Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-02-10
Mr.. JOBSON'S NEW SCHEME

rye think you can run this plant on an
outlay Of 500 per monitor. say, $25 per
weekf inquired Mr.. Jobson of Mrs. Jobson.
In the tone of a steel magnate figuring on
the margin of profit in armor plate and
steel rail contracts. Mr.. Jobson's question
followed his regular semi-monthly growl
over the proportions of the grocery bin and
other tradesmen's bills. In the progress of
his srowl Mr.. Jobson did not, in SO many
WORDS. intimate that Mrs. Jobson had been
IN cahoots with the tradespeople whom she
patromzed, but he stated vaguely that
somebody was getting a rakeoff some
"here. somehow or another-he didn't pre-
teno to state who it was-but 1t was all
pretty mysterious"
ss les. l can manage the house on SIS a
week ana nave money to spare" replied
mrs Jobson. las it is now I ha rdlv ever
have anything for my
a, Just be good enough to refrain from in
alctinS that old, WORKOUT plant upon me
again, Mrs. Jobson," INTERRUPTED Mr. lob
SON. II you don't get anything out of the
money that l perpetually sling around here
l. aon know where it goes, that's all. 1
Hotlce mat the department store wagons
are pulling up in front of our door every
ten minutes or so while I'm at home and
mat your kept busy taking packages from
em-pundles containing foulards, whatever
tne deuce they may be. to be made up next
summer-maybe-and embroideries that Won
line the bottom of your trunk with lust
because they're worked Off on you at 10
cents cen ; a yard. and lot of other truck that
you oon need And suppose you're will
ing to acknowledge that I'm still wearing
my 1897 overcoat, and"
ought to last for"
my 1897 oyercoat and that J,,, ,,t
wearing any medals as king of the dudes.
Yet, whenever you go out you're so COR
seousy appareled that my friends wonder
now 40 It, and their wives rip 'em up and
hack t1nxy
good like I do. and"
why, l haven't a single, solitary rag
t u isn't made over from last year, and
FL Il oiont happen to be naturally handy in
hAing over ODD, WORKOUT things, mercy
only knows how I'd
Wen. there's a leak somewhere" cut in
Mr. Jopson. not so much in an accusatory
as as. m n an aggrieved sort Of tone. land I've
got 10 cast around for ways and means to
pug 1t up. Think you can board me and
keep me sheltered from the storms of win
Yer on S2o per week. you say? All right.
works. You can run the whole OUTFIT your
SELF. l won't have word to say about
expenditures in the running of the house
Jus oust you pay cash for everything. 1 stay
lst OF February, isn't it? All right. Here's
20. A week from today I'll hand you an
olher 20 But I'll bet you a nice box of
4..cent chocolate creams, Mrs Jobson, that
youth be doing the Oliver Twist act and
holoarg out your hand for more before the
fist weeks done"
Mrs. Jobson started going to market that
cry morning. When she got home she ng-
Gred, on comparing the prices of the stufr
she had bought with the grocery store
prices. that she had saved a clear Ii cents.
ana visions Of new lorgnette that she
h fan hsu ner eye on for some time fitted be-
lore ner mental eye.
spent that s25 YETI" Mr. Jobson asked
her When dinner was over that evening
,h because II you haven't wish you'd send
for me. My box is empty and 1 haven't
anythlng but a $40 bill. If you've a half
ioliar remaining out of that s25 kindly pay
tI be Inc baf cl EAR for me- and tn let have
Mrs. Jobson sent for the cigars and made
4 memorandum of the amount for future
reference
BY the way" said Mr.. Jobson, just be-
lore ne LEFT for the office the next morn
ing. when you go down town TODAY to
make your customary raid on the bargain
counters l wish you'd be good enough to
drop oy the hat cleaners and get that hat
oi mine. l believe the man said it 'ud be
a dollar. You just pay him out of that SIS
IL you have any of it left after laying siege
o the summer dress goods department. and
II square up with you when L come home
his evening"
Mrs. Jobson made the outlay of a dollar
when she passed by the hat cleaners that
day, and jotted down the amount against
ask him for t account u t. She didn't want to
20 20 ne mad given her. and he forgot to men
ton anything about it when he got home
from his office that evening.
Mr JobSon returned to the hOIsa after
getting half a block away the next morn
ing IN order to ask Mrs. Jobson to call nv
the bicycle-repairing shop and have the
rePairer os send his bike around to the house
hauiins IT, said Mr. Jobson. You can
pay the bill out of that bundle gave Won
II you've anything left after buying fan.
mere, ,ie.et.e mouse Jackets and red-heeled slip
pers mat you don't need. and I'll fix it up
with you later" ~
The bill for overhauling the bike was a
collar, and Mrs: Jobson paid 1t, which
made 81 80 owed her out of her s2J.
1 wish you'd send the girl around for tho
magazines-the four of 'em-I guess they're
all out said Mr.. Jobson after dinner that
evening Here's the mon-no. by jung,
maven got any change with me-nothing
put big bill-just pay for 'em-they'H
come to seventy cents, won't they?-out Of
mat am s21that is, if you haven't expended
tickets-and I'll iquidate the indebtednesa~
believe l owe you twenty-five or thirty
cents for something else. don't Tomorrow
Mr.. JObson didn't mention ANYTHING abo,,t
the s.. 20 he owed Mrs. Jobson out of the
80 when he got in the next evening, and
she didn't exactly care to remind him of it.
Ihey went to the theater that evening
and before they started Mr.. Jobson pulled
out his wallet. looked through 1t. and
found that he didn't have anything smaller
than $50 bill.
Il wonder If you'd object to lending me IS
for the tickets until tomorrow EVENING""
he asked her after he'd got his overcoat on
"A twenty's the smallest I've got, Have
you got that much left after buying out all
the violets downtown? If so. and you'll lend
me the amount, I'll restore it to you tomor-
row evening-b'lieve I'm a half dollar or 40
in your debt already. on that S25-a-week
deal, come to think of it,
Mrs Jobson handed Mr.. Jobson the r.
which made just $500 that he had rot out
of the $25.
The milkman called for his money thu
next morning-$2 1t had been the agree
ment that Mr. Johnson was to nav ali ont
standing bills from the beginning of the
S25-per-week system, and that the SIS was
only to be disbursed for current, entirely
new expenditures.
Just hand the man the money" said Mr..
Jobson, land I'll credit you with it."
Thus Mr.. Jobson had got $50 out Of tho
TIL need some more money today" said
Mrs Jobson on the morning Of the sixth
day under the $25-a-week scheme.
Mr.. Jobson looked triumphant all over
"Oh. you do. do your he said. what
did 1 tell you? It doesn't make any dit
ference whether you run this plant on a
cash or credit system. you Just blow in