The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1934-03-09
Chest Colds
"a Best treated
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STAINLESS now YOU .l2gm3
now you prefer

our room. My wife dresses the place
up considerably. We will do no damage
TILL we begin to gnaw the woodwork.
Some day I'll be paying rent again and
meanwhile if you want a caretalser for
that apartment I'll take the job rent
free and not charge you a penny for my
services"
%, WE'LL" or something like it, the
landlord grumbled. go on, stay there.
You're not the inventor Of the idea,
though, and not the only caretaker on
your terms"
Coralie bewailed her wasted past. She
was not fitted for earning money any
way except a charwoman and she had
neither the build nor the social con-
nection for acquiring jobs as a scrub
woman in office buildings, or as a
l%aundress. Besides, there was no room
for a parvenue in their venerable
ranks.
She did the cooking, Of course, and,
while she lacked the old excuses of rain
in the skillet and windblown ashes in
the soup, there was always a spice of
adventure and suspense as to what
the feast would be. Burned sections
and raw spots reappeared. Their ap-
petite furnished the royal sauce. And
they improved it by long hikes, not
across the country, but crosstown and
far to the north, looking for jobs or
just looking about.
They read and reread books they had
never had time to finish. T he public
library lent them the lately published
classics of the future and the once new
classics of the past. Even study was
haffn~ tIo~ sJ1oracc 1~ -~; i
gymnastics for the brain. Bruce read
serious works on economics and finance
and made sure that when the fog lifted
it would not find his mind rusty and
rheumatic with disuse, but trained and
fed and ready for %conquests otherwise
impossible.
There were debates with creditors,
installment men and others. Some
of them left the furniture in the hope
of getting it paid for eventually. But the
man from whom they bought the grand
twin beds was adamant and demanded
both of them.
"Over my dead body" said Bruce.
1--WE paid you more than half for the
twins. You a have either one. Take
your choice. But he who touches a
hair Of that other mattress dies like q
dog. March On he said"
The thwarted Shylock tried to sell
him the second one cheap, but Bruce
ordered it out. It was more desert
islandish having only one So Coralie
came back to his arms-which she still
called hers.
Bravely as they tried to bluff it
through, it was not all fun. Yet it was
horl IN coxy corooftNeae - &1o~o -o~o
more of wretchedness OF Of ecstasy in
the pigonancy of their recaptured love.
Heart beat to heart, flesh famed; SUI
preme emotions were wakened. Whether
they gave more delight than anguish,
who could know? The castaway cliff
jewellers knew only that life was opul-
ent in experience, and no wealth could
have atoned for a poverty of such
agony, if agony it was.
Was it happiness or torment that
glowed in their hearts when on a Ger
tain night he woke and murmured:
"Coralie, you're crying"
mo. I'm not"
Also, you're lying"
I'm neither lying nor crying. Hon
estly."
"Then what were you crying aboutP"
Nothing"
Meaning me?"
Nothing means me! You're every
thing. If I were any good I'd do my
own washing and take in other peo-
pies"
"They could arrest you for that"
They laughed ~uproaringly. Simple
jokes 60 well in simple surroundings.
Put or in theatres with expensive casts
and seats and glaring footlights, jokes
have to be better. But poor people
can get along IN poor jokes when the
spirit is blithe.
Hope was their everlasting helper
through all the glooms. Hard times
could not last forever. The important
thing "a that they themselves should
outlast the eclipse and come out of it
harder and wiser. They had learned
already that money is not everything.
People had lived long and known
wealth and power and happiness for
ages before money was invented, be-
fore furniture was made, before silks