"Go on, madam. As I am a man of unlimited means, if you have any other wants, I hope you won"t be at all backward about mentioning them."
"I don"t intend to be," was the quiet, but spirited reply. "I wouldn"t do for another what I do for you, for double my board and clothing.
Both the parlor and sitting-room need refurnishing; everything looks so faded and shabby, that I am ashamed to have any one call. And the stairs need recarpeting, the blinds and gate need repairing, and the fence needs painting."
"That can"t be all, Mrs. Taggard. Are you sure that there isn"t something else?"
"I don"t think of anything else just now, Mr. Taggard; though if there should be a few dollars over and above what these will cost, they won"t come amiss. I should like to have a little change in my pocket, if only for the novelty of the thing. You needn"t fear its being wasted."
Mr. Taggard was evidently not a little astonished at this sudden outbreak in his usually quiet and patient wife, but who, like most women of that stamp, had considerable spirit when it was aroused.
"Now that you are through, Mrs. Taggard, perhaps you will let me say a word. Here is all the money I can spare you this month; so you can make the most of it."
Laying a roll of bills on the table, Mr. Taggard walked to the door; remarking, just before he closed it, that he should leave town on the next train, to be absent about a week.
The reverie into which Mrs. Taggard fell, as she listened to the sound of his retreating steps, was far from being a pleasant one. Aside from her natural vexation, she felt grieved and saddened by the change that had come over her once kind, indulgent husband. He seemed to be entirely filled with the greed of gain, the desire to ama.s.s money--not for the sake of the good that it might enable him to enjoy, or confer, but for the mere pleasure of h.o.a.rding it. And this miserly feeling grew upon him daily, until he seemed to grudge his family the common comforts of life. And yet Mrs. Taggard knew that he was not only in receipt of a comfortable income from his business, but had laid by a surplus, yearly, ever since their marriage.
She had taxed her ingenuity to save in every possible way, but when the monthly bills were presented the same scene was enacted, only it grew worse and worse.
And this penuriousness extended to himself. He grudged himself, as well as wife and children, clothing suitable to his means and station, and went about looking so rusty and shabby that Mrs. Taggard often felt ashamed of him, inwardly wondering if he could be the same man who had wooed and won her.
With a heavy sigh Mrs. Taggard took up the roll of bills upon the table, hoping to find enough to pay what was already due--she did not look for more.
An e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n of astonishment burst from her lips as she unrolled the paper in which it was folded. It contained $500 in bills, and a check for $500 more.
With a look of quiet determination in her eyes, Mrs. Taggard arose to her feet. "The family should now have some of the comforts to which they were ent.i.tled, if they never did again."
First, she settled every bill; a heavy weight being lifted from her heart as she did so; besides getting a fresh supply of fuel and other comforts. Her next move was to order new furniture for the sitting-room and parlor, have the hall recarpeted and papered, the broken door-step mended, and the fence and blinds repaired and painted. She then took the children out, and got them new garments from hats to shoes. She bought herself three new dresses; a neat gingham for morning wear, a delaine for afternoons, and something nicer for best. And before going home she took the children into a toy-shop; delighting the boy with the skates he had so often asked for, and giving the girl the chief wish of her heart, a doll and doll"s wardrobe--not forgetting some blocks for the baby. For, like a wise, as well as kind, mother, Mrs. Taggard desired to make their childhood a happy one; something to look back upon with pleasure through their whole life. Neither was John forgotten; by the aid of some old garments, for a pattern, she got him an entire new suit, together with stuff for dressing-gown and slippers.
The day on which Mrs. Taggard expected her husband"s return was a very busy one; but at last the carpets were down, the paper hung, and everything in the best of order.
He was expected on the five o"clock train, and Mrs. Taggard set the children, attired in their pretty new dresses, at the window to watch for papa, while she went below to a.s.sist Jane in preparing something extra for supper. She had just returned when Mr. Taggard was seen approaching the house.
It looked so different from what it did when he left, that he stared at it in amazement, and would have hesitated about entering, had it not been for the name on the newly burnished door-plate. But he was still more astonished when he entered.
"Am I in my own house, or somebody else"s?" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, as he looked around the bright and pleasant room.
"It is the new furniture I have been buying," said his wife, smiling.
"How do you like it?"
"Have you been running me in debt, Mary?"
"Not in the least, John, it was all bought with the money you so generously left me when you went away."
Mr. Taggard clapped his hand into one of his pockets.
"My goodness!" he exclaimed, in an agitated tone and manner, "I gave it to you out of the wrong pocket!"
Mrs. Taggard did not look at all astonished or disturbed at this announcement; on the contrary, her countenance wore a very smiling and tranquil aspect.
"You don"t mean to say that you"ve spent it?" inquired Mr. Taggard, desperately.
"Why, what else should I do with it, John? You told me to make the most of it; and I rather think I have."
"I am a ruined man!" groaned Mr. Taggard.
"Not a bit of it, my dear husband," said his wife, cheerfully, "you wouldn"t be ruined if you had given me twice that amount. Besides, I have saved enough for our housekeeping expenses, for three months, at least. I think you had better give me an allowance for that purpose in future; it will save us both much annoyance."
The children, who had been led to consider what their mother had bought them as "presents from papa," now crowded eagerly around him.
Mr. Taggard loved his children, and it would be difficult for any one having the kind and tender heart that he really possessed, to turn away from the innocent smiles and caresses that were lavished upon him.
It was a smiling group that gathered round the cheerful supper-table.
And as Mr. Taggard glanced from the gleeful children to the smiling face of his wife, who certainly looked ten years younger, attired in her new and becoming dress, he came to the conclusion that though it might cost something to make his family comfortable, on the whole, it paid.
We do not mean to say that Mr. Taggard was entirely cured; a pa.s.sion so strong is not so easily eradicated. But when the old miserly feeling came over him, and he began to dole out grudgingly the means with which to make his family comfortable, his wife would pleasantly say: "You are taking it out of the wrong pocket, John!"--words which seemed to have a magical effect upon both heart and purse-strings.
"Let us not deprive ourselves of the comforts of life," she would often say, "nor grudge our children the innocent pleasures natural to youth, for the purpose of laying up for them the wealth that is, too often, a curse rather than a blessing."
AN INFINITE GIVER.
Think you, when the stars are glinting, Or the moonlight"s shimmering gleam Paints the water"s rippled surface With a coat of silvered sheen-- Think you then that G.o.d, the Painter, Shows his masterpiece divine?
That he will not hang another Of such beauty on the line?
Think you, when the air is trembling With the birds" exultant song, And the blossoms, mutely fragrant, Strive the anthem to prolong-- Think you then that their Creator, At the signal of his word, Fills the earth with such sweet music As shall ne"er again be heard?
He will never send a blessing But have greater ones in store, And each oft recurring kindness Is an earnest of still more.
If the earth seems full of glory As his purposes unfold, There is still a better country-- And the half has not been told!
"MY HOUSE" AND "OUR HOUSE."
These houses are opposite each other in a beautiful suburban town. "My house" is large and handsome, with a cupola, and has a rich lawn before it. It is surrounded by a broad piazza, and graced and shaded by ancestral elms and huge b.u.t.ton-wood trees. Its barns and stables are large and well-filled; its orchards are gorgeous with fruit, in the season, and the fields around it seem alive with golden grain that waves in the wind. Everything about the place tells of long-continued prosperity. The rich old squire who lives there rides about with fine horses, and talks a great deal to his neighbors about "my house, my orchards, and my horses."
His wife is evidently the lady of the region. She was a model housekeeper and dairywoman in the days when they worked the farm, and is now an oracle on many questions. She, too, talks of "my house, my horses, and my estate."
These persons each brought property to the other, and the two interests have, unfortunately, never flowed together and formed one estate as they should have done; so there are always two separate interests in the house.
Of course the property belongs, legally, to both; but as each has a snug little fund laid away, the question is always to be settled, if repairs are to be made, or horses or furniture bought, who shall pay for it.
It seems but proper to the husband that carpets, and sofas, etc., shall be bought by his wife; also the cows, as the lady is at the head of the house. But she says, "You walk on the carpets, sit on the sofas, and eat the cream and b.u.t.ter just as much as I do, and I see no reason why you should not, at least, help to pay for them."
Such discussions often occur, but, on the whole, each upholds the interest of the other against outsiders, and gets along without open rupture. They ride about in better dress than their neighbors, they receive and return visits, and are called the leading family in town.
But "my house," as some have named the great square mansion, is n.o.body"s house but its owners". No guest who can not return hospitality in equal style is asked to tarry for a night there. All ministers sojourning in the place are directed by them to the humble parsonage for entertainment. Every weary, homeless wanderer is pointed to the distant almshouse; and a neighbor"s horse or cow which has strayed from its own enclosure, is at once put into the pound by the squire"s man.