorthand writing, and when she
commenced to keep books, it was nat
ural that she should put her talents
to good use in this direction: hence
many of the entries in the cash book
were in shorthand, and it was one of
these that now arrested the attention
of the self-appointed auditor.
1t should be noted too, in passing.
that Mr.. Smyler had picked up some
acquaintance with the system of
shorthand used by his wife during
the months of his frequent visits to
Banks residence. That he was not a
first-class shorthand writer was due
to no lack of enthusiasm on the part
of his fancee, but rather to his own
want of interest further than was
necessary to keep up appearances.
So it came about that while he was
somewhat familiar with his wife's
shorthand, he was not to we'll in
formed in the mysteries of her art.
Glancing little further down the
book Mr. Smyler found an entry
which made him gasp for breath. He
rubbed his eyes and looked again, but
there it was: Beers, So"
At first he could not believe his eyes,
it must be some opti, al illusion, but
no, there it was as plain as day:
Beers, So" Could it be possible
that this girl-wife of his, whom he
rather looked upon from the lofty
height of masculine superiority as an
overgrown child, but whom he loved
more dearly than he was wont to ex-
press by outward signs; could it be
possible that his Nettie had gotten so
low as to drink beer, and at such a
rate-$10 worth in a month. And she
must have run up score at some
store, or, more horrible to contem-
plate, at some saloon. The thought
was sckening. horrifying. What
shall | do?' he moaned. mo, sir" he
exclaimed, suddenly jumping up from
the table, "lll have none of this; I'll
show her that such things can't go on
in this house while | am master of it,
and l will be master of it, too, in the
proper sense of the wOru | will show