New-York tribune., 1905-01-22

nv laundry preparatory to donn1ng that
which she afterward referred to as her
working rig This robe of general
utility, if not of fashion, consisted of
faded red-calico wrapper, no two widths
of which seemed to be of the same length.
She wore this bedraggled garment with
out apron or belt so that it hung straight
from her narrow and slOping shoulders,
She was a tall, spare woman, quick In
her movements, and she had nimble
tongue. On the back of a chair in the
laundry hung a purple COttOn-Velvet
basque and a green-silk skirt that Mrs.
Shore had discarded before putting on
the red wrapper. A red straw hat with
a band and little bows of black Grape,
/ discovered later, were symbols of
"half-mOurning.
I'm Just gitt;n' out O. black for my
husband who died a year come the
tenth o. this month. I've had three
husbands, but they have all up an died,
an all but Shore had lingerin complaints,
an had 'em to do for for months an even
years before they got through. L reckon
I've bought patent medicine, enough to
float a ship Not that | begretched it
to EN- An I've put up real neat
tombstones to all but the last one, an
he shall have his in due time. No one
sha'n't say l didn't do my duty. When
l got married l took 'em for better,
for worse an it want their fault,
after all, because it happened to be
for worse so far as them bein' any
help was concerned. Merridge is a kind
of a 1ot'ry anyhow, don't you think?
Mrs Shore was not my regular laun-
dress. Mis- Potter, the lady as washes
for you of Monday, can't come to-day"
Mrs Shore explained. Some kin of her
husbands is dead over in Grubb-ct.,
an Mis- Potter wants to go to the
fun'ral this forenoon. She won't git
back much before one o'clock, an she
did think at first that she would come
out even then and finish up your wash
and scrub up your laundry so as not to
disappoint you altogether.
Then she thought that as she an
her husband an children would all be
dressed up they might as we'll make a
day of it and go to the circus this after
noon, seein' as they had planned to go
some day this week anyhow. So she
come over to see would l come in her
place, an me havin' just lost my Monday
place because of the family movin' out
O. town, it was so l could come, an
here | be-
"Of course l can't take hold an put
the wash out quite as quick as Mis-
Potter, because of me not bein' used to
the place. an not KNOWN where evry-
thing is; but if | that shouldn't do say it,
l kin hang out as nice an clear an
white wash as the next wash lady if |
have a chance. Lord knows | ought to
know how to hang out nice wash,
seein' that I've been in the wash-tub,
as a body might say, since l was ten
years old! All but my Riggs husband
was poor as Jobs turkey when we was
married
Riggs he had two hundred an ten
dollars, an had sOmethin' like twenty
six dollars when we was married, 50 we
was pretty we'll fixed; but we was both
kind O. free an easy with money, an
we spent it all in a month. Riggs he
liked his glass, an although he never
got what you might call full, he spent
about thirty dollars that way, an we
lived at the top o the pot for awhile
He got me a ten-dOllar set O yearbobs
an a five-dollar bracelet that | had to
put in soak for bread before the wear
was ont Then we had carriaUe riJae