The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1900-02-23
Earning His Bride by the
Sweat of His Brow
BY Tom Hall.

IThe eccentric aunt of Laura Marsh, be-
fore she will consent to the marriage of her
niece with Ned Wilson, requires them to
carry out a whimsical plan she has formed,
which she calls IAN experimental wooing.
The plan is that the two young people un-
der the eyes of herself. her already mar
red niece and her husband. Jane and Alex
Kelsey (christened by her the Utter Fall
ures," because of their frivolous tenden-
cies), shall practice housekeeping in a cot
tage provided by her. from breakfast I'M
I'll supper time each day, returning to their
respective homes in the evening. They are
II Eve ard pay all expenses on an allowance
at the rate CT $1,000 year. Laura to at
tend to the work Of the household, assist
ed by one servant, and Ned to engage in
some useful occupation, such money as he
earns to be given to the poor. If at the
end of the summer they are not tired of
each other and stand the further test of
separation, to which she will then subject
them, she will give her consent. At the
time OF this reading, the plan is already in
operation, Cicely Brown, a young Vas
sar graduate, interested in sociologic stud
les and author Of "Monogra phi on Domes-
tic Service" being engaged as maid Of all
work. Ned Wilson, one of the subjects
of the experiment. is the narrator.]
THERE was but one thing to mar
our complete enjoyment of our
aunt's whim. That was the propri-
etary interest which she and the utter
Failures" took in it. They were omni-
present.
We could be alone in peace and quiet
nowhere. In fact, between the three
of them l had little or no time to pay
any of the ordinary devotions to Laura.
On one of those few occasions when
/ found such time I was rudely inter-
rupted by Aunt Alice.
Ned" she asked, show much of your
allowance have you spent SO far?"
/ had to confess that did not know
'And when are you going to get to
work?" she continued. L could not
make answer in this case, either. Ihad
forgotten all about it.
The next day I went forth in search
of work. 1 commenced with the higher
grades of business, as matter of
course. l found, however, that no
bank presidents were needed at that
time; that merchants did not at that
particular moment require manager
for their affairs; that even the most
able lawyers did not require senior
partner, who had never been admitted
to the bar; and that the most able
physician in town could attend to his
practice with the aid of a couple of
young doctors.
The next day aimed lower. I SIM
ply had to. I went in for lower posi-
T
in one of the stores. It was useless. I
went down through the various grades
with equal success, or rather lack of it,
Finally approached the coal and wood
man to whom | had just paid a steep
bill for coal for our own house. sup
pose he thought me crazy. He told me
| was not strong enough to do any of
the work he had to do. But after had
pleaded with him awhile he made me
an offer-actually made me an offer.
He even went so far as to give me a
choice of work. He told me that /
could go to work at once driving a coal
wagon, or that he could give me a
chance to earn at least some money by
saving wood. He had to depend on a
few lOafers around town to saw wood
for him, and, as rule, they were
drunk when he most wanted them. He
did not believe I would get drunk, and
would, therefore, give me the contract
to do all his wood-sawing. I thank
fully accepted the offer, and agreed
never to disappoint him. The matter
of remuneration was easily settled, and
agreed to his first offer, which seemed
to please him. 1t really did not matter
to me, as whatever I earned was to go
to charity, oand if the amount was not
sufficient to satisfy Aunt Alice, I could
easily make it up out of my own pocket
There was nothing in my agreement
with her to prohibit that.
"Well," said the coal and wood man,
take off your coat and go to work.
You'll find the best bucksaw in town
hanging on that nail over there. When
you find blisters on your hands, just
go right on as if nothing had happened.
After awhile your hands will get used
to it, and you won't need to wear kid
gloves any more"
81 think" l answered, with some
hesitation, "that I'll take my work
home with me-"
"What?" he roared. stake your
work home with you? What do you
think you're doing-plain sewing or
washing and ironing? You're big
ger fool than thought you WERE"
Not at ALL" 1 answered, getting
rather angry. II prefer to do the work
at home, and if pay for having the
wood drawn to my house and back
again surely you can have no objec-
ton"
The coal and wood man uttered a pro-
longed whistle.
Well, you are queer one," he said.
but it doesn't make any difference to
me where you do the work so long as
you do it. And if you want to pay for
having it drawn back and forth, why
that's just so much more business for
my teams. But don't see how you're
going to make living going at it that
way"
| did not try to enlighten him, but
closed the bargain at once. and that
afternoon his teams began hauling
wood to our yard.
You see," | said to Laura, when
explained matters to her, "by this ar
rangement | can be near you all day
long. And then saving wood is nice.
clean work, and will be splendid ex-
ercise.'
The dear girl saw the point at once,
and approved my decision heartily.
She even tore up two of her flower beds
to make room for ma n xrorl- 50