The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-12-13
TIE EVENING STORY.
That Refrigerator.
by Lawrence Alfred Clay.l

that he would propose matrimony; he
figured that Dolly would accept; he fig
ured on a suburban cottage at a GER
tain rent; he figured on paying so much
for furniture, and his weekly expenses
would be SO much. 1t was very close
figuring. 1t hardly left anything to buy
bottle of cough mixture with.
When Miss Dolly had said yes to
the proposition the figures were sub
mitted to her Like good girl. she
struck off little here and there and
showed where they could save at least
two dollars a week. That was over
hundred dollars year. If they
should live hundred years they would
with them. She knew of dozen
wives who were piling up bank &C
counts On salaries less than George was
receiving. And then his salary might
be advanced. He might be taken into
the firm. He might find $500 in the
street.
The marriage came off, and things
turned out as had been figured-all
except one thing. They had listed the
outfit for that little cottage three times
over. but had forgotten a refrigerator.
That was because they were married
in March, when it is possible to set
dish of butter out on a back window
sill and it will keep reasonably hard
1t softens up a bit in May, and when
June comes you must have refrigera-
lOI anu 4CS VI O1P yOOI III C10 4AS0 Jul
ter oil.
One day in June cold chill struck
the brides heart as an ice wagon stop
ped at the house and the driver came
in to see about a contract. Fifty cents
a week for the rest of the summer.
away and the young wife went into the
house and wept. She wept because
the butter would melt and the meat
wouldn't keep without ice. She wept
because she had made out the list ana
left out ice and a refrigerator. She
wept because through her tears she
could see the awful pallor on Georges
cheeks when she explained why she
wept. He would be stunned. He would
have to reach the wall to hold himself
up.-He would look at her with accus-
ing eyes, and at length he would
But George didn't. He stood up I'M
der the blow. After the first shock he
even said that they must squeeze out
the money to buy refrigerator and
take ice, and he put his arms around
the little woman and told her to dry
her tears. That's the kind OF man
George Durham was.
Next day Dolly was given all the
dollars he had saved and instructed to
go to a hardware store and exercise
her Judgment If he had gone himself
he would have saved two dollars.
There were two refrigerators built on
the same lines. but one had a look
ing-glass in the door and the other
did not. That glass added 81 to the
cost, but Dolly took 1t. She wanted to
see herself as she reached into the
box for meat and butter. She wanted
to feel that in case the glass in her
bedroom blew up she would have an
other to comb her hair by.
The box was home and filled with
ice when the husband arrived, and so
far from kicking he even sat down in
front of the glass in the door and sur
veyed his chin whiskers with sat1sfac-
ton.
For a week or so all things went
well. Then the shadow fell. The pur-
chase of the refrigerator and &the
weekly payment to the ice man made
the husband hard up. He looked at
that glass in the door and thought or
the 50 extra The ice was 80 cents
week. and it was saving about 80 Genus
worth of meat and butter. 1t was
baldfaced extravaganza, and who was
to blame for it? Dolly Of course. She
should be made to feel that she had
ruined her whole future.
Both felt the shadow That glass
door reflected it. The ice man sighed
as he lugged in the frozen chunks
The young wife's mother caught on at
once. Even the junk men passing up
and down the street made their cries
more plaintiff to fit the occasion. 1t Is
not possible to bring refrigerator
with a looking-glas;s; door into
woodbine cottage without something
happening.
Two DAYS after the shadow fell man
and wife were not speaking unless
positively necessary Signs We're
heard to come from the refrigerator
and the glass reflected divorce courts
and suicides OF course, the husband
was ashamed of himself when away
from the house, and of course the
wife cried when she was alone. A
week of misery passed and then the
mother-in-law came.
polly" she said, you should have
bought the cheaper refrigerator. but it
was only an error of judgment
George has no right to act this way,
and we must learn him lesson. You
are to come home with me for the
night When he comes from the store
this evening and finds you gone-when
the hours pass and you do not return
when he has passed a lonely night
you will hear no more of that looking
glass door, He will come to you and
on his Bonded knees ask your forgive
ness"
Dolly didn't believe it, but at the
same time felt that something must
be done. They couldn't go on Sulklng
this way. She, therefore. agreed to go.
but mentally resolved to- slip away
after dark and return. If she found
George with his head on the cold kitch-
en- table sobbing as if his heart would
break, she would go in and make up.
If he sat on the porch whistling some
g-time air she would turn her back
on him.
Mr.. Burnham arrived home at the
usual hour. There was a stern express
sion on his face. He had not, and
never could, forget that 81 extra He