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

Reprinted by special permission)
IT'S a good many year since the
| Britishers found out hat the folks
on his side of the water meant bust
ness when they sot up for themselves.
Other folks since then has he'd to de
clare independence, and fight fur it,
too. I've got a story to tell along
that line.
1t all come through them turkeys.
Ieastways they was the cause of the
declaration, other things havin' bin
leadin' up to it fur a long time.
The question wuz about pardner-
ship. What air p~ardners? Kin a nan
an a woman be PARTNERS, when the
woman is pardner only when she's
got somethin' worth sharin', while
the man is pardner the hull livin'
time? That wuz the pint hat both
cred me. 1t don't bother me now,
though.
The way of it wuz this: Me an
Elnathan Jacobs tthe grandson of old
Parson Jacobs, that Jacobsville wuz
named fur) hev bin married a leetle
over 25 year. We didn't hev IN acre
TO start on, but we rented a farm,
an by hard work, airly an late, we
got a bit ahead every year, till we
bought a farm fur ourselves. Elnathan
WIZ stiddy an industrious, while 1
WIZ wi1lin' t. work, an willin' to
pinch, an did my full share of it.
Them WIZ happy days, in spite of
tiredness an poverty.
IN. F,~+ =hnllnr IF +raIh1n rv71z
small in the beginnin', but it growed
till it shut off a lot of sunshine.
EInathan. he got so in the habit of
savin' and pinchin', he didn't seem
TO think we could do any other way,
leastvise in the house, even when we
wuz putin money in the bank every
season. He could buy farm machin-
cry. an fine stock, but there the
spendin- stopped. We wimmen folks
could do without. when conveniences
wuz talked about.
But I started out to tell about them
turkeys. You see, when we begun,
the eggs an chickens an butter went
to the store fur groceries an clothes.
That wuz all we had to buy 'em with,
an / wuz glad to do that way. As
we got forehanded, / felt as if I ort
to hev the chicken IN egg money.
seem as how / TUX all the are of the
chickens. Malviny-she's our girl, an
a mighty purity, clever one, if 1 do say
it, as / ortn1t to-wanted leetle fXin's
sech lis other girls he'd. The young
feIlers liked TO shine up TO her, an !
didn't blame 'em a mite, but she wuz
that proud-spirited she wouldn't ak
'em in to our par1or, 1T wuz so bare
an old-fashioned.
II wouldn't-care, ma" she said, "ef
pa wuz poor, an couldn't afford any
thin better But everybody knows
he is maxim money, an I'm ashamed
to hev folks see sech a lookin' room"
~Why, M%aiviny," says /, more to
comfort her than anythin' else. fur /
wuz a good deal of her way of think
in, 1.-The parlor carpet wuz new two
year ago, an it's real bright an cheer
full lookin'. It's got some of your
Grandma Jacobs dresses in it, a strip
of your Great-aunt James apron, an
a scrap of my weddin' dress. I should
think you'd put considerable store
by it,"
s'Pshaw, mai" she spoke mp, 81
don't think much of putin the relics
of our ancestors clothes under foot
to be walked on. There's some sense
in putin 'em into a quilt, but not
into a rag carpet. They're all right
in their place, an real homehke, but
rot in the parlor. / like to hev beaus,
but I won't ak 'em to come in, SO i
que FL stay at home, an live an
die an Did maid"
Now this made me feel powerful
bad. I telled Elnathan about it that
night. an begged him to let me buy
a store carpet fur the parlor. He sots
so much store by Malviny thet /
thought her a-wantin' it so bad would
fotch him If anythin' would.
.Foolish pride! foolish pride!" he
said. ''Why, that carpet is nice
enough fur anybody. / want to buy
that quarter-section of Baker, an
won't hev no money to spend on gim-
cracks. Malviny will be glad enough
IF T can leave her an Jim each a nice
farm. The fellers worth havin' viii
look at that more than a fixed up
room"
/ knowed it want no use to say any
more. but 1 did a mighty lot of think
In. If Malviny could hev a pleasant
home an nice company while h wuz
young an lively, 'twould do more fur
her than a farm when the bloom an
iov she missed out of her life he'd
made her old, an soured, an lone
some.
Then another thing happened. We
went to church in Jacobsville when
II wuzn't too cold, or too warm, or
the horses hedn't been workin' too