Evening star., 1902-01-18
,IMR. JoBsoN's ECONOMY

MIS- JoDSoM the 4ther night, as he came
upstairs from thu furnace room. with a
stern countsnanee. will you just drop that
piece OF ochre-hued literature you are read
ing long enough TO step down stairs with
me for half a moment? have something
desire to show YOU
Mrs JobSon put down the book-which,
by the way far from being ochre-hued.
was no lessa classic than Vanity Fair
and followed Mr.. Jobson down the cellar
steps, 81
This said Mr.. Jobson. sepulchrally
pointing to 3 piles OF pretty weIi-burnt-out
looking ashes thatthe servan. had removed
from the furnace during the previous couple
OF weeks this isthe SINFUL the shameful,
the scanda1ous afght which ! desire to
snow to YOU In that pile there are at the
very smallest computation two long tons
OF comoustible fuel. 1t looks to me as II
unburnt furnace coal had been deliberately
chuckd by the bucketful onto that pile out
OF mere Wantonness. And yet tomorrow or
Diack man of the street and paying him
TOUR or nve dollars to clean out this cellar,
ana he VIII take this $12 or SIS worth of
gooo fuei out and sift 1t, and. as likely as
not, sell 1t along the alley on which he re-
sides for a considerable sum of money.
Madam. how long do you think I shall en-
Qure TINS utterly inexcusable extravaganza?
no" fons dye suppose / am going to sub
on the ney-out-of-the-window sys-
tenn! rave you been down in this cellar
at All this year? Do you actually encour-
age the servant to this wastefulness? And
II you calmly submit to having the servant
waste fuel in this manner how do 1 know
put tnat you even let her throw uncut
roasts OF beef into the garbage barrel?"
IhoSe ashes don't look very rich in fuel
TO me. remarked Mrs. Jobson, taking
poker and poking at the pile. This fur
and
Economical burner hey?'' broke in Mr..
Jooson. ironically. This furnace. madam,
mas been making a gigantic effort for the
past nve or six years to send me to the
Poornouse at the rate OF mile minute
economical burner? If I can't spend half
enough to win out of the pile enough coal
TO be worth good suit of clothes I'll eat
tnem. I'm going to spend that half day in
such employment, II for no other reason
than to convince you that you are directly
responsible for the poverty which Is swiftly
oVertaklng me at time of life when am
entitled to be released from such strain"
Know OF a colored boy who has his own
this sitting work for 10 or is cents" said
Mrs; Jobson THAT would save you the
unpleasant work"
m not afraid Of unpleasant work when
there is a principle at stake" haughtily
answered Mr. Jobson .'If this coIored boy
you SO giibly talk Of were permitted to un-
dertake the job you'd probably bribe him to
carry the fuel product Of that pile Of ashes
out OF or the cellar for no other purpose than
to fool me up as to the amount Of first-rate
compustlble material 1t contains. I'll buy
s1fter tomorrow morning right after break
last and go at that job, and If don't get
enough unburnt coal out of that mass to
Keep this house warm for almost the rest
or the winter thereIl be something queer
about it, that's ALL
Mr.. Jobson did return home with a big
ASH sitter about half an hour after his de-
parture on the following morning and,
ostentatiously diking himself out in his
working suit, he went below to the cellar to
separate two long tons of unburnt black
Ola amonds from about half ton Of powdery
ashes
He dumped the apples out Of the newly
bought barrel so as to use it as receptacle
for the ashes and went to work with his
nice, new. long handled sitter. A few gray
bottom Of the sitter after the first try-out.
That's only the surface stuff haven't
got into the pay ore yet" growled Mr.. job
SOP to himself as he solemnly dumped the
sifter-saved s.'combustible fuel' into a cor
ner Of the cellar and he loaded the sitter
UP once more. He so overloaded the sitter
that when he lifted it up to resume opera
tions over the barrel the handle broke on
close to the body of the contraption, and
the ashes fell alts over his legs and feet
and the dust, started him off on such a fit
or coughing that he had to rush for the Gel
lar sink for q drink Of water to clear his
throat.
He sat down In the dark cellar for q
slight rest, and then he grasped the sides
of the sitter after having laboriously and
pantingly loaded # UP again, and started
TO work the thing that way. He hadn't
been at that system for more than two
minutes before he began to feel the blis-
ters rising on his palms. He probably
would not have minded the blisters so
much had he been able to see that he
in0 op1-ft,
good on his prediction to Mrs Jobson that
when he got through sitting the cellar
would be piled up with redeemed coal. The
ashes dropped through the sitter as If they
son saw how things were going with his
scheme he began to glare around vtcio11siy.
He worked at his self-appointed task FOR
more more than two hours, and when he had fin
Of more than good-sized scuttle f,,ii ne
haif-consumed, and rather slaty-lookinR
coal. AoSe
He was seated on box, snawins his
tion, with the dust caked half an ;n"t
tnlck on his brow, when Mrs Jobson in
cautiously descended the cellar stems
- Her & gaze quite passed over the tiny pile
Mr. Jobson had chosen for his great show
Ing. and she glanced all around wonSer.
ingly and curiously. "'i'uef-
oh" she remarked, II thought YOU had
D.0oAA. Aou maven started Vet. fhpp9''
For reply Mr.. Jobson got up from hi.
seat Sc on the box. took a hatchet and de-
i1berately chopped the sitter into bits hnrl-
Ing the remains Of 1t into the furnace.
Yes. madam" he replied in a tone that
was designed to carry vast amount Of in
tensity. Il have started. but you got the
start of me. Don't presume to tell me
that you didn't hustle out and get that
colored youth with the sitter to race over
here and sift this pile Of ashes during INV
absence. Don't tell me that he didn't 60 ~,
out the couple OF tons of coal and cinders
tfat ne got out OF the pile-and don't tell
me that you haven't deliberately nernitted
me to work down here on an idiotic mission
for the last three or four hours. You Iook
guilty. and you'll never convince me thar
you haven't deliberately made a chimpan-
You may pack that steamer trunk with INV
few personal belongings. leave this con-
niving. conspiring establishment within an
hour, never to return In the fleshr'
However, Mr.. Jobson was still at h,s
home when the shades of night fell and
when one Of his favorite cronies dropped
In for chat Mr.. Jobson's manner was par
ticularly cheerful and he didnt saw anv-
thing about going away for an indefinite