Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-05-02

one day, in the fall. the parsons wife,
she said to me, says she:
Sister Jacobs, some of us has bin
a talkin', and wishin' we could hev the
society out at your place, some time.
We love to go into the country onc,t
IN a while"
L wuz struck all in a heap. This
Wuz uss an more of it. / could Jest
see that parlor, so different from the
other parlors where l he'd been to So
c1ety. There it wuz, in nv minds
eye, with the rag carpet on the floor,
the wooden cheers, an the old wooden
rocker we kept in there to help fill
up, an because it wuz so hard an
straight we didn't Ike to set in it.
Then there wuz the dish closet, with
its cracked, nicked dishes on the
shelves. There wuzn't a thing there
mt to set a company table. All this
flashed through my mind in less time
than L hev took to tell it. Suddenly
a big resolution grabbed hold of me.
L lifted up my head. an looked her
straight in the face, which / couldn't
hev done afore- / know there wuz a
streak of fire in my eyes, but it
wuzn't meant fur the parsons wife,
who is a pleasant-spoken, nice woman.
Sister Taylor" says l. II amt jest
fixed fur the society yet. Wait a
while, an l shall be very glad to hev
We all come"
"AIl right" she said in a pleased
sort of way, an begun talkin' about
somethin' else. | made sure she
knowed more than she let on. but she
he'd sense enough to keep still.
Now, as | told you atore, I he'd lived
with Elnathan Jacobs fur 25 year,
an in all that time 7 hedn't once fair
~ made up my mind 1t wuz his mind
that wuz alters made up, so to speak.
But now | wuz that riz up, l deter
mined hat things he'd got to be diff
ferent. That parlor wuz goin' to hev
a new carpet, an new furniture. an
lace curtains, like what | he'd seen at
society. There wuz goin' to be a
new set of dishes, too. an whatever
WIZ needed to make a table look nice.
AS fur the eatables, I want afraid
a mite. My riz biscuits air the talk
of the hull country thrashin' time.
though mebbe I hadn't ort to men
ton it. I jest state it as a fact.
Elnathan WIZ a good provider in the
eatin' line, cause his own stummick
WIZ very dear to him. Jellies an
preserves I alters he'd in plenty. |
knowed if I he'd the dishes. | could
set as good a table fur the society
as they'd find ~anywheres.
1 rode my high horse of determine
: fin7 home ThnJarh T n1rfu nSrh tIn,-
bled off in wonderin' how | wuz goin'
to carry u all my fine plans. But
I grit my teeth an stamped my foot
am said to myself: "Sary Ann Jacobs,
you've got to do it, or die. You've
passed your word to the parsons
wife, an Malviny's frettin' her soul
out, an that's got to be stopped"
Jim's our boy-we've only got the
two children-an' he's good to his
mother. He's Is year old, an his pas
kept him at work, an give him
mighty little money. you'll git all
the more in the end" he telled him,
as if that wuz much comfort to a
lively lad So Jim couldn't help me
it over with him, an he wuz right
In 1Qr QOln all he could
"See here, ma" he says, II wuz
over to Mis- Haines this mornin' :"
mis- Haines is our neighbor, half a
mile cross lots), IAN her hired girl
has gone off an left her. She's weak
ly, you know, an she says to me,
Jim, if I could only git your mother
TO bake my bread, I b'lieve I could
manage you've got too much to
do now, ma, but it would be a chance
to arm somethin'."
"I'll do it," I said in such a tone
that Jim looked round to see if some
thin or 'nuther hedn't cracked. "You
git up the old mare,'' / wen on, "an'
I'll go right over. Malviny kin git
supper"
Mis- Haines wuz orful glad to hear
that I would make her bread. Fur,
as I said afore, my bread is known
all over Hawkins county. Calm facts
is not boastin'. In maxim the bar
gain, I wuz keerful.
Now, Mis- Haines," I says, 81 want
you to furnish the flour. I'll make
the bread an biscuit jest as you want
them, but it will be out of your -four,
not mine"
She looked a leetle surprised, hut
she agreed to it, an to the price ]
axed her. You see, I want goin' to
hev any partnership mixed up in this
dicker. If we he'd furnished the -four,
Elnathan would hev wanted his pay,
an my share would hev bin slim.
Well, it worked fust-rate. / made
Mis- Haines' bread all winter, an by
spring he'd quite a good many dollars
hid away in an old chany pitcher on
the northeast corner of my top pantry
shelf. Elnathan would AK once in a
while If Mis- Haines kept me paid up
fur my work, but all the answer he
got wuz that we he'd fixed that be-
tween us.
I knowed that bread-makin' alone
wouldn't arm enough money to get
half what I needed. Before this, ]
he'd tried time an time agin to coax
Elnathan to buy good stock TO i'm
prove our poultry. Our old hens were
small an runty, a poor looking lot.
But he never would spend a cent fur
anythin' better, although he paid $50
fur just one pig. He sed a hen wuz a
hen. an you couldn't make nothin'
else out of her. He didn't seem to
see the same reason would apply to
a pig or a cow. He said eggs sold
fx1r the sauna whether they w1Iz small