Year: 1871

4 can't think of it, Betsy. Let u:


wait awhile


You must think of it, and We


won't wait awhile replied the reso


lutte wife. What is right to be done


is best done quickly. Is there moi


safety in my plant?


Yes, l think there is! but


Then let US adopt it at once, and
throw all butts overheard, or and
she looked at him little mischiev,
ously, perhaps you would rather


have some talk with Mr.. Lawrence
first?'


Hang Mr.. Lawrencew calculated
Aaron Little.


Every well; there being no help
in Mr.. Lawrence, we will go to work
to help ourselves. Self-help, Pve
heard it said,is always the best help,
and most to be depended on. We
may know ourselves and trust our
selves; and that is a great deal more
than we can say about other people.
When shall we have the sale?'


Not so fast, Betsey, not so fast. l
haven't agreed to the sale yet. That
would be to make q certain loss.
Furniture sold at auction never re
alizes above half its cost


1t would be certain gain, Aaron
if it saved you from bankruptcy,
with which, as l understand it, you
are threatened


Il think said Aaron, we may get
on without that. / like the idea of
your coming to the warehouse and
taking Hobson's place. All the
money from retail sales passes
through his hands, and he has it in
his power, if not honest, to rob me
seriously. I've not fatt altogether
easy in regard to him of late. Why,
l can hardly tell. I've seen nothing
wrong. But if you take his place
three hundred pounds will be saved
certainly


But, if have my house to keep
Mrs. Little answered to this, how
can l help you at the warehouse?
The first thing in order is to get the
house off my hands,


Don't you think Annie could be
induced to come and live with us for
a few months until we try this new



But the money, Aaron; the mon
ey this furniture would bring! That
is what l am looking after. You
want money now


very true


Then let us hang out the red flag
Half way measures only ruin every
thing. / know that mother will not
let Annie leave home, so it's no use
to think of it. The red flag, Aaron
the red flag! Depend upon it,
that's the first thing to be done.
Five or six hundred pounds in hand
will make you feel like another per-
son-give you courage, confidence
and energy


You may be right, Betsy; but I
can't bear the thought of running
out that red flag, of which you talk
so lightly


Shall 1 say coward? Are you
afraid to do what common prudence
tells you is right?'


i was afraid, Betsy? but / am no
longer faint-hearted. With such a
brave little wife as you to stand by
my side, need not fear the world


In a week from that day the red
flag hung out. When the auction
eer made up his accounts, he had in
hand a little over eight hundred
pounds, for which a cheek was filled
out to the order of Aaron Little. 1t
came into his hands just at the right
ut the right moment, and made him
feel, to use his own words, easy as
In old shoe One week later Mrs.
Betsy Little took the place of Mr..
Hobson, as chief manager and cash
receiver in her husbands warehouse
There were some few signs of re-
Dellion among the clerks and shop
girls at the beginning, but Mrs. Bet
~ had quick, steady eye, and a
manner, that caused her
presence to be felt, and soon made
everything subservient to her will.
1t was a remarkable fact, that at
he close of the first week of her
administration of affairs, the cash
'eceipts were over thirty pounds in
excess of the receipts of any week
within the previous three months.


Have we done more business
han usual this weekY she asked of
,ne clerk and another, and the uni
orm answer was, NO


'Then,' said the lady to herself,
there has been foul play here. No
Wonder my husband was in trou
,le.'


The next week the sales came up
% the same average, and at the end
If the third week were forty pounds
,etter than before Mrs. Little un-
lertook to manage the retail depart
nent. Whether there had been foul
,lay' or not t,Aaron Little could nev
,r fully determine; but he was in no
loubt as to one thing, and that was
he easy condition of the money
market after the lapse of half a
year.


For four or five months previous
% Mrs. Little's administration OF
affairs he was on the street nearly
lalf OF his time during business
hours, engaged in the work of mon
" raising; now his regular receipts
had got in advance of his payments,
20 that his balance on the morning
If each day was usually in excess
If the notes to be lifted. OF course
he could give more attention to bus
ness which increased and grew more
profitable under the improved sys
.em.
By the ned OF the year, to use his
OWN words, he was all right Not
so a neighbor of his, who, to get
more capital, had taken Mr.. Law
renee as a partner. Instead Of
bringing in ten thousand pounds,
that capitalist was only able to put
down three thousand; and before
the end of the year he had drawn
out six or seven thousand, and had
given notes of the firm for as much
more in payment of old obligations
failure of the house followed as
an inevitable result.