Y JX >L _2L
D. APPLETON &. CO.
LEGENBS ANB LYRICS,
KY
ANNE ADELAIDE PROCTOR,
(I) A !' O If T E II OF T IfK I 1 O K T, fl A R U V ( ' O It \ \V A I. I. .)
One very neat volume. 12 wo.
THIS is the charming volume of fresh and tender
poems, by the daughter of one of England's most,
honored and popular poets, which has lately been
received with so hearty a welcome in England and
America. Choice portions of it, copied by the press
with lively praises, have found their way to the firesides
of both lands.
THE COOPERS;
OK,
GETTING UNDER WAY
BY
ALICE B. HAVEN,
AUTHOR OF
"NO SUCH WORD AS FAIL," " ALL*S NOT GOLD THAT GLITTERS,
ETC., ETC., ETC.
NEW YORK:
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
346 & 348 BROADWAY.
1858.
ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by
D. APPLETON & CO.,
In the Clerk's Office of tba District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New York.
I DARE say that I am not alone in noticing how many
young people, in these rapid days, marry, without the
faintest idea of the cares and responsibilities involved,
or with any definite aim in life, after the wedding, the
bridal tour, and the gayety that usually follows.
My friends the Coopers are, perhaps, a fair example
of this large class ; and in following their history I have
kept in mind the wise saying of Sir Thomas More, be-
hind which I have more than once shielded myself :
" Even as some sick men will take no medicine unless
some pleasant thing be put amongst their potions, al-
though it be somewhat hurtful, yet the physician suffereth
them to have it : so because many will not hearken to
serious and grave documents, unless they be mingled
with some fable or jest, therefore reason willeth us to
do the like."
The Willows, 1858.
2047320
CONTENTS
THE STOCKS, 7
FINDING THE LEAK, 30
" FETCH " AND CARRY, 47
LAYING THE KEEL, 71
THE LAUNCH, 93
DAILY TEIALS, . . . . . . 131
THE CRISIS, 160
A MOTHER'S WAGES, 185
" THE FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE," 207
MATCH-MAKING, 227
THE SEBVANT QUESTION, 255
GIFT-MAKING, 280
UNDER FULL SAIL, 310
CHAPTER I.
THE STOCKS.
" DEAB me, how comfortable you look ! "Well,
this is worth while now," remarked Mr. Sam
Blodget, warming first one hand and then the
other at the cheerful fire, which lighted the sit-
ting-room of his friends the Coopers, quite as
much as the drop-light over the centre-table.
No wonder that the cosiness of the room made
itself apparent to the dullest bachelor perception.
The bed and wash-stand were snugly bestowed in
a curtained alcove ; pictures hung about the
walls ; a work-stand, with a work-box evidently
in daily use, stood at one corner of the lounge,
drawn up before the fire, on which Mr. Cooper
was seated, in very close proximity to his wife ;
but they had been married but two months, and
the honeymoon was not quite left out of sight.
" The fellows," who were accustomed to meet
at Sinclair's, a favorite restaurant on a neighboring
THE COOPEES.
corner, were very much astonished when Murray
Cooper, returning from a short trip to Albany,
brought a wife with him. He was rather aston-
ished himself, for it must be acknowledged that
the whole transaction of courtship and marriage
had covered but three weeks, divided into two
visits six months apart. On the first he had acci-
dentally met Miss Smith, and in his usual reckless
manner, proposed at the end of his stay, for which
presumption he deserved to have been refused,
but was not. The most sensible women proverbi-
ally astonish their friends in their love affairs, and
Martha Smith had said " for better for worse,"
before she commenced to study the character,
which was to develop in one of these respects.
" It's a wonder your landlady allows you such
fires," remarked Mr. Blodget. ,
" We don't consult her. / take the credit ot
that combustion ! " and Mr. Cooper surveyed his
handiwork admiringly. ".Tmade that fire."
" He actually chose every large lump out of
the hod," said Mrs. Cooper, laughing, " and built
it up piece by piece. It kept him still for half an
hour after dinner."
THE STOCKS. 9
" The fact is, Sam, I never mean to go to
housekeeping till we can afford to have first-rate
fires, and a good table. Stint in any thing else,
but give me a good fire and a decent table. Be
as economical as you please in other things but
fires ! "
" I don't believe he has the first idea of econ-
omy, Mr. Blodget, has he ? "
" I ought to have ; we used to see enough of
it at Needham's didn't we, Sam ? "
" Oh ! our landlady is ten times worse than
Needham ! 'No, thank you, Mrs. Cooper, posi-
tively can't sit down, though only looked round
for a minute."
" There it comes now," sighed Mrs. Cooper,
mentally.
" Why," continued their visitor, " Poker, as
we call our present mistress of ceremonies, only
allows one hod to the whole range of sky parlors,
no matter how hard we ring for more ; the conse-
quence is, the fire goes out, and if we happen to
be in, which doesn't often happen, fortunately,
we are obliged to go to bed in self-defence by ten
o'clock ; so the gas doesn't suffer. Don't you see,
10 THE COOPEKS.
Mrs. Cooper ? Ton my word, I always stumble
over that word yet ; it does seem so singular."
" So do I," said the newly-made husband.
" When people say to me down town, ' How's
Mrs. Cooper?' I always have to stop and think
who they mean. First along, I always used to
wonder why the "
" S-h-u ! " said Mrs. Cooper, warningly, with
her forefinger on her lip, and a bright smile, as if
recalling some matrimonial compact to her hus-
band.
" I beg your pardon, Matty ; I was going to
say something. The fact is, Sam pshaw ! I don't
mind telling him the fact is, my wife has under-
taken to cure me of some of my little bachelor
habits."
"Don't you allow even an innocent little
* deuce ? ' " inquired Mr. Sam Blodget, thinking
it would be a long time before he came into har-
ness.
" Innocent ! " said Mrs. Cooper, playfully.
" Somehow, it never occurred to me that any
thing can be innocent which paves the way for
such very naughty words as I have heard."
THE STOCKS. 11
" Oh, that's the dodge ! " thought the gentle-
man in the lond waistcoat, smoothing his already
wonderfully fitting gloves, in the attempt to sup-
press a whistle that would have relieved him
under the circumstances, but might not have been
exactly the thing, considering the same. It was
the perpetual aim of Mr. Blodget to avoid all that
might be pronounced " not the thing ; " it stood
in the place of a code of honor with him.
" Why, Needham used to hear every touch of
the poker," said Murray, losing sight of his last
remark in the comfortable glow of the fire.
" That small chambermaid don't you know,
Sam ? We used to call her the Marchioness after
Dick Swiveler used to insert her head at the
door, and say, ' If you please, young gentlemen,
nobody's to touch the fire but me on no ac-
count.' "
" What miserable beings you must have been,
according to your own stories ! " said Mrs. Mur-
ray, laying down her book reluctantly.
She was frequently the listener to some such
agreeable and entertaining reminiscences ; they
seemed to be the staple of Mr. Blodget's conver-
12 THE COOPERS.
sation after he had exhausted the weather and his
stock of compliments to her.
" He ought to be extremely obliged to you for
coming to the rescue, 'pon honor."
" That's so ! Pity some one wouldn't do as
much for you," observed the happy man, patron-
izingly. " I often say to Matty, ' I only wish
Sam was as well off as I am.' "
" Henderson been round to see you yet, Mrs.
Cooper ? " inquired their visitor at this juncture,
declining a third offer of a chair.
" No," Mr. Cooper answered for his wife.
" Steve's no lady's man. He came round to-day
to say he wished me well, but he made it a rule
not to go into society."
" Queer stick ! " and Mr. Blodget shrugged
his shoulders ; " never could make him out ; by
the way," he added, with a degree of recollection
pleasant to behold, when Mrs. Cooper had been
waiting to hear the remark ever since the waiter's
tap at their door had announced his arrival, " by
the way, going 'round to Bob's awhile ? "
" "Well, I don't know, we were just settled for
the evening. Matty was going to read me some-
THE STOCKS. 13
thing wasn't you, Matty ? and we were going to
have some nuts and apples to top off with. Matty
generally keeps something stowed away in the
side closet. She looks after me so well, that I
don't have to think for myself any more."
A pleasant smile at this acknowledgment
ought to have settled the question of going out at
once.
" She must sing for you some night, won't
you, Matty?" continued Murray, glancing at
the piano.
" I don't think I care much about music,"
said Mr. Blodget, reflectively, admiring the dog's
head on the top of his walking-stick, " unless it's
a jolly good chorus, like 'Vive 1' Amour,' or ' Old
Dog Tray,' or ' Yilikens.' " You used to sing a
good thing, Murray ' Little Pigee.' I've seen
all the fellows in a roar lots of times, Mrs. Cooper,
when your husband was on that ; 'pon honor, it's
the most laughable thing ! " and, considering that
he had turned a very neat compliment indeed,
the young gentleman made a sudden pause.
" Oh ! Matty doesn't care about that sort of
thing," said Murray, looking a little annoyed.
14 THE COOPEBS.
He knew by the slight flush on his wife's face,
that she did not particularly care to imagine her
husband singing comic songs at a table full of
jolly good fellows, which to her conveyed but one
idea their having emptied too many sherry and
champagne bottles for their own respectability, or
the good of general society. "Who's going round
to-night ? "
" Oh ! most of the boys ; it's about time we
were off ! " remarked the visitor, a little sulkily,
at having his delicate endeavors to be agreeable
nipped in the bud after this fashion.
Down in the bottom of his heart, there was a
lurking desire to stand well in the eyes of his
friend's wife. He had to confess to himself that
he was a little afraid of her, not that she was
backward in her welcome, or " cut him up " to
use his own phrase. On the contrary, she al-
ways did her best to entertain her husband's
former associates. There was no pettishness of
manner, no " married woman's " frown thrown
out from under a masked battery of smiles and
civility ; but Mr. Blodget never walked off with
his old comrade, as on this occasion, without feel-
THE STOCKS. 15
ing that he had much better not have done so,
and that he never would ask Murray to " come
round" again.
It required a strong effort of will on the part
of Mrs. Cooper to acquiesce pleasantly to the al-
ternative of a lonely evening, or the society of
such loungers as she might find in the general
parlor below ; and to smile back into Murray's
face as she brought his cap and overcoat from the
closet. He took them, a little ashamed of resist-
ing the strong impulse of excusing himself, after
all, and said, " You won't mind this once, will
you, Matty ? Here's a good fire, and a new book
you want to read that book, you know ! And
you can send round for some oysters, if you'd like
them, 'round to Weller's."
The " I shall do very well never mind me,"
of the reply, was said without bitterness, though
a great deal might have been thrown into those
simple words by a person so disposed ; but she
closed the door after them with a sigh that she
kept back no longer, now that it would not inter-
fere with his evening's pleasure.
The small crimson velvet chair, which had
16 THE COOPERS.
been one of her bridal presents, with the book
and paper-knife on the table before it, stood
exactly as it had done when she came up from
dinner, looking forward to a pleasant evening
alone with her husband : they had not enjoyed
one for a long time, from the multiplicity of their
engagements. She seated herself in it, and leaned
towards the cheerful blaze, to think more seriously
than she had done, in all the whirl and excitement
of the past eight months. Was she going to be
a happy wife ? Could she make Murray happy,
without perpetual self-sacrifice ? "Why had they
married each other? Where was the busy tide
of life whirling them to ?
She knew that her husband had been set adrift
on a world of boarding-houses at a tender age, in
common with most of the set of young men with
whom he associated. Those who had comfortable
homes she could not so readily excuse for haunt-
ing restaurants and billiard-saloons, and using
night-keys as freely as if it was a cross, grumpy
old landlady they were disturbing, instead of their
own mothers and sisters.
She was conscious of a great disappointment
THE STOCKS. 17
and a very heavy heart, the first time Murray
had gone out with them after their marriage, but
then his excuse seemed reasonable : " It won't do
to let them think you hold too tight a rein." This
was the third time in a fortnight that Mr. Blodget
had introduced himself and his " bangup over-
coat " to the peaceful life into which they were
fast subsiding ; this third and last call had brought
into exercise her whole stock of wifely patience
and submission, darling theories of hers, in com-
mon with many other untried young brides.
Using Mr. Sam Blodget's phrase, her husband
was " innocent " enough of any actual wrong do-
ing. He had never cared for wine, being betrayed
into excess by good fellowship alone, the few times
he had been guilty in that particular. He was
honorable, kind-hearted, and too fond of her to
cause her anxiety, if he once could be made to
understand it ; but when she knew what his former
life had been, she saw it always with the knowl-
edge of his capabilities for better things, and the
hope of winning him to sympathy with her own
more refined tastes and pursuits. But how was this
to be accomplished with such perpetual interrup-
18 THE COOPERS.
tions, and without breaking at once the chain of
old associations ?
She knew that the most delicate touch was
necessary to sever these links without defeating
her own object ; and, while she shrank from un-
dertaking it, and half resolved to let matters take
their course, enjoy herself, in her own way, with
her books and music, the "innocent deuce" of
Mr. Blodget called up still more serious reflec-
tions. Hitherto, her husband could offer as good
an excuse as the best of them for these evening
raids upon places of public resort ; but now he
stood without any, and if the habit should grow
upon him, and be confirmed into evil courses, the
offence would lie with her.
Some inexperienced young wives, full of good
intentions, " a wife's influence," and " a husband's
duty," would have hesitated but a short time in
using all the feminine artillery at command in-
junctions, entreaties, tears, reproaches and all
with a sincere desire for the real good of their
husbands, and to discharge their own wifely duty ;
but there are dangerous rocks in these rapids of
reform, and she must be a skilful pilot who ven-
THE STOCKS. 19
tures upon them. Mrs. Cooper had all these mo-
tives to influence her ; but she knew that, in order
to make the desired change and progress rtal, it
must be built upon a stable foundation of taste
and principle, and not hurried into by importu-
nity, or a desire to please her.
The young wife's face had a weary, anxious
look, not pleasant to behold so early in married
life. It was not selfishness or caprice that actu-
ated her, but an earnest feeling that now was a
perilous turning-point in her husband's character,
and that her influence would be responsible for
the result.
The little time-piece on the mantel ticked
loudly in the stillness of the room ; the cold wind
came, and shook the blinds. The new book had
not been reopened, and she had no heart to touch
the keys of her open piano, the only "old, familiar
face in her new home.
"I wonder how many such evenings I must
spend this winter," she thought, bitterly, for she
began to have an undefined fear that her marriage
had been " a leap in the dark " to end in disap-
pointment. "With all her earnest thinking, she as
20 THE COOPERS.
yet had found no clue to the labyrinth. Left only
to her own influence, she had no fears, but where
would these perpetual interruptions and counter-
acting influences end !
" I wish I could crotchet, or cared for fancy-
work, like other girls ; I always despised it as
such a waste of time ; but people get so absorbed
in it ; I don't suppose I should know whether
Murray was at home or not then, but I never did
any thing of the sort, not even a pair of slippers."
The fire-light, or the warm glow of the drapery,
seemed to brighten her face presently, and the
book to her regained its original charm ; that she
had arrived at some conclusion was evident, and
that she had great faith, or at least hope, in what
she had decided on, was not to be doubted.
Yet Mrs. Cooper began her reforms by having
a secret from her husband, the first thing she had
voluntarily kept back. "We do not excuse her for
this breach of confidence, for the first article in
our matrimonial creed is, that without the utmost
frankness on both sides, there can be no lasting
happiness in so close a friendship ; nevertheless,
her heart did not condemn her, though she put
THE STOCKS. 21
on her bonnet with a little tremor the morning
that she started out on her mysterious errand,
and went back for her bine barege veil, after she
was fairly out of the house. A needless caution,
for her unsuspecting husband was at his busy
post in the Marine Bank, with scarcely time to
remember her existence until three o'clock should
release him.
And, on her return, more mystery. The cham-
bermaid, coining with clean towels, found the
door locked on the inside, and Mrs. Cooper's face
so flushed when it was opened, that she remarked
to the young lady on the next floor, that she
guessed " some people could blow each other up
as well as others ! " Her husband noticed, from
the opposite side of the street when he came
home, that the blinds were drawn down, and
sprang up the steps with a quicker bound than
usual, fearful of some sudden illness or unlocked
for misfortune. She was wiser next day, and re-
membered how impossible it was for a person on
the side-walk to see into a third story window.
Once it happened that the unsuspicious hus-
22 THE COOPERS.
band was on the very point of discovering how
abuse and misplaced his confidence had been.
It was a dull December evening, and he had
not found "the boys" so entertaining as usual;
so, bethinking himself of " Matty," and the fresh
pecan-nuts in the side-closet, his wandering steps
were turned home two hours earlier than usual.
The atmosphere was damp, and the shop-win-
dows lighted the slippery pavement indifferently
through the blur of mist and darkness. The re-
turning husband withdrew, turtle-wise, into the
friendly depths of his coat-collar, and thought
how stupid he was to expose himself to such dis-
agreeable surroundings when his own parlor was
always so pleasant, and his wife the most enter-
taining and agreeable companion he had ever
met, if she was his wife.
" That's because she reads so much, I suppose.
She can talk over the news of the day as sensibly
as any body at ' Bob's/ and seems to take an in-
terest. I hate a woman who shuts you up always
on foreign news, and expects you to talk millinery
and gossip. She manages to pick up a great deal
more out of the papers than I have time to ; that
THE STOCKS. 23
was a very interesting thing she read out of
Household "Words last night just the sort of
thing I like ; I wonder how she knew it. I
should go to sleep in ten minutes over one of
your regular love stories. Wouldn't I like to
have a wife like Joe Draper's, always telling him
where to go, and when to come home ! I'd show
her ! " and, finding himself nearing a familiar
lamp-post at this emphatic break in his soliloquy,
he wound up with a species of penitence, by no
means an unfamiliar sensation, at leaving his wife
so much alone, mixed with a sudden recollection
and admiration of the amiable way in which she
bore such desertions.
"You are home very early to-night. I did
not expect you for two hours at least," was not
exactly the surprised and delighted greeting which
he had promised himself.
He could not see how she had been employed,
either, to take his absence and arrival so coolly.
There was not so much as a book on the table be-
fore her, when he opened the door ; she sat bolt
upright on the lounge, doing nothing at all, but
her cheeks were flushed, and her manner a little
24: THE COOPERS.
nervous. However, the chill went off presently,
with that of the outer atmosphere, and Mrs.
Cooper exerted herself most successfully to enter-
tain her unlooked-for husband.
]New- Year's morning ; and the ever lavish
Murray Cooper presented his wife with an ele-
gantly wrought bracelet, receiving a cigar-stand
in return. It was a very pretty bronze trifle, and
looked extremely well on the etagere ; but, for all
that, he was disappointed. It was what anybody
might have given him, and somehow he had ex-
pected more thought from his wife ; but he smoth-
ered his injured feelings under a plentiful break-
fast, and started on his round of calls in a toilet
that would have done credit to Murray Cooper,
the bachelor.
Reaching home again at night, tired and bored,
sick of the confectionery and champagne, the oys-
ters and boned turkey he had surfeited himself
with, out of politeness, in the course of the day,
he indulged in certain fervent wishes that "every-
body had been there, and he should find Matty
and a cup of hot coffee alone."
He found the table laid in the morning for
THE STOCKS. 25
visitors, cleared of its debris, and his wife still in
her best dress ; and her best looks, though she
had counted fifty-one calls, brewing the coffee in a
pretty French urn, with the tete-a-t^te set belong-
ing to it neatly arranged for his benefit, more
than that, a dressing-gown aired itself leisurely
before the fire, and appeared to be contemplating
with evident approval, a pair of slippers that it
was destined to see a great deal of.
" Holla, Matty," he ejaculated, arrested in the
midst of a matrimonial salute by the sight of this
unexpected array. " "Who sent 'em to me ? Where
did the dressing-gown come from ? Just what I
wanted ; I never had one in my life. Singular,
isn't it ? when I've had 'most every thing ! "
" I don't know when you ever had any use for
one," responded Mrs. Murray, making herself very
busy in the removal of wrappers, and suggesting
that it might as well be tried on at once.
Never was a first ball-dress considered more
becoming ! Mr. Cooper stood still for his wife to
turn down the cuffs to precisely the proper point,
tightened the handsome cord and tassels with es-
pecial unction, and thrust a fresh white handker-
26 THE COOPERS.
chief into the breast-pocket as he marched toward
the pier-glass admiringly.
"Splendid fit ! Very neat pattern, not too
showy, just right ! I hate any thing too exten-
sive, like Sam's now, red flowers on a bright yel-
low ground. Silk lining, too ; no sham about it ! "
and he slapped his fine broad chest, inclosed in
this admirable dressing-gown, with a heartiness
pleasant to behold. " And those slippers ; just
hand them here, will you, Matty ? But where in
the world did these things come from ? "
" Better try them on, too," suggested Matty,
likewise radiant with satisfaction ; " and then I'll
tell you."
The damp, mud-splashed boots were kicked off
unceremoniously ; and, walking to the rug, the
unconscious man deliberately set his feet into the
snare !
" Deep blue, what's that on the toe ? a puss
curled up to sleep, remarkably well done, quite
catty / out with it, they came by express from
Baltimore, and you've kept the secret. High time
the girls remembered they had a brother. Why
they haven't sent me a pair of slippers for two
THE STOCKS. 27
years before, and I used to have them every birth-
day, and New- Year's."
" You really like them ? "
" Easy as an old shoe ; wonderful guess at my
size. Like them ? To be sure I do. I only wish
you'd worked them for me, Matty," and his voice
sank into a more tender cadence as he stooped
down and patted her head, while she still knelt on
the hearth-rug.
" "Well, I did, Murray, every stitch," she said,
with a sudden trembling in her voice that she felt
very much ashamed of, and tried to control.
"You? "Why I thought you said you had
never worked a pair in your life, and hated worsted
work beyond measure ; I thought of asking you
to do me a pair, only I remembered that."
" I never did," said his wife, not unwillingly
encircled by his arm, and accepting his kiss of
thanks. " I made such blunders ! I worked so
hard, and had to shut myself up, you know, for
fear you would find out and spoil all. Don't you
remember one night you came home early, and
found me doing nothing ? "Well, I only had time
to throw my canvas and worsteds under the table ;
28 THE COOPERS.
and there they lay until next morning, before I
could get a chance to put them away without
your seeing me. I was so afraid you would drop
something that evening, or find out somehow I "
" By ! I beg your pardon, Matty," Mur-
ray broke out, suddenly ; " but if you only knew
how much more I think of these slippers because
you never worked a pair for any body else !
Regular beauties, ain't they ? " And, seated in
his own lounging-chair, he elevated his feet ad-
miringly on the background of the black marble
mantel.
******
" Going round awhile ? " inquired the highly
original and entertaining Mr. Blodget, one windy
evening towards spring.
Mr. Blodget was unaltered by the course of
time, except that the ends of his cravat " flared "
in an extremely demonstrative manner, instead of
being gathered into the subdued and rather re-
served bow which fashion demanded when we
first made his acquaintance.
" No, thank you, Mrs. Cooper ; only looked
in ; couldn't think of sitting down."
THE STOCKS. 29
" I guess you'd better," said his friend, lazily ;
" you might find worse quarters such a night as
this. Seems to me I did promise Joe to look in
awhile, but I guess I won't ; ifs too much trouble
to put on my boots"
His wife glanced up, and down again as quickly
to her work ; but he caught the peculiar smile of
meaning that she could not repress.
The domesticated husband began to have a
faint glimmering of the truth ; but he did not
return the look.
" Did it ever occur to you, Sam," said he, ad-
dressing himself deliberately and exclusively to
his visitor, " that slippers might be regarded in the
light of man-traps ? "
" Never ! " returned the unconscious Blodget.
" Really, I can't say that they ever did ! Quite
an idea, ain't it, though ? Remarkably handsome
ones those of yours."
CHAPTEK H.
FINDING THE LEAK.
" HOME'S home, isn't it, now ? " said Mr. Murray
Cooper, complacently, as he seated himself at an
inviting supper-table, and admired his wife sitting
opposite to him busied with the tray. Mrs. Cooper
was by no means intended for a burning and shin-
ing light in society, but she made a very pleasant
and mellow radiance, so to speak, in the more
limited circle of her own fireside. And though it
was " a furnished house " which she had at length
persuaded her husband to take as an experiment,
she enjoyed the relief from the publicity of board-
ing, and the complete change in Mr. Cooper's
habits, which time had wrought, aided by her
prudent tact. Perhaps the advent of the young
gentleman asleep in the little nursery up stairs
had something to do with it.
Mr. Cooper had " tastes " and a precedent for
FINDING THE TVRATT. 31
all his likings and aversions in some of the dis-
tinguished family of which he was a member.
The " Murray " was a family name, and his soul
aspired to the scale of living to which it belonged ;
but his means were several thousand a year short
of its gratification. Indeed, if Mrs. Cooper had
not been practical in an extreme degree, and ex-
perienced, as to the value of money in itself con-
sidered, it is doubtful whether they could have got
on at all. The recklessness with which her husband
assumed matrimonial charge and responsibility,
and the style in which his bachelor expenditures
had been conducted, were rather alarming to one
who had always had need to calculate ways and
means closely. For Mrs. Cooper, though very
proud of her family in a certain way, was only a
Smith Martha Smith ; and it is well known that
the Smiths cannot subsist upon their name and
connections as a Murray or a Cooper might do.
Poverty among the Coopers was being well
dressed living in a large house, waited on by
plenty of servants, but always troubled by an ac-
cumulation of liabilities. Still, as Mr. Cooper,
Sen., often remarked, "people must live," by
32 THE COOPERS.
which he meant that Tie must, whatever became
of the tradesmen he employed. Poverty, as
known to the Smiths, included self-denial, indus-
try, and a great many " wants reduced to must
haves," before they were satisfied. The younger
branches of the Bird Coopers, the De Lancy Coop-
ers, and the Griswold Murrays looked down upon
their cousin as having sunk several degrees in the
social scale when he left one room in the third
story of a fashionable city boarding-house for the
whole of a small but comfortable house beyond
Seventh Avenue, whereas, inasmuch as he man-
aged, with his wife's oversight, to live somewhere
within the range of his income, and paid for most
of the clothes he wore and the food he ate, some
unprejudiced persons might have ranked him as
morally in the ascendant.
Literally, Mrs. Cooper did not know where to
commence her financial experiments when her
husband's idiosyncrasy as to money matters first
was made apparent, which was not until a mother's
duties had been added to a wife's cares ; but
she came to the conclusion that the starting-
point of charity was a good place to commence
FINDING THE LEAK. 33
enforcing its respectable relative, economy, and so
began with her own personal expenditures.
Her husband had a few prejudices to overcome
before he could be induced to set aside the ex-
tremely modest amount she proposed from his
salary. " He didn't believe in an allowance.
What was the good in knowing what you spent ?
It did'nt make it any less, and, in fact, it was de-
cidedly uncomfortable to be posted on the subject.
He never had an allowance ; the girls and mother
never had one. No ; they always got whatever
they chose, and the bills were sent to the store.
It wasn't their business when they were paid. To
be sure, the governor always grumbled when they
came in, and threatened all sorts of things, but
nobody ever minded."
" But / should," interposed the governor's
daughter-in-law. " I would have gone without,
first and would now, rather than see you worried.
It's a great deal better to know just what you can
afford to get ; only try it, Murray, or let me, for
baby and myself. If you only knew how I hate
to say, ' charge it ! ' '
" Poh, poh, Martha, I didn't think you were
2*
34 THE COOPERS.
such a goose ! Why, most women would jump
at it. I never had an ' expense-book,' as you call
it, since I was born. Books are bothers enough
at the bank. Who always wants to be marching
up a column of figures, and ruminating on a ' sum
total,' except it's a balance in one's favor, which I
believe I never yet have had the pleasure of expe-
riencing. When I have the money, you're wel-
come to it, you know that. These private purses
make a wife altogether too independent. They
are the very I beg your pardon, the mischief,
you know ! "
" But suppose," said Mrs. Cooper, " I should
wish to make my husband another present, how
unsentimental it would sound ! ' My love, please
give me ten dollars to buy you a gold pencil ! ' or
to have my nice little siirprise spoiled by the bill
being presented beforehand at the office ! or, hav-
ing to manage Mrs. Green's fashion, and take
what 1 wanted from your pocket, little by little,
after you were asleep at night ! To be sure, you
never would miss it."
" Now, that's rather hard on a fellow, Martha,
after all my reforms ! Don't I even stop in an
FINDING THE LEAK. 35
omnibus to count change ? Haven't I done won-
ders in not bringing home all sorts of things, you
know ? I'll bet you two to one "
" I never bet, recollect," interrupted Mrs. Mur-
ray, in a grave tone that belied the mischief of
her smile at the idea of her husband's reforms !
" Well, I wouldn't be afraid to that I can tell
to a dot every cent I've got about me to-night."
"Suppose I agree to give up the allowance
if you can ? " suggested the unbelieving help-
mate.
" Done ! " And the porte-monnaie was drawn
forth triumphantly. It so happened that a little
boot-bill of two or three years' standing had been
presented that evening, which had caused an in-
spection of cash on hand, ending in an invitation
the collector was perfectly accustomed to to call
again.
" There's two fives Butcher & Drover's do
you see ? and a ten, Rhode Island money, a three
and a one, and seventy-five cents in change. No
allowance carries the day, madam."
" Not quite so close. I can see ; and bank notes
never are quite Cologne. Now suppose you look
in your pockets."
36 THE COOPEKS.
u Oh, I'm quite cured of that ! no more change
lying around loose. '
Two of these convenient receptacles emptied
presented only a knife, pencil, two small screws,
and a box of leads. In the breast pocket of his
coat the hand made a sudden pause.
Mrs. Cooper was in turn triumphant, as she saw
a flush of discomposure rise to her husband's face.
" Stupid ! oh, I remember now the change at
Delmonico's for my lunch, you know ! " And the
discomforted man drew forth two cigars, a gold
dollar, a bill, and some small change.
This was the history of the allowance, impor-
tant, since, from its practical working, Mr. Cooper
first began to understand a faint glimmer of the
important truth, " a penny saved is twopence
got ; " and, as is often common with enthusiastic
minds, he plunged into reforms on his own account
to a most alarming extent.
This was, after their essay at housekeeping,
Mi*s. Cooper's plan again, though he often ignored
that fact, and congratulated himself on the bril-
liant idea.
He gave up smoking for two months and a
FINDING THE LEAK. 37
half ; then had a few cigars some one had given
him down town ; afterwards a bunch of some
choice brand, Loper, a friend of his, who was in
the business, had desired him to try ; and finally
a half box was smuggled in quietly, and replaced
at intervals. He wore really shabby clothes
through the hot weather, but brought home a
choice assortment of white jean, Marseilles, and a
fancy check suit, the very last three days of Sep-
tember heat. He undertook self-shaving in the
most virtuous manner, and annoyed Mrs. Cooper
three days in the week by forgetting to do so, and
presenting quite too stiff an upper lip to please
any one neat almost to fastidiousness. He talked
a great deal about table economy, inspected the
ash heap to see that the cook threw away no avail-
able lump of coal, and even was accustomed to
inquire " what had become of that beef bone,"
having heard accidentally that a good family soup
might be made of a beef bone with a few vege-
tables. In fact, these last symptoms had grown very
troublesome, and Mrs. Cooper began to wish most
devoutly that Murray would " let her keep house,"
as was her lawful right, and even suggested that,
38 THE COOPERS.
if he would give the reins entirely into her hands,
she would undertake to drive safely through the
year's losses and expenses. She had failed in con-
verting him to one of her principal doctrines,
however, that of paying ready money for every
thing. July and January were still rendered
miserable by the successive arrival of yellow
envelops, known at once by their having no post-
mark and the extreme briefness of their address.
They always gave her a headache, for she knew
precisely the effect they would produce when her
husband caught sight of them, no matter how
amiable or cheerful he might be at the moment.
This very evening, when Mr. Cooper so emphati-
cally pronounced " home to be home " and in-
deed it looked so in the bright neatness of her
household ways, and especially in contemplation
of the well-spread supper-table, at which they
were seated his wife was inwardly disquieted by
knowing that her own hands would be obliged to
" put rancor in the vessel of his peace " by bring-
ing forth the grocer's half-yearly account, at the
amount of which she had not ventured to glance.
"Now, what shall I do for your comfort or
FINDING THE LEAK. 39
amusement this evening, old lady ? " inquired
this really devoted Benedict, as he bit off the
end of a cigar, and fumbled behind an engraving
by Landseer for the niatch-box, that he always
insisted on having there, just where he could
reach it.
" There's the paper but that I've read ; and
I looked through ' Harper ' as I came along.
Shall I crack some nuts ? That reminds me that
I must get one of those patent-lever nut-crackers.
I saw one at Smith's to-day, and a gridiron, the
most complete arrangement you ever saw for do-
ing a steak catches the smoke and the gravy at
the same time."
" How much was it ? You know ours came
with the stove, and isn't two years old yet."
" Oh, a dollar or so, I suppose a mere trifle.
Must you sew to-night ? Always that everlasting
work-basket ! "Why don't you have a seamstress ?
How much would it cost now to have all that
pile sewed up for once ? "
" A dollar or so," retorted Mrs. Murray, play-
fully ; and, as she drew out her thimble and
40 ' THE COOPEE8.
x
needle-book, the grocer's communication was dis-
covered on top of her work-box.
" Had any letters to-day ? who is that from ?
I say, Matty, suppose we should begin to think of
a little place in the country, next spring ? Law-
ton was talking about that lot on the bend of the
Bronx, you know, again, to-day." And two or
three satisfactory puffs filled up a short pause, as
Mr. Cooper threw himself back in his own par-
ticular easy chair. " "We must have saved some-
thing this year towards it, you're such an indus-
trious little woman, and deserve to have a house
of your own, and every thing nice about you, if
anybody does. Whom did you say that was
from ? It's time you heard from your aunt, isn't
it?" And a hand was stretched past her, as,
with the most complacent air, Mr. Cooper pos-
sessed himself of the missive.
His wife's spirits had gradually been sinking
since the opening of her work-box. She knew
perfectly well that she was considered as respon-
sible for every item of the account, as if each
barrel of flour and pound of coffee had been pur-
chased for her sole individual benefit. Mr. Coop-
FINDING THE LEAK. 4:1
er's face, clouded with the direction of the letter,
darkened with breaking open the envelop ; the
storm burst with his first glance at the sum total.
" A hundred and fifteen dollars ! did you see
that, Martha ? a hundred dollars and over, when
it ought not to have been thirty-five, with all I
paid in July. "What in the world did you order
when I was away in the fall ? I never had these
things charged."
" Only what was necessary."
" Necessary ! 1 should think so, with all the
waste that goes on in that kitchen. I wish you'd
see after your cook, Martha, as I've told you a
hundred times. It would be a great deal cheaper
to put out this everlasting sewing, and attend to
your house a little more."
" I try to do both," said Mrs. Cooper, mildly,
bending before the gust, as it were, knowing it to
be inevitable.
" Try ! yes, I dare say ; it looks like it, with
all the bread ./see thrown out enough to feed a
dozen poor families. Three barrels of flour ! no
wonder."
" There is quite half of the last one yet."
42 THE COOPEE8.
" And sugar and coffee ; don't tell me. There's
Lawton says they use only a half barrel of white
sugar every year. His wife does her jelly in
coffee crushed."
So had Mrs. Cooper until she found that it was
cheaper to use that which did not need refining,
and her husband never thought he could touch
mutton or game without currant-jelly, and had
almost a juvenile fondness for sweetmeats of every
description. She knew perfectly well what be-
came of the sugar.
. " And butter yes, it's the butter. How much
do you think we've had since October ? " said her
husband, presently, with the air of a virtuous
judge condemning a criminal found guilty in
every point of an indictment. " I told you Ann
wasted butter from the first. How can you ex-
pect we shall ever get along in the world, Martha,
if you don't see after your servants ? What's the
use of my denying myself every thmg ? for Mr.
Cooper here recollected a cane, a pair of fur-lined
gloves, and a fancy travelling-cap that he had
severally dismissed from his thoughts in the most
resolute manner "every thing, I may say, for
FINDING THE LEAK. 43
your sake and the boy's, if this is the way you are
to go on."
It was certainly an unexpected amount to Mrs.
Cooper, who, invariably economical, thought she
had been especially careful the last six months.
She was very sorry. It was hard when she too
could enumerate self-denials of time and patience,
and had braved cross looks, and spoiled dinners,
and " warnings," with a house full of company, in
the inspection of Ann's closets and safes, and re-
peated rebukes and corrections of her carelessness.
There was nothing she shrank from so much as an
approach to meanness, or being considered so by
others. Perhaps it was her own special weakness,
this dread ; but even that she tried to put down
in doing a housekeeper's duty faithfully.
Her husband, not in the least pacified by her
admission that " it might have been the butter,"
replaced the bill in its envelop with the air of a
man whose substance is " wasted by riotous liv-
ing," and sent it skimming on to the table to the
floor, indeed, under the lounge, where his wife
found it in dusting the next morning. She was
rather heavy hearted, for the evening, which
44 THE COOPERS.
promised so much, closed very uncomfortably, she
stitching away in silence, and her husband, de-
clining to amuse himself or be entertained, gloom-
ed over the fire, after his cigar was finished, and
stalked ofi' to bed an hour earlier than usual.
" Really I cannot understand it. I thought I
had been so very careful. I don't wonder Murray
is discouraged ; and yet I don't see how I could
have done without any thing we have had."
Mrs. Cooper laid down her duster, and opened
the uncomfortable account. It was a very " long
face," and a very perplexed one that the opposite
mirror reflected ; but it brightened visibly before
she had finished her inspection of the various
items, and her cheerfulness haji entirely returned,
even to gayety, before she had finished copying
off some of them on a sheet by themselves. If she
had made any discoveries, she kept them to herself
that evening ; but, when her husband hung up
his overcoat at the bank in which he was teller
the next day, and felt in the outside pocket for a
clean handkerchief, he found with it a note, in his
wife's handwriting, addressed to himself.
It was odd. Perhaps he had been too hasty
FINDING THE LEAK. 4:5
in condemning her, or too severe rather, consider-
ing how very fond she was of him, and how she
felt even a word. Poor child ! He would over-
look it, this once ; and so he broke the seal.
He thought it was another bill, at first glance,
and that she had been afraid to give it to him
after his late outburst ; but it was in his wife's
handwriting, and headed
"WASTE" FOE 1856!
1 bottle of brandy, $1 25
1 box of cigars, 4 50
1 gallon of brandy, 5 00
1 demijohn, 1 00
1 box of cigars, 4 20
1 case of claret, 5 00
1 gallon of Sherry wine, 6 00
1 box of cigars, 4 50
1 box of cigars, 4 20
$35 65
He could not understand it at all at first ; but, as
he glanced at the dates, each one made it clearer
and clearer. Really he could not have believed
that these little " stores," laid in, from time to
time, for himself and a friend or so, who was ac-
4:6 THE COOPERS.
customed to " drop in," could amount to so much.
Mrs. Cooper did not drink brandy, or Sherry wine,
or smoke cigars, so the " waste" lay at his own
door after all.
Mrs. Cooper, sitting by the front window, at
twelve o'clock, saw an errand boy arrive with a
return dispatch. It was very short, but quite to
the point.
" DEAR WIFE : I own up. Sold !
Yours truly,
MURRAY COOPER.'
CHAPTEE HI.
. ? 5
"FETCH" AND CABBY.
The dog that will fetch -will cany. Old Proverb.
IT is not to be supposed that we labor under
the delusion common among fond parents in re-
garding any of our heroines perfect.
Mrs. Murray Cooper was industrious and
cheerful, and, as far as she knew how to be, eco-
nomical ; but she had her own human weakness.
When she commenced housekeeping, she had
still every thing to learn. Conscious of this fact,
and that her sway as Miss Smith had been con-
fined almost entirely to the unruly urchins of her
aunt's nursery, she was afraid of her servants,
and occasionally altogether too yielding and con-
ciliating for their relative position of mistress and
maid. She dreaded open insubordination ; she
dreaded change ; she believed that her household
\*/
48 THE COOPEES.
kingdom would go to ruins if Ann, the cook, should
leave her, and shut her eyes entirely to Julia's de-
linquencies, though fretted daily by the neglect of
her duties as combined nurse and chambermaid,
which she could not avoid feeling if she would
not see.
" Pitchers empty, as usual," said Mr. Cooper,
grasping the handle of the article in question, which
flew up in his hand, as light weight always will.
" Oh, I am so sorry ! Here, let me get it for
you." And Mrs. Cooper knotted her dressing-
gown about her waist, and twisted up the long
hair she had just brushed free of every tangle.
" Indeed, you'll do no such thing ! Ring in
Julia, and blow her up. It's an every-day matter
now. I wonder you "
" But Johnny has been so wakeful all day ;
and it's washing-day, too, you know, and she has
to help Ann."
"Julia!" shouted Mr. Cooper over the ban-
isters, unheeding the interrupt! ve apology for what
was by no means a casual neglect.
From below came up a great sound of kitchen
merriment, where Julia was promoting the health
"FETCH" AND CARRY. 49
of Master Johnny by letting him stifle in the
smoke from the mutton-chops broiling and drip-
ping over the fire, and rattling two nutmegs in
a pint measure to keep him quiet, while she gos-
siped with the cook.
" My dear Murray ! here, Murray ; there was
plenty of water in the nursery,' said Mrs. Cooper,
in a tremor, lest Julia, by any accidental pause,
should hear, and so receive a piece of her hus-
band's present mind.
" "Well, if you will wait on your girls, it's none
of my business ; only, I say, Martha, don't let it
happen again ; and row her up well this time.
Here she comes. Let's hear you now."
Mr. Cooper being perfectly aware of his wife's
deficiency of Commander-in-chief qualities, sub-
sided into good-humor at having her thus cor-
nered.
The nurse, a stout, careless-looking girl,
sauntered lazily into the room with the child in
her arms.
Mr. Cooper gave his wife a quizzical look
from behind the towel, which said : " Go on ; have
it over with," as plain as print.
3
50 THE COOPERS.
" Julia," began Mrs. Murray, with an unusual
dash of resolution in her tone.
The girl turned with a stare of impertinent
wonder.
" Oh, dear, if she should walk off and leave
me ! JohnDy never will let me get him to sleep ;
and I don't know any thing about his food,"
thought Johnny's unpractised mother.
" The pitcher was not filled to-night ; " the
tone was considerably more quavering "don't
let it happen again." Meekness herself could not
have spoken more mildly than the concluding
sentence was uttered. Mr. Cooper hurried down
stairs to prevent an explosion of laughter. The
girl did not reply, but began getting out the
child's night-clothes with a sullen air of offended
dignity, which made her mistress thoroughly un-
comfortable.
<( I do wish Murray would not mind things as
he does. I'm sure I'm willing to wait on myself,
or him either, for that matter. I declare I never
will speak to Julia again ! I wish she was more
amiable."
" "Well, my dear, what a blast it was ! " greeted
"FETCH" AND CABRY. 51
her as she entered the dining-room. " Really, I
wonder the poor creature bore up under it. You
should have been a man, and a sea-captain at that.
What splendid discipline you would keep ! "
" I don't see any use in lecturing an hour for
a trifling forgetfulness," retorted Mrs. Cooper,
crossly. It was a sore point between them ; and
what with her husband's toilet interrupted for
want of water the third time within a week, the
girl's unpardonable neglect and annoying imper-
tinence, she was on the verge of downright ill-
humor.
" You are only making yourself more trouble."
" I don't think so at all. I should have trouble
enough if she left me. You never would find
anybody else so devoted to Johnny."
" Fiddlestick ! "
" She has him in her arms from morning till
night. Sometimes it 's four o'clock before she
gets a chance to finish our room."
" So much the worse. Will you ring for din-
ner, Martha ? just because she likes to shoulder
him musket fashion, and walk around, rather than
do her work. He's altogether too large to be
52 THE COOPERS.
nursed as he is. He never will walk at this rate.
Russel says his baby can go all around the room,
holding on by the chairs ; and it's a month
younger."
" And a girl. Girls are always more forward
than boys."
" But Johnny does not even try to creep."
" I trust he never will ruining all his clothes
on the floor ! "
" How will he ever get the use of his limbs, if
he doesn't ? Do be reasonable, Martha ; you know
the old proverb a man must creep before he can
walk. Come, now, don't get blue, only be de-
cided ; be a little more firm, that's all I ask of
you ; you will got along a great deal better. Dear
knows, I've no wish to deprive you of such a daily
comfort and blessing as the devoted Julia ! "
Mrs. Cooper knew in her heart that she was
nothing of the kind ; on the contrary, " smoke to
the eyes, and vinegar to the teeth " would have
been more truly descriptive. But, though she
chafed at daily and hourly trials of temper, she
had not the courage to rid herself of the cause.
The young person in question took the trouble
"FETCH" AND CAKKY. 53
off of her hands by giving most unexpected and
inconvenient "notice." It is quite remarkable
with what nicety domestics always hit the busiest
and most preoccupied moment for giving "a
warning." In the midst of house-cleaning, pick-
ling, and preserving, Miss Julia settled upon her
wedding-day, and walked off with Patrick to the
priest, where she had the pleasure of paying her
own marriage fee, a cheerful omen of the abun-
dance and comfort she might expect for the future.
But Patrick was out of employment, and had
been for a month ; and another noticeable fact in
Milesian customs and manners is, that this is the
time they usually prefer in which to insist on
taking their betrothed from a comfortable home,
and good wages, to pay the way, as long as it lasts,
with her savings ; fortune-hunting below stairs,
and perhaps not more reprehensible than on the
larger scale with which one meets it in society.
Mrs. Cooper had very little sympathy from her
husband., when she met him at the door with her
doleful intelligence.
" Right in the middle of the day ! our room
all in disorder not even the bed made ; and
54: THE COOPEES.
Johnny just waking up as cross as possible after
the many times I've put myself out on her ac-
count ! Why, I've done half the work myself to
keep peace, ever since she has been here ! "
" Exactly what you might expect for having
done so."
" But what am I to do now f "
" Good fish in the sea as ever were brought to
Fulton Market, my love."
It was finally arranged that Mr. Cooper should
dine down town so as to give the cook leisure to
see after Master Johnny, next day: while Mrs.
Cooper, with the Herald as her chart, should go
on a voyage of discovery. She set out, feeling
more than bereaved ; she returned flushed with
success ; for once, fortune had favored her ; and
Julia's successor was already engaged to come the
following morning.
" She's just as neat as Julia was careless."
" How do you know ? " inquired Mr. Cooper,
incredulous, but glad to have the matter so quickly
disposed of. He had expected at least a week of
search and lamentation.
"FETCH" AND CAKKY. 55
" How ? By her dress, of course. She was
dressed as well as I am."
" Very unsuitably for her position, then, I
should say."
" "Well, not so good materials, of course ; not
so expensive, perhaps ; but the effect was just the
same ; and she had velvets in her hair, really quite
stylish."
" Oh ! "
" That's nothing, I'm sure ; every body wears
velvets now."
" Then I should take mine out, if I were you."
" Don't be provoking, Murray ! I wish you
could have seen her ; and she's a girl of such good
education and manners. She was boarding, you
know, and there lay her testament and prayer-
book on the table. Only think how fortunate, we
are to have a communicant in our own church !
That was in the advertisement, and what made
me notice it first. Don't you think we are very
fortunate to find a girl of such good principles ? "
" That doesn't always follow. How about her
recommendations ? "
56 THE COOPERS.
" Oh, that's the best of all ! She has always
lived with her mother, and sewed, you know ? "
" I didn't know it before."
" Well, she has ; and has never lived out but
in one place ; and whom do you think she lived
with ? Mrs. Miller."
" Charlie Miller's wife ? You don't tell me
so ! She wouldn't say any thing but the truth to
help along any girl in Christendom. What did
she say ? "
" I believe you think Mrs. Miller perfection.
It's very strange she never took the trouble to call
on your wife. Going to the same church, too ! "
There was a slight shade of pique in this re-
mark, for Mrs. Miller was both stylish and fash-
ionable ; and, though Mrs. Murray admired her
greatly at a distance, and would have been de-
lighted to exchange visits, a bow was the utmost
civility that had ever passed between them. Mr.
Cooper had known her well in his bachelor days,
for she belonged to the circle in which he then re-
volved.
" But what did she say of what's her name,
Lucy ? "
"FETCH" AND CAREY. 57
" Yes, Lucy ; it's so refined after the Bridgets
and Anns I had seen. Oh, she had no written
character, as they call it, for she left there when
very ill ! Otherwise, Mrs. Miller never would
have parted with her, she says ; and she never
thought to get her to write one afterwards."
" So you had to call on Mrs. Miller first, after
all! Good!"
" Indeed, I did not ! "
" You have not engaged her without inquiring
her character ? "
" Certainly I have. If you could have seen
her, so modest and well-bred, and such a good
seamstress, you would have done so too. Why, I
felt as if it was an insult to her, asking for a refer-
ence ! But I always do when engaging a girl. It
is as much as to say I doubt their word, poor
things ! "
" The bank had no such scruples when your
respected husband was required to give a ten thou-
sand dollar bond before he could get the tellership."
" But that was a different thing. You were a
young man when you first went there, and was to
be trusted with money."
3*
58 THE COOPEKS.
" I suppose Johnny is a less precious deposit.
I tell you what, Martha, it seems to me that, if I
was a woman, which I'm thankful I am not, you
know, I'd sooner trust a person with my cash than
my boy. You can do as you please, but I do wish
you would get over this ridiculous notion of hurt-
ing people's feelings. A nice time I should have
with our porter's boy if I stopped to consult his
before I requested him to get a hod of coal, or go
an errand ! "
" I don't believe she'll make her appearance,"
was Mr. Cooper's parting remark, as he stood on
the front door-step, and signalled the omnibus.
Unbelieving to the last. But when his ring was
answered at night by a modest, " genteel," active
girl, such a contrast to the indolent Julia, he could
but give a gracious assent to his wife's inquiry as
to how he liked the change.
"How does she wear?" he inquired, when
handing out her wages at the end of the first
month.
" Better and better. I never have had so
much time to myself since Johnny was born.
She flies through the work, mornings, and has
"FETCH" AND CAREY. 59
him dressed and off for his walk before eleven
o'clock. Lucy thinks it's so much better for chil-
dren to be in the open air. I never could get
Julia to carry him more than a square."
" The devoted Julia ? Is it possible ? "
" You need not commence on that now. She's
gone, poor thing ! and she really was very good
to him. He never will be as fond of Lucy, with
all her coaxing."
" Perhaps she neglects him out of sight. Where
does she take him when she goes out ? "
"Dear me, Murray, I would not be as sus-
picious as you are for the world ! Why, she just
walks with him, of course ! "
" And is gone all the morning ? You needn't
tell me she carries that great, heavy boy all the
morning."
" She goes to Washington Square, I suppose,
and sits down to rest, as all other nurses do. I
should be ashamed to question a girl like her.
Why, just see- how strict she is about going to
church, now she has an opportunity ! Only think !
She says she lived with Mrs. Miller ten months,
and only got to church once. If I was Mrs. Mil-
bU THE COOPERS.
ler, I should stay at home once in a while, and
remember that my girls had souls, as well as my-
self."
" Perhaps she didn't want to go."
"She couldn't get away; they had so much
dinner company. Lucy knows how / feel about
Sunday dinners. For my part, I should much
prefer to have a cold joint. Lucy says there is
hardly a Sunday of their lives that they do not
have two or three gentlemen to dine. Oh, Mur-
ray, I forgot to tell you : she says the Morrisons
came there a great deal. Mrs. Morrison is quite
intimate ; and she has heard her say such things
about other people their acquaintances, you
know, when she has been doing up Mrs. Miller's
room. Girls see a great deal behind the scenes
in families."
Mr. Cooper did not respond, but sat piling the
seven gold dollars on the table before him, and
knocking them down again, with an expression
about his mouth his wife could not exactly under-
stand, when she looked up to see if he heard her.
" Don't you think so ? " she resumed.
" So it seems," he answered, dryly.
"FETCH" AND CAERT. 61
" And Lucy says only think, dear that Mrs.
Miller is one of the most extravagant persons she
ever saw. Such scenes when the bills came in !
I always thought she dressed a great deal. And
there's her sister, Miss Yandervort Mrs. Miller
gives her half she wears, they are so straitened,
for all she holds her head so high. And Mr. Mil-
ler, he's out four evenings out of the week, for all
his wife "
Mrs. Cooper paused abruptly, checked by a
very significant cough from her listener ; and her
face grew scarlet.
"Now, that's what the advertisements call
* Interesting to Ladies,' isn't it ? You seem com-
pletely booked up, Martha. What a very intelli-
gent and observing person Lucy must be, as well
as high principled ! I should think you would be
afraid to have her about your house."
" How so ? " Mrs. Cooper could not see why
they need fear.
" Why, her next mistress will be entertained
with our peculiarities and weak points, that's all.
I suppose you believe this stuff."
62 THE COOPERS.
" I don't see any reason to doubt it, I'm sure.
Lucy isn't one to tell a falsehood."
" I'm not so certain of that."
" You have no reason to speak so," said his
wife, warmly ; " injuring a poor girl's character."
" * Tattle and Fib,' as the children say, are
very near relations." And, to change the sub-
ject, Mr. Cooper fished in his overcoat pocket for
the Evening Express.
" But, Murray, you never will believe any-
body."
" To balance our account, my love, you always
believe everybody. Now, do you suppose Mrs.
Miller would keep a girl ten months from church,
if she showed the least disposition to attend ? "
" I * suppose' only what I'm fold." And Mrs.
Cooper laid a tolerable emphasis on the last word,
indicative of rising mercury in the thermometer of
her temper and disposition. It was not the first
time she had been taken to task for repeating pri-
vate histories of her acquaintances, gleaned from
feminine sources. Mr. Cooper hated personal gos-
sip as he did January bills, which is the strongest
comparison one could make in his case ; and,
"FETCH" AND CARRY. 63
though his wife was not especially inclined that
waj, she sometimes left the law of charity
" thinking no evil " a little out of sight.
" Just take my word for it, Martha I'm very
good-natured to-night cleared the year's rent this
week, by an outside speculation, and I don't want
to be upset if that girl tells you unpleasant things
of Mrs. Miller, she will entertain the next person
that will listen " Mr. Cooper made an expressive
pause "with quite as disagreeable stories of us"
" What could she say ? " Mrs. Cooper was
quite in earnest about it. " I'm sure, dear, there's
nothing goes on in this house but that I should be
willing the whole world should see."
" That's so, through an honest medium ; but
not through smoked glass, Martha! that's the
thing; and just this story has made me suspicious
of Lucy. I haven't half the confidence in her I
had an hour ago ; for I must say I never have
seen any thing in her to find fault with."
In spite of a resolution not to mind it, Mrs.
Cooper herself felt a secret uneasiness from that
moment. She noticed Johnny was far more fret-
ful ; but that was his teeth, Lucy said. He did
64 THE COOPEBS.
not take to her as he had done to Julia ; but then
it was a work of time to wean a child from its
nurse. Sometimes she would hear the fretfulness
suddenly cease, when Lucy was alone with him
in her own room, to be resumed, in a quarter of
an hour or so, more distracting than ever. Johnny
began to droop, and had little appetite for his
bread and milk ; but his sleepless nights did away
with all suspicions of an opiate privately admin-
istered, which a friend kindly suggested. Trifling
discrepancies gradually crept into Miss Lucy's ac-
count of their daily walks, and the touching his-
tory of her own orphanhood, the incidents of
which found a sympathizing listener in her new
mistress. It never had occurred to her to doubt
a word of it heretofore ; and Lucy had been re-
lieved of much drudgery that Julia dragged
through with in the course of the week, because
Mrs. Cooper could not make up her mind to ask
a girl who " really looked as much like a lady as
herself," and "had seen better days," to do it.
She waited on herself more than ever, and was
becoming as much a slave to Lucy's suggestions
"FETCH" AND OAERY. 65
and opinions as she had been to Julia's sullenness,
in spite of her determination to the contrary.
Mr. Cooper, having no such fear before his
eyes, noted various symptoms of human imperfec-
tion in their "all-accomplished maid;" but, though
his wife acknowledged some of them, and felt an
uncomfortable surveillance over herself and }ier
visitors, these new bonds were still harder to
break than the last.
Mr. Cooper, passing through an obscure street,
one morning, to arrive sooner at a friend's count-
ing-house, met him a square's distance from it,
and stopped to discuss the business arrangement
on which he was bent.
" Fifty cents on a dollar ! " said Mr. Allen ;
" well, I'm sorry for poor Brown. I'll see. Just
look at that girl, Cooper ! How little fathers and
mothers know what become of their children out
of sight ! See, that's a gentleman's child, evi-
dently. What a filthy alley he's been taken to.
I've seen her before, though ; she stays by the
hour when she comes ; and of course the mother
thinks the boy is taking the air."
" Taking small-pox, more likely," Mr. Cooper
66 THE COOPERS.
returned, carelessly. But what was his friend's
astonishment to see him spring forward, the next
moment, and snatch the child away, to the girl's
astonishment as well as his own. It was Lucy
who stood before him in speechless confusion,
conscious that, only the day before, she had as-
sured Mrs. Cooper that she never saw an ac-
quaintance from one week's end to another, and
would as soon give him poison as candy, with
which his little thin hand was filled when she so
suddenly encountered his father.
Mr. Cooper had Mr. Allen's unconscious testi-
mony that it was nothing new. He paid her
wages to the day, and discharged her on the spot,
taking Johnny home himself, before she should
come for her trunk, and have an opportunity to
tell her story to his wife.
Contrary to his expectations, Mrs. Cooper
seemed to feel it a relief; and she did indeed
breathe more freely, when the sobbing Lucy had
kissed Master Johnny good-by, and followed her
trunk out of the house.
" Lucy has got a place, ma'am," said Ann, the
cook, a few days after a new girl had been in-
"FETCH" AND CAREY. 67
stalled in the neat little nursery. " I saw her at
the corner, last evenin', ma'am ; an' the lady said
she wouldn't ask any character of such a tidy-
lookin' one. It's a lady as comes here some-
times ; and she lives in Twentieth street, Lucy
says."
" Mrs. Gregory ! " And Mrs. Cooper instantly
felt a secret uneasiness at being served up to Mrs.
Gregory as Mrs. Miller had been to her. " But,
dear me, there's nothing she could say against
us." She had just discovered a secret hoard of
sugar in one of the nursery-drawers, with which
her boy had evidently been coaxed and bribed,
and which accounted for his pallor and loss of
appetite. So she was forced to doubt her late
handmaid in more ways than one.
She met Mrs. Gregory that same afternoon at
Stewart's, and imagined that she was purposely
avoided. "Weeks went by, and her last call in
Twentieth street was still unreturned.
" You have not seen Jane lately, have you 2 "
said a mutual acquaintance and Mrs. Cooper's
most intimate friend, Lizzie Grant, who, worsted-
work in hand, was passing a sociable evening.
68 THE COOPERS.
" No," returned Mrs. Cooper, coldly, hoping in
her heart the subject might be dropped.
" If you won't be vexed, I'll tell you the rea-
son ; now promise."
" I'll promise for her," said her husband. Mrs.
Cooper had devoutly trusted he was safe in the
depths of " John Halifax, Gentleman," when the
conversation began ; but suspecting what was to
follow, he laid down the volume with wonderful
alacrity.
" Why, that pretty girl you used to have here
what was her name ? "
" Lucy," Mrs. Cooper was forced to say.
" Well, she's been telling Jane the most unac-
countable stories she went to her, you know,
from here about you and Mr. Cooper. Yes, in-
deed, you had your share, Mr. Cooper. She said
you kept back her wages, and discharged her on
a moment's notice."
" Half and half," said Mr. Cooper, laughing.
" The last is all correct. I have Allen for witness
that I paid her wages, though."
" But what did she say about me ?"
"Yes, let's have it all, Miss Lizzie. I'll
"FETCH" AND CAREY. 69
share the compliments, Martha; I'm not at all
greedy."
" Oh, that you talked over people with your
servants, and said hard things of them ! "
" How 's that, Martha ? "
" I did say Mrs. Miller ought to have let her
go to church," said the conscience-stricken Mrs.
Cooper.
" Mrs. Miller ? Why, you know how she left
there, don't you ? "
" Yes, she told me ; she was sick."
" Very. So sick that Mrs. Miller refused to
give her a character for helping herself acciden-
tally to Georgie's silver pap-spoon and a French
worked collar that were found in her trunk. Her
brother, Harry Yandervort, happened to tell me
at the time. He and Albert dine there on
Sundays always."
" Horrible woman to have her brothers dine
with her on Sunday ! " said Mr. Cooper, glancing
at his wife.
" They found out she never went to church
while she lived there, though she always made a
point of starting. A perfect little piece of decep-
70 THE COOPERS.
tion ; and I told Jane so when she said Lucy told
her that you neglected Johnny. So I was deter-
mined you should know about it ; for really it's
dreadful to have one's character at the mercy of
such a person."
Mr. Cooper, with remarkable self-denial, for-
bore to say : " I told you so ! " when their visitor
had departed. But his wife never saw Mrs. Miller
or Mrs. Gregory again without having an olden
precept called to mind " "With what judgment
ye judge, ye shall be judged ; and, with what
measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you
again."
CHAPTER IV.
LATINO THE KEEL.
" Every man Is the architect of his own fortune."
" "When we get rich,
Say the bells at Shoreditch."
THERE are some dark days when it seems im-
possible for the best disciplined mind to be serene
and cheerful. Not when heavy misfortunes are to
be borne, for their own measure of strength is
often dealt out by the same loving hand that never
" afflicts or grieves willingly ; " but days when
petty trials raffle the temper, and cloud the spirits ;
when we are not satisfied to let the morrow care
for itself, but heap up the burdens of the present
with gloomy anticipations for the future. If we
could only live up to the divine philosophy that
forbids this useless task-work, as well as assent to
it with a mental acknowledgment of its wisdom,
72 THE COOPERS.
our strength would not so often fail -us, or doubts
of God's good providence cloud our faith.
Mrs. Cooper had gone wearily through such a
day. Her child had been fretfully clinging to her
since morning. Her thimble and scissors were
still lying on a half-finished apron. She had not
been able to set more than a dozen stitches at
once, and now sat rocking her boy, though he had
fallen asleep, too much discouraged to lay him
down, and go about any thing. Even the fire was
dull and choked, obstinately refusing all improve-
ment from blower or fresh coal. The cheerful,
even temper of her girlhood had changed to a
sad variableness of late, as cares and anxieties ac-
cumulated day by day.
It was a very unusual thing for Mr. Cooper to
find his wife not dressed for dinner ; but the dark
afternoon had faded so imperceptibly into twilight,
that she was still indulging in her reverie when
she heard his step in the hall.
" Dear me, Martha ! what's the matter ? John-
ny sick ? " For, as young fathers will, he had a
habit of prognosticating croup from the least
hoarseness, and scarlet fever from the faintest flush.
LAYING THE KEEL. 73
" No," said Mrs. Cooper, in a tone as dreary as
her thoughts. " He 's well enough, only so fretful
that I've scarcely had him out of my arms a
minute. There, Johnny, mother's arms ache.
See, he's bright enough, now you have come."
Mrs. Cooper did not intend to speak complain-
ingly ; but, as every mother knows, children have
a habit of bestowing all their fretfulness and little
ailings on their much-enduring maternal relative,
and brightening into good humor the instant their
father appears. Johnny's nap had quieted and
rested him, so, as he raised his curly little head
and stared about, he was quite ready to smile, in
answer to his father's " Halloo, old boy ! come to
papa."
" He 's well enough ; nothing the matter with
him. You must not let yourself get so nervous,
Martha," said Mr. Cooper, returning from the nur-
sery, whither he had given the young gentleman
a " pig-a-back " ride. The child had gone off in a
provokingly good humor after a hearty romp. It
did not add to Mrs. Cooper's good nature, how-
ever, after all the trouble she had had with him
through the day. She helped the soup in silence,
74 THE COOPEES.
and persisted in thinking she had no appetite,
when her husband noticed that she took none
herself.
" Come, make an effort, Mrs. Chick ; or was it
Mrs. Dombey requested by Mrs. Chick to exert
herself? Headache? eh?"
" ]STo." And Mrs. Cooper nearly choked her-
self with a dry morsel of bread.
Her husband made no further attempt at con-
solation until the table was cleared, when he com-
menced setting things right by giving the fire a
few vigorous pokes, piling on fresh coal, and
nursing it with great perseverance, till a ruddy
glow filled the whole room, and began to thaw
Mrs. Cooper's spirits, and at the same time her
conversational powers.
" I guess it was the fire, wasn't it, Martha ?
1 Fire wouldn't burn the stick,' eh ? " For " Mother
Goose " was a favorite classic with this gentleman,
and, in fact, took the place the Spirit of the Times
had once occupied in his desultory reading.
* Not only fire, but the whole story," said Mrs.
Cooper, brightening up in spite of herself. " It
LAYING THE KEEL. 75
has been one of those days when l pig wouldn't
go,' from beginning to end."
" Tell us the whole story. I know you want
to. Out with it."
"There's not much to tell; but Johnny has
fretted so all day ; and Ellen broke the slop-jar in
our room ; and I find this carpet is going so fast,
the crumb-cloth never will cover it up another
season."
" Well we must have a new one."
" That 's easy to say ; fcut you know Mr.
Brown never would get one ; and there 's no use
of our doing it when we may not live here another
year, and have a room the carpet would not suit
at all. That's the worst of living in a furnished
house. Things will give out, and you are all the
time having to buy."
"That's a fact, Mrs. Cooper; but you would
keep house, recollect. We paid enough last year,
with the rent, for the furniture, and buying things,
to furnish a house of our own."
" But you know I proved to you that, after all,
it did not cost any more than to board, and have
to dress, and put out washing, and all that."
T6 THE COOPERS.
" Yes ; but if we owned the furniture, that two
hundred could be laid by ; and we shouldn't mind
getting things so much. It seems all out of pocket
now ; for, if we should go to boarding again, there
be such a lot of traps no kind of use."
" I never want to board again, and trust we
never shall," said Mrs. Cooper, fervently. " I
had enough of li ving for other people, year before
last ; and Johnny never could bear being shut up
in one room, after having had the run of the
house."
" Don't you wish we had a nice little place of
our own ? "
" "We couldn't even furnish one out of what we
have now, let alone buying a house." Mrs. Coop-
er's tone was extremely disconsolate, for one of the
day's burdens had been the prospect of living on
in this way year after year, spending her time and
strength in trying to make both ends meet.
" If I was only in business for myself, now, as
I might have been if I hadn't thrown money away
so when I was getting a big salary. But it can't
be helped now. Young men will do so. I spent
five hundred a year, yes, seven hundred more
LAYING THE KEEL. 77
than I needed to." And Mr. Cooper tried to con-
sole himself for this painful retrospect by break-
ing off the conversation, and humming,
" If I was only young again,
I 'd lead a diff-er-ent life."
" But that doesn't help the matter now, does
it ? A man can't do any thing without capital ;
and none of my ' rich relations ' seem inclined to
help a fellow. The Governor can't. He's got
his hands full in driving his own team."
" Your Uncle Murray though you are his
namesake did you ever ask him ? He always
seems very fond of you."
" Oh, it 's you he comes to see. He was prais-
ing you up sky-high the other day ; even asked
me I didn't tell you, did I ? how such a sensi-
ble woman came to throw herself away on me.
Don't get vain, now. I read myself out of the old
gentleman's books, years ago, by using up my
spending-money too fast. He 's as careful as a
Scotchman ; besides, he hasn't got much : and
what he has got is left to all sorts of charitable so-
cieties. The Governor witnessed the will, and
read me a lecture afterwards."
78 THE COOPEK8.
" You know that sweet little house we used to
admire at Tarrytown." Mrs. Cooper broke off a
sigh, at her husband's blasted prospects, so far as
Uncle Murray's help was concerned, with a sudden
recollection of the only call she had received that
day. " Well, Mrs. Elder was in, and says the fam-
ily have moved away, and it is going to be sold."
" That would be just the place for us, wouldn't
it now ? Come, let us amuse ourselves by ' suppos-
ing,' as the children say. I used to have famous
times with Jim, poor fellow ! when we were boys.
We'd suppose the Governor would launch out a
ten dollar gold-piece at Christmas which he never
did and we'd spend it in advance."
" I dare say. That's your way, Murray."
u Well, what of it ? We might as well amuse
ourselves that way as any other. I'd have a new
fence around the lawn and garden for one thing.
That old fence was always an eyesore to me : and
then we'd set out choice fruit-trees, you know, and
a few grape-vines and raspberries. Raspberries
and cream only think of that, madam ! for, of
course, we should keep a cow. Raspberries, and
currants, and all that sort of thing, and any quan-
LAYING THE KEEL. 79
tity of rosebushes for you. There's a basement
kitchen, isn't there ?"
" Quite a transition from roses !"
" Oh, one can't live out of doors all the time !"
" I began to think you intended to."
" Don't go to sharp-shooting. "We'd have that
overhauled. Basements are always damp in the
country ; and that's a side hill."
" Dear me ! it's no use. "We never shall have
that, or any other house."
"You're way down, down in the depths to-
night ; I see that, my dear."
I suppose I am. But, dear Murray " And
here the tired spirits gave way into something like
a sob. Mrs. Cooper felt inclined to lay her head
down on her husband's shoulder, and have " a real
good cry."
" Come, now, none of that nonsense," he said,
in a tone as cheerful as hers was disconsolate.
" I've set out to amuse myself going to housekeep-
ing on paper, and you must help me. Where shall
we begin to furnish, parlor or kitchen ?"
" Oh, kitchen !" said Mrs. Cooper, brightening
up again. " Aunt Agnes used to say : Do have
80 THE COOPERS.
your kitchen well furnished when you go to house-
keeping, Martha, and your chambers, whether you
have any thing in the parlors or not. If you don't,
you will always be in some trouble, and put to
double the expense in the end."
" Sensible woman, that aunt of yours. Now,
we had to get a cook-stove when we moved here ;
BO eighteen dollars are saved. A cook-stove and
sundry traps belonging."
" Yes ; two gridirons, for instance."
" Something like that celebrated cat with two
tails I used to hear so much about when I was a
boy. "We had a nurse that would send it up to us
whenever we asked for any thing. ' Now. boys,
walk out of the nursery this minute,' I can hear her
now. 'You don't want it any more than a cat
wants two tails.' "
Mr. Cooper's imitation of Nurse Dicky, with
whom his wife was by this time tolerably well ac-
quainted, was admirable, and she gave him a sheet
of foolscap to make his calculations upon. They
would have amused any experienced person ; for
neither of them had any great degree of knowl-
edge on the subject, and their estimates were by no
LAYING THE KEEL. 81
means proportioned to the well-filled rooms fur-
nished so completely and tastefully in imagination.
Mr. Cooper, for the time being, was as well satis-
fied as if he had been master of this cottage in
Cloud-land ; and it gave his wife food for many a
reverie over her needle, sometimes cheerful, some-
times sad ; for-she knew too well how faint a pros-
pect there was of its ever being realized. As her
husband frankly said, and as many another young
married man has found to his sorrow, if the prodi-
galities of the five years of his bachelorhood could
be recalled, the home they longed for might have
been their own. Another of her Aunt Agnes's max-
ims had been that no man ever got on in life who did
not make a tolerable beginning, before he was thir-
ty, towards having a roof over his head in his old
age. Sometimes Mrs. Cooper thought on this wise :
" I do not believe it is for money's sake I wish
Murray to succeed, though I know there is some
selfishness in wanting to see him beyond close pe-
cuniary care. I don't care for dress, either, or to
make a show. I've seen enough of that. But I
can't bear to think of having to bring up children
in a boarding-house, and just getting enough to-
4*
82 THE COOPERS.
gether every month to pay the board and Stewart's
bill, as I know the Newtons did; and he must
be all of forty. And then there are schools,
getting more expensive every day, and a hundred
and one expenses we have not commenced to think
of, to be met by this same income. Besides, there
is the pleasure of giving to others who have less,
and seeing your husband have his friends about
him. Murray is one who never will accept hospi-
tality he cannot return. But, dear me ! it's no use ;
and we must do the best we can."
They were doing so now, to the best of their
knowledge, though habit and custom were often
made necessity. And there were many domestic
economies of which Mrs. Cooper was still pro-
foundly ignorant, although Political Economy had
been a prominent " branch" at the celebrated fe-
male eeminary she had attended. She often
pinched when she might have spared, but for this
lack of practical experience, and wasted sums that
would have grieved her deeply had she been con-
scious of it. But in many things she could go
without, better than she saved.
" I can do my own sewing ; but I can't go into
LAYING THE KEEL. 83
the kitchen and cook," she said to herself one day.
" Ann must manage. But it does seem to me our
marketing comes to a great deal. And Murray,
with all he says, can't bear a poor table."
Mrs. Cooper forgot one important fact, that a
plain table is not always a poor one. However,
that was a revelation for the future to disclose.
Mr. Murray, the uncle for whom Mr. Cooper
had been named, was a bachelor of sixty, upright,
keen-eyed, and bade fair for a vigorous old age,
inasmuch as he had always taken the same care of
his health that he did of his money. Great, there-
fore, was the surprise of the whole family when
his landlady telegraphed to Mr. Cooper, Senior,
one cold February morning, that she considered
his brother-in-law seriously ill, and had taken the
responsibility of sending for a physician. Mr.
Cooper, arriving from Baltimore next day, found
him up, and seated in an arm-chair, insisting on
toasting his own bread, as he did every morning,
although his hand shook so that he could scarcely
hold the fork. Never was there a more deter-
mined patient, until his friend and physician, Dr.
Parry, told him that a summons had been served
84: THE COOPERS.
from which there was no escape. Then it was
strange to see how this strong human will yielded
to what he clearly recognized as divine. He lay
down quietly as a child at night, and died without
a struggle or a groan. His namesake returned
from the unostentatious funeral more sobered than
he had ever been in his life. For the first time,
he began to comprehend that this is not " the be
all, and the end all." The solemn words of the
burial-service had gone home to one heart among
those whom custom and relationship had assembled
around the open grave.
" Man that is born of a woman hath but a short
time to live, and is full of misery.
" He corneth up, and is cut down like a flower.
" He fleeth as it were a shadow.
" In the midst of life, we are in death."
His wife was watching for his return, and
opened the door silently, for this revered man had
been a friend to her since her marriage ; and . she
felt his loss as if he had been of her own kith and
kin.
"Poor Uncle Murray !" said Mr. Cooper, lay-
ing down his hat, which, for the first time since he
LAYING THE KEEL. 85
could remember, bore the conventional token of
loss and mourning. " I did not suppose I cared
so much about him. But he always was good to
me after a fashion of his own. I believe all his
lectures were meant for kindness. He acted up
to all he preached, at any rate ; and that is more
than most of us do, Matty." And his voice shook
a little as he stooped to kiss her. " "Well, Matty,
you have brought me good fortune ; did you know
it ? So never lament that I did not marry Miss
Alexander, as the girls always wanted me to."
" I ? How, dear Murray ?" And she looked
up eagerly in his face.
" There was a codicil, added only two months
ago ; father, none of them but Doctor Parry, and
the lawyer knew of it. He has left us you and
me, Matty, for your name stands first five thou-
sand dollars. He says I have begun to learn
how to make a right use of money ; and he is per-
suaded you will not see it squandered."
Mrs. Cooper may be pardoned if a flush of plea-
sure crossed the sombre current of her grief for
this good friend. There was the capital Murray
86 THE COOPERS.
had sighed for ; home, competence, the realization
of many a day-dream was before her.
" Oh, Murray, how kind it was !"
" Do you know I never thought I could care so
little at having money left me ? I wanted to get
away from them all, and home to you. Father
meant it all right when he said it ought to have
been twice that ; but it seemed very hard and un
grateful to me. They may thank you for it al-
though, as I told them. I said there never was '
" Yes, I dare say you gave me out as perfection.
But I 'm glad he cared about me."
" And you shall have that little house, now it's
just the sum ; and I see the place is advertised yet.
That you shall ; for, if anybody deserves it, you
do. Please God, we may live there together
many a year." For, athwart this bright prospect,
and the pleasure of possession, fell the shadow of
the presence he had that day so fully realized ;
and he thought, for the first time, of the possibili-
ty of losing this true and constant friend, and
going on drearily without her.
The executor, tardy as executors proverbially
are, had finished his simple duties. Uncle Murray
LAYING THE KEEL. 87
had kept his house " well ordered ;" and a few le-
gal formalities were all that devolved upon him.
Mr. Cooper received the draft which he had
intended, from the first, to invest in the Tarrytown
cottage, and settle it upon his wife ; but, strange
to say, she opposed the plan he had thought filled
her mind as much as it did his own.
"Why, I've seen Homer Morgan, twice,
Matty, and I 've got a plan of the house and ground
in my pocket. I never supposed you would have
any objection."
" But what is going to furnish and keep the
house, if you pay it all out in purchasing ?"
" Oh, part can remain on bond and mortgage
half, if I like ; Morgan said so. Why, he considers
it a splendid thing ; says property is going up tre-
mendously all along the railroad."
" But there would be interest to pay : I hate
mortgages. Uncle's house was mortgaged ; and
Aunt Agnes used to say, that what, with interest,
and taxes, and repairs, it was cheaper to hire a
house."
" Oh, we could pay that off in a year or two !"
For Mr. Cooper, with a draft for five thousand
88 THE COOPKBS.
clear in his pocket, felt far richer than the inher-
itor of John Jacob Astor, whose soul is vexed by
title-deeds, insurance policies,- and losses and cross-
es innumerable.
" How ? on fifteen hundred a year, every cent
of which is made way with now ?"
" Oh, bother, Matty ! don't pin a man down
so. Can't you let me ' splurge' for once ? What
do you want a fellow to do ? Put it in the Green-
wich Savings Bank, and draw three per cent ?"
" I thought you wanted to go in business."
"Poh! what would five thousand do for a
capital in New York City ?"
" Didn't you tell me that the Goddards began
with five and sixpence, and that Slocum & Bro-
thers were peddlers ?"
" Oh, that was in old times, when the Van
Coulters lived in a back parlor behind a shop,
where you couldn't turn round, I 've heard father
tell ! and the Bretons had a cabbage-garden, and
the Pollards sold snuff and tobacco. All worthy
people, you know, only I ' m afraid the family por-
traits wouldn't command much from their descend-
ants. People worked in those days, and so did
LAYING THE KEEL. 89
their wives and children, you know. We can't
manage in that style, and there's no use talking."
" But I heard you say, Murray, that the sto-
rage business did not require much capital, only
business friends ; and you made so many in the
bank."
" By ! beg pardon, Matty, I never thought
of it. And there was Steve Henderson talking
about it only the other day. He 's got loads of
people ; but he can't have any money. He takes
care of his mother, and all that. I've a great
mind to talk it over with him."
" Then you could take out enough to furnish a
house, and hire one for the present. There are
plenty of houses in the country, advertised every
spring."
"But there's the risk, you see," said Mr.
Cooper, sobering down suddenly ; for, in the very
prospect of business for himself, he had passed, in
the last five minutes, from storage to a commission
business, and thence to an extensive shipping-
house, of which he was the head, but quite at
his ease, driving in at his own hour every morn-
ing, his own horses, with his own man in a hat-
90 THE COOPEES.
band, seated at his side. It was quite a descent
to what seemed a paltry sum-total in comparison.
" There's risk in every business, isn't there ?
And I know you said there was less in this than
most others. Don't you know the night we were
talking about the Masons, and how they had got on ?
" Still," urged Mr. Cooper, " there would be
a long while to wait for profits, perhaps profits
which might never come, and the house would be
something tangible ; and it would be so nice to
talk about ' my place' and ' my grounds,' as Char-
lie Miller, and Yan Alstyne, and the other men of
his set did, and such a pleasure in laying it out
and seeing it improve ; but, as Martha said, im-
provements cost money ; and interest did eat up
principal at a marvellous rate, as he had had occa-
sion to see in the transactions of certain others of
his family. Then, too, it would be almost as de-
lightful to say, * my counting-room,' and ' step
round and see me at No. 29 ;' or, ' Help us along,
old fellow. Send your friends, and we'll take
care of them."
Martha generally did have sensible ideas ; al-
though, to be sure, women know nothing about
business.
LAYING THE TTPyBVr.. 91
Mr. Cooper "prevented the night-watches"
with these reflections, and asked Johnny, in the
morning, " how he should like to have papa get a
store of his own, and have him (the juvenile) for
his little clerk, with a pen behind his ear ;" when
that young gentleman crept over the crib-rails,
and his sleeping mamma, for the matutinal frolic,
to which he was accustomed. Johnny's response
was in the affirmative ; indeed, he approved the
suggestion by most emphatic signs of satisfaction ;
and his father bore the whisker-pulling, and suffo-
cating squeezes lavished upon him, with exempla-
ry fortitude, having lapsed into the shipping rev-
erie once more.
Business versus real estate carried the day.
Mr. Henderson's friends, and Mr. Henderson's
judgment, which was much more to the purpose,
advised the measure. And, one very sloppy
March morning, Mrs. Cooper waded, by invita-
tion, through two inches of mud, across the nar-
row, blockaded street, to gaze on a huge sign, and
read, in all the freshness of blue and gilt letter-
ing?
COOPER & HENDERSON.
yji THE COOPEKS.
Her husband, in a high state of excitement,
proceeded to show her over the huge, empty lofts,
guiltless of all occupancy save dust and cobwebs,
but far more delightful to his sight than even the
rustic trellises and grape arbors of the Tarrytown
cottage. There was a charm about the very stone
inkstand on the desk in the counting-room, the
tall stools, and three "Windsor chairs, which com-
pleted its luxurious garnishing, if we except a plan
of the Lake Shore Railroad, duly framed and
glazed, over which freights were supposed to be
pouring in.
Mrs. Cooper went home with a circular, signed
by the new firm, in her pocket, and presented
two of their business cards to friends that she met
in the omnibus. Altogether, it was a memorable
day in her calendar; and for once she equalled
her husband in building castles, over the lofty
portals of which was blazoned,
COOPER & HENDERSON,
STORAGE AND COMMISSION MERCHANTS.
CHAPTER V.
THE LAUNCH.
" Half the sting of pdverty is gone when one keeps house for one's own
comfort, and not for the comments of their neighbors."
Besides, we are young, have but few wants, and can easily reduce our
wants to our havings. JOHN HALIFAX.
" I' VE got some bad news for you," said Mr.
Cooper, recognizing his wife in the midst of a
group of ladies on Stewart's steps, and following
her to the linen counter.
Mrs. Cooper looked up, with a sudden start,
from the bird's-eye she was comparing with the
scrap she had brought to match.
" Not business, surely." For she was already
the recipient of the fluctuations affecting the new
firm. She could tell you the last quotations in
flour and grain, knew something of pork before it
found its way to Fulton Market, and that, when
wool advanced, it was neither " Berlin " nor yet
" Saxony," which the papers alluded to.
94: THE COOPERS.
" !Nb, not exactly. I have just heard that your
Tarrytown house is sold. I met Newbold on my
way up."
Mrs. Cooper gulped down a sound half sob,
half sigh. She had given up all hopes of the
house voluntarily ; and yet, so long as it did not
pass into other hands, it was pleasant to dwell
there in imagination. It stood, with its little
pleasure-grounds, in full view of the lodgings
where the first summer of their married life had
been passed, and was associated with so many
golden memories that it was hard to think of
others, to whom it was only a convenient habi-
tation, coming into entire possession.
" Do you know who has it ? " she said, with a
little quiver of the lip, which her husband very
well understood. Mr. Cooper considered his wife
" fanciful ; " but, though he could not always
enter into these fancies, he did not ridicule or cry
out against them. To him, one comfortable, well-
built house was much the same as another ; but
he knew she would feel the sale of this particular
domicil, notwithstanding she had advised him
against purchasing in the present state of their
THE LAUNCH. 95
affairs ; so he had thought best to come out with
it at once.
" The Presbyterians have bought it for a par-
sonage, Newbold says ; and, as he was on the com-
mittee, I advised him to have that fence down at
once."
" This piece, I think you said." The hurried,
yet polite shopman had other customers yet to at-
tend to, and thought thus to recall the lady to the
business in hand. Mrs. Cooper concluded that
none she had seen was fine enough. The linen
was for her boy's aprons ; and she held to the faith
that the materials put into an infant's wardrobe
should be of the very best. She forgot that Johnny
was no longer in arms, and might reasonably be
expected to give his clothes some wear and tear
the year to come.
" Any thing else to-day towels, table linen ? "
said the shopman, again, as, the purchase being
completed, the ubiquitous " Cash " was summoned
with a sharp tap of the cedar pencil upon the
counter.
If there was one thing above another that
tempted Mrs. Cooper at Stewart's, it was the
96 THE COOPEE8.
housekeeping department. She cared very little
for dress, and could look at the gorgeous brocades,
suspended in the rotunda, as quietly as she did at
the painted window-shades of her opposite neigh-
bor. It cost no effort to pass by the lace and em-
broideries of the intervening room, or to turn her
back upon the enticing cloaks and mantles be-
yond ; but those fleecy blankets, those serviceable
table-covers, the rolls of towelling, and, above all,
the snowy damask piled endwise, as children do
their cob-houses, were a sore temptation. It had
arisen, in part, from womanly instinct, but, in a
great measure, from the straits she had been put to
in her housekeeping. " Bed linen " was professedly
included in the catalogue of the house they rented ;
and it was not considered " worth while " to pur-
chase a store of costly articles to be packed away
and moth-eaten if they should return to boarding.
" I might get some tea napkins, you know,
Murray, just by way of commencement."
" Just as you like. I Ve heard of the man who
saved horse-shoes in hopes that he'd pick up a
horse some day."
THE LAUNCH. 97
" But we really are going to housekeeping on
our own account, you know, dear."
" I don't believe you'll like the country if you
try it."
" "Well, a dollar and a half won't make much
difference, any way. Yes, this snow-drop pattern
a dozen."
Mrs. Cooper felt as if she was several steps
nearer her purpose, as she slipped her hand under
her husband's arm, while he tucked the little par-
cel under the other. A walk up town with him
was a rare and real pleasure ; and this afternoon
there was a faint breath of the coming spring in
the air, a softness suggestive of straw bonnets and
China silks to city people, and of budding foliage
to country dwellers.
" You know it's high time we decided, Murray.
It 's the third of April, and nothing done towards
finding a house, let alone the furnishing."
" "What 's going to decide us ? " asked Mr.
Cooper, catching sight, at the moment, of a toy-
shop, and remembering an indefinite promise to
Johnny of a horse and cart.
" Something must. Oh, what a lovely little
98 THE COOPERS.
work-table ! and see those oak chairs. I should
like to have oak in the dining-room."
" Too common. Oak and green are inevitable
now in a dining-room as much so as Turkey red
in a railroad depot."
" Suppose we go in, and just look around a
little."
" Oh, get your house first ! " And Mr. Cooper
drew his wife past the tempting upholstery set
out upon the door-step of a fashionable estab-
lishment.
" But won't you begin to look for a house,
Murray ? I see plenty advertised."
" So do I. But all beyond our mark, however.
I 've no idea what we do want ; have you ? "
" A house and garden, I thought."
" And a stable."
" What for ? "
" A horse, to be sure. How 's a man going to
get to the depot mornings ? "
" Oh, if we live on the river, you can easily
walk to the boat, as you did at Tarrytown."
" But suppose we don't live on the river."
" Oh, we must / "
THE LAUNCH. 99
Must ! hum ! "
" Why, so I can get to town by a boat. The
cars are so terribly dusty, you know, Murray ;
and I wouldn't give a fig for the country without
water."
" There 's the Sound."
" Oh, I don't know any thing about that ; it 's
all flat, and chills and fever, and I hate the Sound."
" In other words, you 've set your heart upon
the river. By the way, you are walking too far.
Sha'n't I hail an omnibus ? "
" Oh, no ! I rode down ; and, besides, I can
talk better. I 'rn not tired, really, Murray."
" But you 'must' live on the Hudson River ;
that 's one point settled. The direction we are to
live in how would you like Jersey ? "
" More chills. ISTo, I don't like Jersey."
" I tell you what you do like, Martha your
own way."
" I dare say ; most of us do," returned Mrs.
Cooper, a little pettishly. She thought her hus-
band was very indifferent when the matter was so
important to them, and, accustomed as she was to
his teazing, never suspected that he had made it
100 THE COOPEBS.
the day's business to collect advertisements of
houses to let, and had his coat-pockets stuffed with
papers containing them.
She found the table spread, however, when she
came down from the nursery that evening, and
Mr. Cooper already armed with the scissors from
her work-box to commence his clipping.
" They 're all so ' desirable,' you see, Matty ;
there 's the difficulty. You know we can't rent
them all. Here 's five with ' unsurpassed advan-
tages ; ' here 's another in the neighborhood of
good schools. That 's a strong point, Johnny
being eighteen months old. Here 's another ; ice-
house, stables, grapery, and greenhouse quite as
indispensable in the present state of our finances.
Rent, eight hundred."
" "We might as well pass over that," said Mrs.
Cooper, joining the search. "Here's a cottage,
five minutes' walk from the depot ; that 's more to
the purpose."
" Whereabouts ? "
" On the New Haven Railroad. Oh, that
won't do ! How 's this ? house to let with three
THE LAUNCH. 101
acres, garden, out-buildings, shrubbery, shade-
trees ; and only three hundred a year."
" That looks like it on the beloved Hudson."
" Yes, but rather high up at Cold Spring."
" Rather. I should be half the day on the
road. Let me see ; I know somebody at Cold
Spring."
" Why, of course you do the Jacksons. Only
think what nice neighbors ! And neighbors are
so much in the country. Is it really too far up ?
Mr. Jackson does business in town."
" Yes, so he does ; but they stay down in the
winter."
" So could we for that matter."
" I thought you hated boarding."
" So I do ; but for three months only, that
would be different ; and then we should have a
house where we could leave every thing but what
we really needed. That would make a great dif-
ference ; don't you see ? "
" There 's ten houses to rent on the Sound to
one on the North River," observed her husband,
instead of being convinced.
" That shows nobody wants to live there."
102 THE COOPERS.
" Or that so many people prefer it that it is
worth while to build houses for them."
" But you '11 look at the Cold Spring house,
won't you ? Shade-trees and shrubbery," she re-
peated, enticingly.
" How could I tell whether you liked it or
not ? Better go with me if I do."
The prospect of such a jaunt was delightful ;
but, alas, it was not a solitary trip ! The close of
the first week's house-hunting found Mrs. Cooper
quite disheartened. The Cold Spring place was
discovered to be two miles from the landing, over
a bare, dusty road, where the sun would be blis-
tering at the hour of Mr. Cooper's arrival from
town ; besides, it was an old house, and so com-
pletely given up to shade-trees and shrubbery that
one shivered with damp in the low, old-fashioned
parlor. The next on the list, set forth in the ad-
vertisement as u perfectly new," certainly was as
bare and modern as cheap lumber and white and
green paint could make it ; quarter of an acre of
sand, fenced in, was dignified into a garden ; and,
to crown all, it was one of a row of similar hab-
itations on a newly laid out avenue in Yonkers.
THE LAUNCH. 103
The idea of " a row " set flight to all rural fancies
at once ; and number three came under consider-
ation. Perched on. a high bleak hill, overlooking
the river, it would have been a very comfortable
summer house ; but, as Mrs. Cooper waded round
from the front door to the rear, through drifts of
muddy snow gradually disappearing under a hot
April sun, she was obliged to acknowledge that,
though the mew was all the heart could desire
(" in the midst of picturesque scenery," the adver-
tisement said), it must be subject to Siberian colds
in winter ; and the soil did seem rather too heavy
for a garden to do well.
Number five was a charming old-fashioned
stone house, rambling, but not devoid of comfort
and even elegance. The garden was verdant with
high box borders ; and groups of fir and spruce
brightened the lawn. There were rows upon
rows of good old-fashioned currant and goose-
berry bushes, plenty of fruit trees, some recently
grafted, good out-buildings, and a low rent, cer-
tainly the most hopeful place yet. Mrs. Cooper
urged her husband to secure it forthwith, and in
imagination was already elbow deep in currant-
104 THE COOPERS.
jelly and damson-jam ; while Mr. Cooper began to
consider garden seeds and a dovecote for Johnny.
Other people had, however, perceived the same
advantages, for the stone house had been rented,
just half an honr before his application, at 49
Cedar street.
" Rather expensive business, this," said Mr.
Cooper, as he footed up a memorandum on the
back of a Hudson River " time-table ; " " nearly
eleven dollars, including lunches. We shall have
to make up our minds pretty soon, or there will
be nothing left to furnish the house with when we
get it."
"I'm tired of looking." And Mrs. Cooper
laid down the paper she now searched habitually
for " country houses to let or to lease." " There
isn't a new advertisement to-day. I know every
one of these places."
" I 'm afraid you '11 have to give up the North
River."
" For that matter, I don't care where it is, so
it 's a decent house. I 'm sick of this uncertainty."
" Really ? quite a concession. But I '11 be
amiable, for I see you are tired and worried. I '11
THE LAUNCH. 105
tell you what I think we have made out of our
eleven dollars, some idea of what we really do
want."
" How so ? "
" Why, we don't want a high rent, or so much
ground that it will take all we can raise to keep
it up ; we don't want a house so old that the roof
leaks, or so new that there is not a leaf or blade
of grass to bless ourselves with. "We do want a
healthy situation, cheerful and warm living rooms,
a short distance from the depot, as we have con-
cluded to go on the ' no horse ' principle, a toler-
able plot of ground for a garden, and at least two
trees that have been long enough out of the nur-
sery Prince's, you know to grow alone."
" Murray " Mrs. Cooper's face expressed sud-
den determination "let's give up the whole
thing, and take country board for the summer."
" Any thing for a quiet life ; it's all one to me.
Sha'n't we try once more ? Now listen to this dear
little pet of an advertisement I've been saving up
all day. You didn't find it in the paper, you see,
because I cut it out."
" To rent, from the first of May, a small coun-
5*
106 THE COOPEK8.
try-house, nearly new, garden attached, well
shaded, healthy location."
" Where is it ? "
' " On your beloved Hudson, at Irvington."
" Oh, do find out about it, Murray ! "
" Then we won't advertise for board on Mon-
day."
Mrs. Cooper smiled at her own infirmity of
purpose. " But, dear Murray, this waiting is so
tiresome when I have so much to see to ; not even
a pillow-case or sheet made."
They had drawn the prize at last ; and late
enough it was, considering that they had given up
the house they were in, and the first of May was
so close at hand. Only a fortnight for furnishing ;
and, in the midst of all, the cook had given warn-
ing, as "the country did not suit her" cook
having a lover in the shape of a tall policeman,
who looked quite as fascinating to Ann, in his
star and uniform, as the Emperor of Russia would
have done in his.
" Advertise for a cook, instead of country
board," suggested Mr. Henderson, who was now
a constant visitor, and frequently admitted to
THE LAUNCH. 107
family councils. " They might as well come to
you as to have you walking after them. You will
have to take steps enough in furnishing."
Mrs. Cooper had looked forward to that part
of the business as very delightful. Every woman
likes to spend money ; and, as the thousand re-
served for furnishing was safely lodged in bank,
she thought nothing would be easier than to select
pretty furniture, and have Murray give checks for
the amount. A rough plan of the house was
drawn for Mr. Henderson's benefit. It was a low,
irregular building, somewhat fanciful, but with
more conveniences than might be expected from
a cottage ornee.
" Here's the front ; see ; and this hall comes
between the parlor and the wing built on for a
dining-room ; back of that a store-room and an
excellent kitchen. Here are the stairs ; see,"
said Mr. Cooper again, making a quantity of pen-
cil-strokes, which required a vivid imagination to
fill up. " Only one parlor ; but then there's an
off-shoot, on this side, susceptible of improvement
into a smoking-room / say library, Martha says.
108 THE COOPERS.
There's a piazza the whole width, and some climb-
ers already planted."
" Oh yes, about the garden ! " said Mr. Hen-
derson, who was country born, and knew a spade
from a pitchfork. Mr. Cooper certainly did not
know much more ; but he had invested already
they had rented the house two days before in
poultry and gardening handbooks, subscribing for
the Horticulturist and Country Gentleman by
way of finishing this part of his education at
leisure. He had grand " raising-your-own-butter-
and eggs " theories, never considering that fowls
eat as well as laid eggs ; and was eloquent on the
economy of fresh vegetables ; that planting, weed-
ing and hoeing came before gathering in his har-
vest of peas and pumpkins, was a trifling consid-
eration.
" You have never lived in the country," said
Mr. Henderson, as Mrs. Cooper listened with
great satisfaction to these remarks from her once
prodigal husband, now suddenly converted into
this most careful of householders.
" Never ; but I long f6r it. I am sure I shall
be happy. No visits to take up my time, no gos-
THE LAUNCH. 109
sip, no hot bricks and mortar to make the air like
a furnace. I expect Johnny to play on the grass
all day."
" Put Murray's travelling-blanket under him,
then, if you don't want him lamed for life with
rheumatic fever," returned Mr. Henderson, laugh-
ing. "The country is delightful, Mrs. Cooper,
particularly when the cistern gives out in June,
and the well in July; when drought burns up
your garden one year, and the wet weather spoils
it the next. You'll sigh for Croton and Fulton
before the year is out. Ask my mother ; she can
tell you all about it. Then there's fresh meat
that's another blessing ; a solitary butcher's cart
twice a week, which all your neighbors for three
miles have had the choice of."
Mrs. Cooper began to feel uncomfortable in
spite of herself.
" And chills to be polite * fever an' agur,'
as they say, where I was raised. "Wait till you
get a good hard ' shake.' "
" Oh, there are no chills on the North Kiver ! "
said Mrs. Cooper, eagerly.
" Don't you believe it. Lay in the quinine,
110 THE COOPERS.
Murray, when you get your stores, and don't for-
get Brandreth's pills, with the pepper. There's
ague anywhere within twenty miles of New York.
Not a bit more on the Sound than the Hudson."
" Poh ! don't talk nonsense, Henderson ! "
Mr. Cooper was annoyed as he saw his wife's
spirits sink under this prospect. " The house is
taken, and we must make the best of it. Don't
borrow trouble, Matty ; it's more expensive than
borrowing money. See, this is your room over
the hall ; only I sha'n't ask you out if you don't
behave yourself better. Our chamber is quite
large ; and then there are servants' rooms very
comfortable. That puts me in mind here's
Berian's housekeeping list you asked me to bring
up, Martha. Great note, that; isn't it, Steve?
All you have to do is to order a thirty, fifty, or
seventy dollar set, and there's your kitchen all
furnished."
" That 's High Dutch to me, though I listened
very attentively. Shovel and tongs are about all
I recognize," said Mr. HAderson, as his host read
one of these labor-saving lists aloud. " Most
people have all those things to cook a beef-steak
THE LAUNCH. Ill
and boil a dish of potatoes. What's a patent
coffee-roaster, I wonder. My mother used to
have hers done in a great iron-baking-pan on top
of the stove."
" Oh, we must have good coffee. And I 'm
determined to have the best of every thing in my
kitchen, as Murray says it will save so much time
having this list. There 's the kitchen completely
furnished at once."
" I did not hear any thing about chairs or tables
in it," said Mr. Henderson. " I suppose the mod-
ern race of domestics neither eat nor rest."
" Ours do a great deal in both lines. Sure
enough, tables and chairs, Matty ; put that down."
" And dishes, I suppose, since they do eat, and
knives and forks," added Mr. Henderson, who was
particularly practical, and knew very well that
Mr. Cooper was not.
The purchases were no.t as easy as Mrs. Cooper
imagined ; prices ranged up and up ; trifles added
to bills so immensely. Berian's alone being nearly
a tenth of their whole *fund before it was com-
pleted. Stewart's for house linen though, by
what rule blankets and Marseilles quilts are in-
112 THE COOPERS.
eluded in " house linen," we never could discover
was even more ; what with chamber window-
curtains, table-covers, and drugget, Mr. Cooper
began to think " ready money " was by no means
as lasting as he had imagined. China, too Mrs.
Cooper chose plain white ware as the cheapest,
being more readily matched ; but she selected the
most graceful, and of course the most expensive
patterns ; and, when the clerk, who had made the
bill as large as possible out of duty to his employer,
suggested plated ware for coffee, tea, etc., there
were a few more costly items entirely forgotten in
their estimate, but not the less necessary.
" Dear me, what will Murray say ! " thought
Mrs. Cooper, as she reached the door for the sec-
ond time. The clerk had laid his hand upon the
lock with a bow. " I presume you have selected
your glass already, as you did not mention it."
"Glass?"
" Goblets, carafes, wines, and so on," suggested
the ready salesman.
" Goblets, to be sure ; wines we have. Let me
see some."
" And lemonade glasses, finger-bowls, a fruit
THE LAUNCH. 113
bowl for dessert. The order is for the country, I
think you said. For strawberries, we sell this
style, a high stem, you see, five dollars. Many
people prefer glass pitchers for cream; there is
less danger of turning, I believe. "Which set ?
Those are four dollars. Oh, and egg-cups new
laid eggs in the country, ma'am, delightful."
" Shall I ever get away ? " Mrs. Cooper said to
herself, in despair. "Another hundred here at
the very least. I wish I dared ask the amount
already." For Mrs. Cooper's lack of moral courage
made her hesitate at this simple proceeding, which
her husband would undoubtedly have done as a
matter of course.
Once more they returned to the lower floor.
" Any thing in the way of lamps or candel-
abras ? Some beautiful bronzes just open."
Mrs. Cooper longed to put her hands over her
ears, and fly from any more suggestions. They
had been so accustomed to gas that lamps had not
been for a moment considered.
She managed to say, " Not to-day" in a toler-
ably indifferent tone, and walked rapidly up
Broadway, reminded by every furniture-store she
114: THE COOPERS.
passed that they had not yet commenced their
most expensive purchases.
It was the day she had advertised to receive
her levee of cooks ; and this she entirely forgot
until she found herself face to face with two dam-
sels seated in remarkably upright positions on the
extreme edge of the hall chairs. They were re-
garding each other with no very amiable glances,
and presented as complete a contrast as could be
found.
Mrs. Cooper looked from one to the other in
dismay. How should she begin the domestic
catechism with such an interested spectator as
either would prove ?
The parlor door stood ajar, and a happy thought
suggested itself.
" "Which of you came first ? "
" Me, ma'am." And the face of the younger
brightened with a pleasant smile that made Mrs.
Cooper incline very much towards her. " Good-
natured, I am sure, and neat," she thought, as she
glanced at the girl's dress. " And what is your
name ? "
" Tiny, if you please, ma'am."
THE LAUNCH. 115
Mrs. Cooper could not check a smile, with all
her dignity as " the mistress," when she looked at
the strong figure and stout rosy face.
" Christiana it is, ma'am ; but it 's long, sure,
and most calls me Tiny," added the girl, in ex-
planation.
" Well, Tiny, come into the parlor, and let me
hear what you can do. Can you wash ? "
" It 's I that can, ma'am."
" And iron ? "
" The master's shirts, and all but the finery."
" Oh, my nurse always does the muslins ! "
And Mrs. Cooper grew every moment more pre-
possessed in favor of the clear gray eyes raised to
hers so honestly.
" Do you like the country ? "We are going to
the country."
" Is it for the summer, ma'am ? "
" No ; for the whole year."
The question sounded like a damper. Ann,
the present incumbent, had gratuitously informed
her mistress that she never would be able to get a
girl " that thought any thing of themselves " to
wash where the water did not come into the house,
116 THE COOPEES.
or to stay in the country under any capacity after
the leaves fell.
" Well, I likes the country, ma'am," said the
girl, after a moment's consideration.
Mrs. Cooper was enraptured. Notwithstand-
ing her late experience, she was ready to engage
the applicant at once without an inquiry for char-
acter washing and liking the country having
been her " lions in the way."
" You understand your business thoroughly, I
hope."
"Ma'am?"
" You can do all you undertake, I mean ; be-
cause I know nothing whatever of the kitchen ;
and it would all come upon you."
Short-sighted Mrs. Cooper to make this con-
fession to one who was nevertheless to be under
her orders !
" Yes, ma'am," said Tiny, apparently a little
mystified.
" Do you understand breakfast-cakes, rolls, and
all these things ? "
Ann's real or pretended ignorance in this
branch of art had caused Mr. Cooper to stipulate
THE LAUNCH. 117
that her successor should be fully qualified to
make the best use of the anticipated fresh milk
and eggs.
" No, ma'am."
The girl was honest, at any rate.
" Then, I suppose, you have lived where meats
were put first. You can boil and roast, of course.
Have you been accustomed to desserts ? "
" Is it the pies an' puddin's, ma'am ? Sure it 's
not a cook I am at all."
" Not a cook ? "
" No, ma'am. It was not me that saw the ad-
vertisement, but my first cousin ; an' she just sent
me. It was laundress I was in my last place."
Mrs. Cooper was really disappointed. Every
time the girl spoke, her face gained upon her, so
civil, so tidy, withal ; and now that she offered
her " recommends " without any hesitancy, but as
a matter of course that the lady would wish to
see them, they all spoke of her honesty and good
temper.
" I could learn, ma'am. There was a French
cook in my last place ; and I helped him in the
hurries."
118 THE COOPERS.
" But I don't know enough myself to teach
you." And Mrs. Cooper made an inward vow to
learn before the year was out. She never had re-
gretted her ignorance so much before.
" Might I call in the mornin', ma'am ? I 'm
sure I should like to go wid yous."
Mrs. Cooper hesitated for a moment. She
caught sight of the tall, sharp-featured applicant
awaiting her turn, and looking tolerably impatient.
The time was so short, too, and there was so much
to be done.
" Yes, you may call ; but I'm afraid I could
not engage you. I 'm sorry, too." And she looked
BO. So did the girl. And, though Mrs. Cooper
was well aware that the standing phrase, " I think
by your looks I should like to live wid yez, ma'am,"
was stereotyped, among her class, to be brought
forward on these occasions, she was sure she told
her husband, when relating the afternoon's expe-
rience, that Tiny really meant it.
" Gullible as ever ; swallow things quite as
easily. But how did your marine turn out ? "
" Just the name for her ; but I really felt I
ought to engage her. She was a professed cook,
THE LAUNCH. 119
though. She said she would come for eight dol-
lars when I told her that was my price. She un-
derstood breakfast-cakes especially, and desserts,
every thing, in fact ; and that's why I told Tiny
that I especially wanted some one capable in these
things, as I did not understand them."
" And the parlor-door was probably left open ;
and the giantess heard you say so."
" Why, so it was ! Why, I never thought of
that ! And I've been half vexed ever since to
think I should let her looks decide against her.
But she had such a cross face ; and she was so tall
and determined I really was afraid of her."
" Why don't you take the one you liked so
much, and teach her ? "
" I don't know myself."
" You can't learn younger ; and you can't ex-
pect to have a professed cook all your life at your
elbow. Isn't there any quantity of books about
cooking, Miss Leslie's, and Mrs. Hale's, and lots
of others ? Why, what did I know about garden-
ing a week ago ? "
What did he know now ?
Mrs. Cooper glanced at his complacent face
120 THE COOPEES.
and his pile of instructive volumes, and thought
theory all very well in its way ; but practice and
judgment were much more to be relied on.
However, she made a desperate resolve ; and,
as places were plenty, and no more satisfactory
person made her appearance, Tiny was engaged,
and Mr. Cooper commissioned with adding cook-
ery-books to their country library. So his wife's
mind was once more comparatively free to finish
her purchases.
Chamber furniture came next under considera-
tion, according to the practical advice of " Aunt
Agnes " to " have chambers well furnished whe-
ther there was any thing in the parlors or not ; "
and very little was left for drawing-room elegan-
cies by the time they came to consider them.
Bedsteads could not be used without mattresses
and pillows another bill unprovided for in the
original calculation ; and then there was the large
hall they had congratulated themselves upon as a
delightfully cool sitting-room in summer. The
oil-cloth to cover so many square feet cost as
much as a parlor carpet ; and it would look mis-
THE LAUNCH. 121
erably bare, they both acknowledged, without
chairs and a table.
" I hadn't the least idea it took so many things
to go to housekeeping with had you ? " said Mrs.
Cooper, disconsolately. " Where in the world are
the carpets and curtains to come from ? "We must
have stores to begin with no running to the cor-
ner grocery there, you know and coal and wood.
Good gracious, Martha ! why, there's nothing at
all for the parlor and dining-room furniture ! We
shall have to make some bills, anyhow."
Mrs. Cooper had foreseen this difficulty, for
she kept a much better account of what they were
spending than her husband had. She knew pretty
well, also, how he would propose to meet it. But
no, they must not set out with bills, or bills it
would be to the end of their housekeeping ; and
one of the agreements of the new firm was that
neither party should draw more than twelve hun-
dred dollars for the first year. She had pondered
many a perplexed hour, and revolved more than
one scheme, before she settled on any thing.
" What are'wQ going to do then ? live in empty
6
122 THE COOPERS.
rooms ? " Mr. Cooper said, as she objected to the
credit system.
" No ; go as far as we can with the money,
and wait till next year for the rest."
" We may be no better off next year."
" "Well, get what is absolutely necessary, and
go without until you do get ahead."
" But it will look so very odd."
" Who to ? "
" Why, everybody the neighbors."
" We don't know any thing about them."
" But we shall know them."
" Now, Murray, it's not at all like you to care
what people say ; that's my weakness."
" It's for you I should feel it ; and there are
our own friends, at any rate."
"They know exactly how we are situated.
And we shall have the comfort of knowing that
we have not pinched ourselves in what was really
necessary."
" But we must have carpets and curtains. I've
heard you say often that your idea of the country
was roses and vines out of the window, and full
muslin draperies inside."
THE LAUNCH. 123
" Yes ; I believe it was harder to give up the
curtains than an y thing. It always was a pet fancy
of mine ; and, as to carpets, we must be content
with ingrain. The chambers will do very well
with matting for the present."
" Ingrain ! Why, it's scarcely considered the
thing on a bedroom floor nowadays ! I heard
you and Lizzie Grant discussing it that evening
you told her we were going into the country."
" I know it ; but I detest a cheap carpet ; and
a good Brussels or velvet is beyond us entirely.
At any rate, there is nothing pretentious about an
ingrain. It may be ' poor ; ' but it's not shabby
genteel ; that is niy horror."
" But, even with ingrain carpets and Holland
shades, there will be very little left for furniture,"
said Mr. Cooper. "The cheapest sofa we saw
yesterday was thirty-five ; and the chairs were
four those very ugly mahogany chairs. I know
you did not like them."
" Oh, I've altered my mind since 1 I think
those we bought for the spare room will do for
the parlor ; and we can get some like the two hall
chairs for the dining-room."
124: THE COOPEKS.
Mr. Cooper responded with a whistle, and
then : " Who ever sees a parlor without stuffed
chairs mahogany at the very least ? "
" I can't help it. I'd rather have those grace-
ful chamber chairs than ugly or cheap ones that
would hurt my eyes as long as they lasted, and
want gluing every time any one sat down in a
hurry. Besides, it's the only way I can possibly
think of. And you don't know how I've worried
over it."
Mrs. Cooper's mental worry and physical exer-
tion had indeed worn upon her ; and, when the
last week came, and she began to think over her
packing of the getting settled when they were
moved she was ready to sit down in despair.
Mr. Cooper could not be expected to comprehend
it, of course, and came home nightly in the high-
est good humor, and as pleased as a child with a
new toy, at the idea of being in "his own house,"
as he chose to call it, the very next week. Mrs.
Cooper would have found it harder still if all the
furniture had to be packed. Fortunately, there
were but very few things to go from the house.
Even putting up their clothes, mantel ornaments,
THE LAUNCH. 125
and the thousand and one little things gathered
in the last two years, were almost too much for
her, with the prospect of a disordered, unfurnished
house, with cleaning and whitewashing for two
weeks to come. The last two days, she was unde-
niably cross. Johnny, of course, was neglected,
and took cold in the general uproar. She packed
her keys at the bottom of the largest trunk ; and
lost a whole morning in searching the house over
before her nurse suggested that perhaps she had
done so.
An hour of car time ; the new tenant moving
1 in trunks and boxes, her own going out ; no din-
ner, not even lunch, and the nurse gone an hour
for Johnny's milk. Was there ever so much to
try a woman's temper ? Mr. Cooper, in the bland-
est of humors, fairly picked up mother and child,
and carried them to the cab, piled perilously with
trunks. Mrs. Cooper palled her veil over her face
as soon as she was seated in the cars, and cried,
her usual resource in all emergencies. She was
cold and tired, and faint for want of food. Worse
still ; the much trusted Tiny, who was to have
met them at the depot, and who would at least
126 THE COOPEES.
have been capable of boiling a tea-kettle, was
nowhere to tie found. Of course, there was a de-
tention. The engine gave out five miles from
Irvington, and a weary hour was passed, while
impatient passengers slammed the door every
other moment, jarring her aching head, and let-
ting in a damp east wind.
Johnny was hungry and tired as well as
Johnny's mamma. To crown the discomforts of
the flitting, the milk had been put up in the yeast
bottlte, and was as bitter as hops !
Johnny's roars were redoubled by hungry dis-
appointment. Passengers indulged in remarks
which were uncomfortably audible in the stillness.
Mr. Cooper alone sustained himself, and grew
almost jubilant.
" All pretence, Murray's good spirits, or igno-
rance. Little he knows of getting settled." And
Mrs. Cooper drew a mental picture of what
awaited her : rooms blockaded by unpacked fur-
niture, cold and comfortless ; darkness, withal,
when they should have had two hours of day-
light ; china to be unpacked and washed before
THE LA.UNCH. 127
they could eat, and bedsteads to be set up before
she might rest.
She thought of Mr. Henderson's predicted
chills, and shivered as they forlornly emptied
themselves at last on the platform of the depot.
The fences were brown and gray in the twilight,
the trees almost leafless, the roads muddy.
" Here we are ! " said Mr. Cooper, as the
shabby-looking public conveyance drew up for
them. He could not have rubbed his hands with
more outward satisfaction if it had been the Astor
House carriage to bear them to rooms secured in
advance, and an unquestionable table d'hote.
" I wonder if we can find some candles ; un-
fortunate, this arriving so late. Come, cheer up,
Matty ; it's all in a lifetime."
But Mrs. Cooper would not even look out until
they stopped in front of the gate. What could it
mean ? There were lights in the house above and
below. Mr. Cooper did not give her time to ask,
but lifted her out of the vehicle, and would not
set her down except upon the threshold ; and
there stood the missing Tiny, neat and cheerful,
with her hearty salutation : " You 're welcome
128 THE COOPERS.
home, ma'ain." And beyond her, through the
open door of the dining-room, a fire lighted up, a
tea-table already spread, and an appetizing odor
of broiled ham, unsentimental, but acceptable,
was diffused through the hall.
" Hun right up to your room, Matty. Don't
stop here," said Mr. Cooper, reappearing with
Johnny. " All right up there, Tiny ? Bring
some milk for the boy."
Mrs. Cooper was dumb. No wrecks of pack-
ing-boxes obstructed the hall. The stairs were
carpeted, so was her own room, and a cheerful
fire there also. No stranger would have known
that it had been uninhabited. The furniture was
arranged oddly, perhaps, but very comfortably ;
and before the fire stood a pretty work-table she
had longed for, but denied herself when pur-
chasing the rest, and her own nursery chair.
" There," said Mr. Cooper, putting her into
it, "what do you think of me for a house-
keeper 2 "
Ever thoughtful of her comfort and pleasure,
this pattern husband had concocted and carried
out his little plot with the aid of the ex-laundress,
THE LAUNCH. 129
Tiny, who proved to have inexhaustible good
humor and a little knowledge of every thing.
Already she had relieved the tired nurse of her
fractious charge, and was feeding him as handily
as possible.
Mrs. Cooper, completely exhausted, slept until
long after sunrise the next morning. A fresh soft
air greeted her as she threw up the window. The
sky was blue as in midsummer; the springing
grass had already brightened the little lawn ; and
crocuses bloomed in the flower borders ; birds
were singing, as though summer was already
come ; and she heard her boy call out with de-
light, and clap his hands, as he was borne about
on his father's shoulder.
They came in as she entered the dining-room,
and took her place at the neatly spread breakfast-
table. The child laid the first flower his plump
little hands had ever gathered beside her plate ;
and her husband stooped and kissed her forehead
softly at the same time.
Mrs. Cooper looked up with a loving, grateful
smile.
6*
130 THE COOPEKS.
"But I can scarcely believe it yet, Murray.
It is all so like a story-book." And her husband
felt more than repaid for his three days' stolen and
unaccustomed task-work.
CHAPTEE VI.
DAILY TRIALS.
One can bear the laceration of a severe wound heroically. It is the re-
peated sting of swarming gnats that drives us to distraction. My Novel.
" IT seems to me we have a great deal of
broiled ham lately," said Mr. Cooper, seating
himself at the dinner-table. He professed himself
to be as hungry as a hunter ; and no doubt he
was, for he had hurried to town without any
breakfast that morning, eaten a superficial lun-
cheon, and had been zealously at work in the gar-
den since the arrival of the early afternoon train.
" Let me see : we had ham on Saturday."
" Tes, I know," explained Mrs. Cooper, a little
nervously. " We were so busy getting the kitchen
closets in order."
' And ham on Monday."
" "Wash-day, Murray ; and there were so many
132 THE COOPERS.
clothes left over, last week, that I told Tiny not to
mind about dinner for one day."
" Yes. "Well, to-day is Thursday ; what 's the
matter with Thursday ? "
" We had beefsteak yesterday."
" I know it. Beefsteak is about as regular as
the ham."
" But there was roast beef on Sunday ; and
you know you never want any but the very best
piece ; and we must be economical."
" Beefsteak porter-house steaks such as we
have, are quite as expensive," said Mr. Cooper,
helping himself to a potato.
" But they are so easy to do."
" Ah ! how about the cookery-books ? Now
we begin to get at it. Ham is ' easy to do,' isn't
it?"
" I should like to know what time I have for
cookery-books or any thing else," said Mrs. Cooper,
who had been toiling all day in that department
of " settling," which is so tiresome, and yet makes
so little show getting boxes and drawers in order.
" We 've been here three weeks now. It 's
DAILY TRIALS. 133
pretty near time we were through, Martha. Think
how much I did in three days."
Mrs. Cooper was silent. She knew he had ac-
complished a great deal. But, when she came to
inspect his arrangements., some of them had to be
entirely remodelled, others dispensed with alto-
gether ; and, when all was granted, when carpets
and matting were down, beds up, and chairs set
about the room, that was the least, because the
most quickly accomplished in the toil of getting
to rights.
" We had to take down every dish in the
china-closet for one thing, and clean the shelves,
this morning," she said, presently ; " and my arm
aches now with dusting books and putting them
up ; then I unpacked my piece-trunk and the box
with your winter clothes, and had to contrive a
place for the bed-linen.' 5
" What ? with all these closets ? "
" Every one is full."
" How did we ever live in two rooms of a
boarding-house ? "
" I 'm sure I don't know. I 've thought of it
a dozen times to-day. Oh, and Murray, please
134 THE COOPERS.
bring up some clothes-pins to-morrow, and a fish-
kettle ! and I wanted to make some cake to-day,
and there 's no rose-water."
" I wonder if we shall ever get finished. I 'm
always loaded with packages. They will begin to
call me ' the man with the parcel ' in the cars ;
though, for that matter, every man carries a bun-
dle. I never saw any thing like it."
Mr. Cooper had managed to " crowd down,"
as he expressed it, " two large slices of the deli-
cately broiled ham, four potatoes, two spoonsful
of rice and a plate of spinach," and now leaned
back in one of the new chairs waiting for the cloth
to be removed, lamenting, as he often did, at this
stage of the proceedings, his constitutional lack
of appetite. The complaint of parcels was more
just. Every day had revealed some new necessity
despite the labor-saving list of Berian. The first
time they sat down to dinner they noticed that
something was wanting in the general contour of
the table. Mr. Cooper remarked it ; his wife
agreed ; and they discovered what it was when he
stretched out his hand habitually for the pepper.
They had forgotten a castor ; and the tin pepper-
DAILY TRIALS. 135
box from the kitchen was pressed into service for
the meal.
Tiny made no allusion to the lack of wooden
pins on the first washing-day, for the line was
missing also, and the clothes were dried on the
bushes and garden-fence ; but they could not well
be smoothed without irons ; and that part of her
labor was put off for two days, waiting for Mr.
Cooper to bring them out. The first day he had
too many other things ; the second, he forgot them,
having been busy at the store up to the last mo-
ment. So, as his wife had told him, the washing
was sadly behind-hand ; and every housekeeper
knows how that interferes with all other arrange-
ments, particularly when the laundress is also
cook and waiter.
As for the nurse, Catherine, or " Taty," as her
charge called her, she was constantly busy in
looking after him. She considered it necessary
to spend just as much time on his toilet as if he
was going out on Broadway or Washington Square.
Mrs. Cooper had never before realized how much
of every day was taken up with it until she needed
Kate's assistance. Johnny's hair did not curl nat-
136 THE COOPERS.
urally ; but an hour of every morning was spent
in coaxing it into the ringlets prescribed by fash-
ion, with the aid of soap and water, a curling-stick
and brush. The same operation was gone through
with at night before his father came home. He
still wore white dresses, one a day, and two aprons
barely sufficing to keep him respectable, with the
house in so much confusion and the kitchen-porch
so accessible. His short white petticoats, his low
patent-leather shoes, and thread socks, the flying
shoulder-knots of broad ribbon, and the sash for
afternoon wear, were all equally suitable to John-
ny's present state and condition ; his walks being
confined to a back country road, and visitors, so
far, a thing unknown. Of course, it occupied no
small time to keep this extensive wardrobe in
order; but Mrs. Cooper had always considered
herself very economical with Johnny, because he
wore stout threadlace where the children of her
friends appeared in Valenciennes. The deep Eng-
lish embroidery on his pantalettes was done by
her own needle, for her first essay in fancy-work
had been followed up industriously. He had but
one pair of sleeve-ribbons to every four soiled by
DAILY TRIALS. 337
his cousin, Frank Murray, and a cashmere coat
instead of a velvet one. That embroidery, Yalen-
ciennes, and sleeve-ribbons could be dispensed
with altogether had not entered into his mother's
calculations. A good dark merino coat would
outlast two of pale ashes-of-roses in fine cashmere,
which showed every touch, and faded at every
sunbeam ; but " nobody put such young children
into plain merinoes ; they had such an old look."
As for colored frocks, nothing could be endured
before the plaid cashmeres which he was to have
when he came to sacks the next winter. The
chamber-work fell to Kate's share, as in town ;
but Mrs. Cooper often made up her room rather
than see it in disorder until after lunch-time, as in
the days of the lamented Julia ; and, in that ap-
pointed for her servants' occupancy, she did not
care to look, for her reprimands were sure to be
met with the excuse that " there was no time ; "
and the girls as well as herself did seem busy all
day.
Notwithstanding the well-filled bookcase, and
her piano, their parlor had an uncomfortably new
look after the heavier furniture to which she had
138 THE COOPERS.
been so long accustomed ; and the dining-room
was plainer still, containing only such things as
were absolutely necessary to the ceremony of daily
meals. There was a lack of " cosiness," the home
look Mrs. Cooper particularly prized ; and, when
visitors began to pay " first calls " on the " new
family," as they were designated, she found her-
self feeling an inward necessity for apologizing,
which made her stiff and constrained, instead of
frank and cordial, which was her natural disposi-
tion. One cannot throw cold water on offered
courtesies, after this fashion, without getting a
share of the spray back again ; and Mrs. Cooper,
not considering herself at fault, wrote to her inti-
mate friend, Lizzie Grant, that the neighbors were
very reserved and formal, and she never should
make any friends among them. In town, she had
railed not a little at the frittering away of time
which morning calls and society generally made
necessary. " Hollow," " formal," " worldly,"
" artificial " all these epithets had tripped very
freely into her discussion of the outer set or circle
of her acquaintances. In the country, good feel-
ing, like her husband's green peas, was to thrive
DAILY TRIALS. 139
spontaneously ; and she was as ignorant of its cul-
tivation as Mr. Cooper was of the soil he had un-
dertaken to make " blossom as the rose " in a sin-
gle season.
One may be perfectly well aware that stimu-
lants even the morning cup of coffee are hurt-
ful ; yet, when given up at once, they are missed
and craved for. Simple beverages are insipid and
unsatisfactory, so much so that one is at first
tempted to go without altogether. Thus it was
with Mrs. Cooper and city life. When the nov-
elty of getting her house in order was over, time
began to hang heavily. There was plenty to do ;
but, if she sat sewing, her thoughts, revolving in
an undisturbed routine, grew wearisome. John-
ny's pranks were amusing ; but, after all, she
could not interchange a single idea with her most
constant companion apart from his food and naps ;
and she wearied even of Tiny's good-natured face,
and Kate's more refined but less amiable. As for
Mr. Cooper, none of these things troubled him.
In the cars and at business, the social part of his
nature was kept from stagnation ; and he could
not see what people wanted of company at home.
140 THE COOPEE8.
Home was the place to rest in ; to get out of the
way of the world. It was such a relief to have
no one to entertain evenings ; to be able, when he
came in from the garden at dark, to " put up his
feet, and think of nothing," as the old farmer said
of his church-going. If his wife wanted news,
there was the paper pocket-crumpled, smoke-
scented ; but that was a trifle. So Mr. Cooper's
repose oftenest ended in a sound nap ; while his
wife read items that were stale to him by twel ve
hours an age to a Gothamite. Out of doors, his
energy expended itself. He dibbled in a few gar-
den-seeds ; for successions, he walked around the
beds the village gardener had laid out, and
thought how much better he could have done it
all himself if he had time. He would have time
next year ; he could commence earlier in the sea-
son, and he would get up earlier mornings. Hab-
its of late rising could not be broken off at once.
He made vigorous resolutions over night, but slept
them all off again, started, off fifteen minutes be-
fore the late train was due, hurried his toilet,
scalded his throat with his coffee, and scarcely
had time to kiss his wife good-by.
DAILY TRIALS. 14:1
One of the chief pleasures they had promised
themselves as country dwellers was the fresh
morning walk to the depot, such as they had en-
joyed in the days of their summer at Tarry town.
But, as Mrs. Cooper took her solitary breakfast
day after day, watching from the window her hus-
band's rapid flight, she concluded that it would
not be worth while attempting to play Mrs. Gilpin
in such a foot-race.
It was beautiful to behold Mr. Cooper's energy
in out-of-door pursuits. The garden was his pet
economy, a fowl-house being scarcely secondary
to it. He commenced by ordering " a few things "
from a well-known nursery-garden. " A rosebush
or so, a few roots of pie-plants, a root of pinks, a
handful of grape-vine cuttings, you know," was
his concise and limited direction.
" Oh yes, certainly, sir ! " The man under-
stood him perfectly. The order was filled out so
was the bill, which came just to forty-five dollars.
Mr. Cooper did not think it necessary to mention
the amount of this little transaction at once to his
wile, ana tnerefore his qualms were in secret when
he heard her congratulate herself and him on hav-
142 THE COOPERS.
ing saved at least fifty dollars in going without
almost necessaries the present year. Seeds, dig-
ging and planting, pea-bushes, bean-poles, a few
half days' extra work at weeding and thinning
out, and in the flower borders, made a tolerable
offset to the vegetable department. Mr. Cooper
turned for consolation to his fowls. Poultry-shows
were fashionable that season. He attended by
way of gaining information, and could not resist
the temptation of a few "fancies," just to improve
the plain domestic couples with which he had com-
menced his collection. Internal wars ensued ; dis-
cords were the order of the day ; they fought, they
bled, they did every thing but what was expected
of them, lay eggs by the dozen, and bring up their
families in a painstaking and affectionate manner.
The fancy fowls " did not do well," in short ; and,
as they died off one by one from various causes,
Mr. Cooper did not mourn them deeply, though
he did regret the sums they had cost him.
The " Complete Handbooks " had stated that
the fowls were to be supported on the refuse ot
the kitchen, and the range of the barnyard, not
only comfortably but elegantly. As there was no
DAILY TRIALS. 143
barnyard, corn by the bushel took the place of
" pickings ; " and Tiny, not being over-scrupulous
in the management of peelings and parings, al-
lowed them to become a sad temptation to all the
dogs of the neighborhood, who were so much de-
lighted with the bones they found in the collec-
tion, that they paid nightly domiciliary visits, to
the upsetting of pails, and a wide distribution of
their contents on the back porch and its imme-
diate neighborhood.
Presently, there was a knocking together of
packing-boxes for coops, Mr. Cooper fancying that
the juveniles of the chicken-house would do better
under immediate surveillance ; and the thirty or
forty young chickens that began to promenade
anywhere in Tiny's dominions, and their scream-
ing, scolding mammas protruding their luckless
heads through the slats of their cottage residences,
completed the neatness and quietness of the back-
door yard.
Tiny's delinquencies were especially trying.
She was cleanly, but she had not the slightest
appreciation of order or management. She liked
to wash and iron, for that she understood. Get-
144 THE COOPERS.
ting breakfast or dinner she considered as so much
thrown into the bargain that was of very little
consequence, and the sooner and easier it was
managed the better. She could boil potatoes, and
boil or roast a plain steak or joint. Gravies were
a step beyond her experience, and desserts an
altogether unexplored region. In cooking, she
seized the first utensil that presented itself, boiled
milk for the baby in the quart measure, washed
the dishes in the bread-pan, swept the porch clear
of chickens with the carpet-broom, kept a general
assortment of odds and ends on the corner of the
mantel-piece, and in every corner of the closets,
though she cleaned them laboriously once a week,
and set the cups and plates of pieces, drippings,
cold tea, egg-shells, and meat scraps immediately
back again. Her sewing found a neat and conve-
nient receptacle in the salt-box. The salt col-
lected dust in an uncovered cake-pan. The spice
soon mingled its various odors and flavors in one ;
while the pump, the cistern-top, the railing of the
back piazza, and the garden-fence always presented
a collection of dusters, brooms, scrubbing-brushes,
kitchen -towels, and scrubbing-cloths of every pat-
DAILY TRIALS. 145
tern and color. Withal, she was so good-natured,
so ready to promise amendment, though as quick
to forget, so steadily occupied, half the time, in
" making herself work," by her bad management,
so patient with interruptions, so good-natured to
Johnny, that Mrs. Cooper could not make up her
mind to change.
The accumulation of sewing, which their sud-
den going to housekeeping had thrown upon her
hands ; the lack of cheerful society ; the gradually
increasing domestic disorder, which she lacked the
skill and the courage to check ; the strain, above
all, to limit their outlay to their diminished in-
come ; the mental worry of making one dollar do
the duty of three, and the unusual tax upon
thought as well as nerve in finishing what Katy
would not find time to accomplish, and Tiny
could not, about the house, began to tell upon
Mrs. Cooper's health, and seriously to affect her
once cheerful spirits.
In town, she had often excused herself from
out-of-door exercise by the trouble and time occu-
pied in dressing for the street. " It would be so
easy when they were once in the country," she
146 THE COOPERS.
often said to Murray ; she " would only have to
throw on her bonnet, and she should have so
much more leisure." Now, she had less than
ever ; and, when worn and fatigued with the cares
of housework, or bending over her needle, it was
so much easier to take a book, and throw herself
on the bed, that she constantly gave up to the
temptation ; and, before she knew it, afternoon
naps were stealing the strength which fresh air
and a change of the monotonous landscape would
have brought to her. Waking languid and un-
refreshed, Johnny, even when good-natured, dis-
turbed her with his incessant activity and noise.
So, though she would have been startled if the
charge had been made against her, she was fast
becoming a careless housekeeper, a neglectful
mother, a fretful, discontented wife. This much
trying to economize and build up her husband's
fortunes had done for her so far.
It was very hard that Murray could not be
made to see things exactly from her point of view.
He would complain when he found the meal for
his young brood mixed in the wash-basin, or when
the scrubbing-cloths were hung to dry on his
DAILY TRIALS. 14:7
young Antwerp raspberry or his standard rose-
bushes. He scolded her for tiring herself out ;
yet he was the first to notice when any thing was
left undone. He still groaned over ham and plain
rice-puddings, when, perhaps, she had given up
her original plan for the dinner because the
butcher, having the whole village at his mercy,
asked three cents a pound more than they did in
Fulton Market for lamb ; and there was not the
fruit and flavoring in the house to attempt the
Eve's pudding he was so fond of, and which she
had carefully studied out of the cookery-book.
This edifying volume was her constant companion ;
it peeped out from her work-basket, it lay upon
her dressing-table. She studied as hard over the
ingredients, weights, and measures, as she had
once done upon the axioms and problems of
Euclid; and yet she made very little advance in
the variety or excellence of their table. It was
very easy in town to say, " We will have a plain
soup, with a la nwde beef, Ann, and a Charlotte
Russe." But neither Tiny nor herself could un-
dertake the first ; and, as for the " Charlotte,"
where were the Savoy biscuit to come from to
148 THE COOPEE8.
begin with ? It was quite a descent to a bread-
pudding ; and then Murray would be sure to en-
tertain her with boarding-house tales stale as col-
lege jokes, but which doubtless had happened at
some time, relating to this " frugal housewife "
dessert, his favorite one being Sam Blodget's ad-
venture, who resolved his suspicions that the
brushings of the table entered into its composition,
by breaking up bits of his boxwood napkin-ring
one day, and, sure enough, the particles were
plainly recognized, by some person in the secret,
as among the ingredients of his saucer of pudding.
He had also an uncomfortable way of inquir-
ing, now and then though always doing full jus-
tice to what was set before him when she was
going to have a harico, a curry, fish done in that
way he described to her " stewed with wine and
things," as they used to have them at Delmonico-'s
or some of those nice little side-dishes Ann
used to make by way of variety. It was in vain
to urge Tiny's ignorance ; "you were going to
show her, you know," or, " if she doesn't suit, get
another," being the ready response.
Mrs. Cooper had never before known how
DAILY TRIALS. 149
much a housekeeper's peace of mind depended
upon her cook. Fortunately, they had had no one
staying with them so far, Mrs. Cooper having no im-
mediate relatives in the city, and their friends being
either in preparation for summer jaunts, or already
at watering-places. Mr. Henderson, her husband's
partner, was the exception. He was in danger,
through a standing invitation, and Mr. Cooper's
repeated urging, of raining down upon them at
any time ; and, though he was the best-hearted,
most home-like person she had ever known, even
Mr. Henderson's unexpected arrival fluttered her.
She was never sure of Tiny's culinary operations,
or her own experiments, held her breath involun-
tarily until Murray had pronounced on whatever
was set before him, and felt as though Mr. Hen-
derson had conferred an especial favor upon her
if he seemed to enjoy his dinner or breakfast.
Mr. Cooper, who was not celebrated for his
self-denying efforts in entertaining guests, enjoyed
these visits because Mr. Henderson made himself
so entirely at home. He listened to his gardening
and poultry theories with commendable patience
and a great deal of real interest ; besides, his sug-
150 THE COOPERS.
gestions were always practical, and therefore
valuable ; and, when dinner was out of the way,
and Johnny not fretting overhead, and breakfast
provided for the next morning, Mrs. Cooper al-
ways liked to listen to him ; he was so entirely
sincere, so hearty in his likes and dislikes, so for-
getful of himself and his own achievements, past,
present, or to come ; and, above all, his warm
heart, unspoiled and unchilled by conventionalities,
shone out in his smile, in his eyes, in his whole
face, when he talked of his mother and sisters.
Mrs. Cooper knew that he was their chief de-
pendence. He had spoken of it himself before
her ; and she had been struck with his manner of
doing so. Not as if their lack of means was any
thing to be ashamed of, or as if the dependence
on him was burdensome, or in any way reflecting
credit on himself, but of the pleasure of admin-
istering to those one loved, and his gratitude that
he had thus far been able to do so. Even this
much was inferred, not spoken.
" That 's what I like him for," said Mr. Cooper,
when his wife remarked it to him after one of Mr.
Henderson's pleasantest little visits. " That 's the
DAILY TRIALS. 151
way we first became friends. One of the boys
told me that Steve declined joining the celebrated
U. V. Club that I have told you about, because he
had to take care of his mother and the girls. He
was our book-keeper in the ' Marine,' then, you
know, and had less salary than I had. So I asked
him how he managed, one day, over a sociable
mutton-chop, for I was always head over heels on
pay-day, with only myself to look after."
" How did he ? " asked Mrs. Cooper, as hei
husband made a pause.
" Oh, well, he said he had to go in for cheap
pleasures ! and that took the wind out of my sails
for a moment, because I thought cheapness and
meanness were one and the same, somehow."
" I begin to believe they are." And Mrs.
Cooper thought disconsolately on the few under-
price investments she had been tempted into when
furnishing.
" Not his sort. There 's nothing mean about
Steve. No. He explained that he had books
from the ' Mercantile,' and went to their reading-
room instead of our club, tooted on the flute, you
know, painted a little and you ought to see that
152 THE COOPERS.
copy he's just made of the Old Farm-Gate we saw
at Williams & Stevens's. So he never had time
to smoke, or for late suppers, or any of our per-
formances. He used to get run for it. Sam
always called him the Grand Mufti."
" That sounds like Sam Blodget," said Mrs.
Cooper.
" But he never minded. Perhaps he did, way
down, but no one found it out. I remember,"
said Mr. Cooper, growing energetic in his admira-
tion of his friend's good behavior, now that he
could appreciate something of the self-denial and
moral courage it must have involved " I remem-
ber once making a bet that I 'd have Steve out on
tho avenue, behind a fast horse, that afternoon ;
and some of the fellows were to be at the ' Red
House,' to receive us with three cheers. So there
he was, dabbling away on a miserable little land-
scape, for he'd just begun then.
" ' Come, come,' said I "
" Oh, fie, Murray, to try and turn him off I "
" Just you listen. He picked up a piece of
chalk, and began making marks on the wall,
never saying a word. So, when I got through.
DAILY TRIALS. 153
he pointed to it, and, said he, ' there's your an-
swer, old fellow common metre. I '11 give you
the pitch, if you 'd like to sing it.' And there it
was
' Idle men and boys are found
Standing on the devil's ground ;
He will give them work to do ;
He will pay their wages too.' "
"A great pity you hadn't laid it to heart,"
said Mrs. Cooper, who was industriously employed
in drawing threads, and marking a piece of towel-
ling into lengths. " There, cut those off for me ;
won't you, Murray? That will save a few minutes
of ' idle hands,' and mine a blister, perhaps. I J ve
done so much cutting out, lately."
" I 've been thinking " and Mr. Cooper amia-
bly responded to this invitation " that we ought
to ask his mother here for a month or so."
Mrs. Cooper's smiles vanished.
"She's so far off; and he gets to see her so
seldom. He can't leave, any way, just now,"
added Mr. Cooper, without looking up, and so all
unconscious of the gathering clouds.
" She 's a perfect stranger to us, Murray.
7*
154 THE COOPEKS.
Why, what are you thinking of? How in the
world can we have company ? "
" Why can't we as well as anybody else ? "
" Tlie girls have their hands full now, and I 'm
sure I have."
" One person can 't make much difference."
Mrs. Cooper said nothing.
" Besides " Mr. Cooper was getting more in
love with his little project every moment " I
think we owe it to Steve ; and he would enjoy it
beyond every thing, having his mother so near."
"We can't afford to have company. We
should have to make some difference."
" Not a bit of it. The way to make people
feel perfectly at home is to let them see that they
don't put one out by a pin. Besides, she 's been
accustomed to living plainly, you know."
" Yes ; and she 's a good housekeeper ; and I "
" Don't know any more about it :
"Than you do about poultry," said his wife,
abruptly, to spare herself a less comfortable com-
parison. " I do my best,"
" Well, then, what are you fussing about ? "
And Mr. Cooper began to sing.
DAILY TKIALS. 155
f
" An angel, you know, can't do more."
" But we must have Mrs. Henderson here, un-
less you have some better reason than any I 've
heard yet ; and, if you don't know about things,
and she does, have her show you."
" A stranger can't come into another person's
house, and manage for them."
Mrs. Cooper stooped down, and began to fold
up the lengths of " huckabuck," for fear she should
say something still more unamiable. She was
frightened at herself at the angry retorts and
miserable feelings that sprang up in her heart.
She could not explain to her husband that, jaded
as she was in mind and body, it would be uncom-
fortable to have any one, even Lizzie Grant, to
entertain, much more a stranger so much older
than herself, and one she had grown to regard an
incarnation of all household virtues from her son's
loving and oftentimes unconscious praise. He
would have thought it foolish, and said so. He did
not understand " nervousness ; " what man does ?
It is with them but another name for ill-temper
and self-indulgence. Perhaps it is too much so
with ourselves. But oftentimes it becomes a real,
156 THE COOPEES.
almost insurmountable, because intangible evil,
far harder to cope with and subdue than bodily
pain. We can only console ourselves with the
wish that they might " try it once " they who
complain of a headache, brood over a light in-
fluenza, and want nursing for a sore throat.
Taking silence for consent, Mr. Cooper, who
really saw no good reason why he should not give
his friend the pleasure of having his mother near
him, despatched an invitation to that effect, the
next morning, without further consultation ; and,
when Mrs. Cooper knew of it, the matter was past
recall. She felt ashamed of her own inhospitality
when Mr. Henderson came out, the Saturday fol-
lowing, expressly to thank her for her thought-
fulness, for Mr. Cooper had sent the message in
his wife's name ; and that morning its acceptance
had arrived. She was punished with a painful
feeling of insincerity while listening to the extract
from Mrs. Henderson's letter, in which her name
was so kindly mentioned.
" It is such an unexpected blessing seeing you
this fall, my dear son, that I scarcely know how
to be sufficiently thankful," wrote this good
DAILY TRIALS. 157
mother. " I know it would be impossible for you
to leave your business, or to add the expense of
my stay at your boarding-house to that of the
journey, should I come to you. So I had tried to
give up this long-looked-for happiness cheerfully ;
for you know what your yearly visits home have
ever been to me ; and now, when I least expected
it, it is more than made up to me ; for I shall
know these good friends you write so much about,
and especially Mrs. Cooper, to whom I have long
felt grateful for making you so welcome in her
home. Tell her this, with my ready acceptance
of her kind invitation."
" There, didn't I tell you so ? " said Mr. Coop-
er, the first moment they were alone together.
" Steve has scarcely been able to attend to any
thing this week until he found out whether his
mother was coming. I should think it was a lady-
love, instead of a mother, he expects. Brilliant
idea of mine, wasn't it ? You 'd better let her get
these girls of yours in order for you, Martha."
Mrs. Cooper had been softened by the knowl-
edge that they had made Mr. Henderson and his
mother happy ; but this suggestion threw her
158 THE COOPEK8.
back into her original mood ; and she inwardly
resolved that, on the contrary, her visitor should
never know, or suspect even, her inexperience.
" Not if I work myself into a fever," she said
to herself. " She shall never know whether I
have a kitchen or not."
She really meant to accomplish a miracle of
order and regularity by redoubling her own exer-
tions. She forgot that both for ourselves and
others " there is no taking a leap in virtue." Her
boy woke from his first sleep, and cried fretfully
as she came to this heroic conclusion.
" How Henderson does love his mother ! " said
Mrs. Cooper, as she stooped over the crib. " Some-
how, you don't often see it in a man. I wonder
if Johnny will ever love me so ! I thought of it,
to-night, when he was talking."
The child had been so little with her of late
that he was getting beyond her control. <l Do
way ; me want Taty," he said, pushing away the
glass of water she held to his lips.
" That doesn't look much like it," Mr. Cooper
said, to add to the complacent feeling with which
she saw that he had spilled the water over his
DAILY TJBIALS. 159
bed and night-dress, so that, tired as she was,
both must be changed ; and when Mrs. Cooper
finally lay down herself, it was with the firm
belief that the trials of no wife and mother
equalled her own.
CHAPTEE VII.
THE CBISIS.
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall
Down comes baby, and cradle, and all.
MOTHER GOOSE.
THERE is a crisis in every fever, a culmination
to all misfortunes, a crowning-point to all mishaps.
Such a day came to Mrs. Cooper's housekeeping
experience.
There is one beauty of living in the country
which Mr. Sparrowgrass has forgotten to mention,
and which proves most conclusively that he has
never put his hand to the domestic mill.
"Afternoons out" are the dread and abhor-
rence of every woman who employs a female as-
sistant, from the young mother who is condemned
to a half Sunday of church-going from the time
she is a mother, to the mistress of a house com-
THE CRISIS. 161
pelled to pause in inviting guests, and think
"whose afternoon it is." If the cook's, supper
may be a failure ; if the waiter's, it is impossible ;
if the chambermaid's, both cook and waiter are
" out of sorts " with the division of duty and their
particular share. But in the country these holi-
days extend themselves. " It isn't worth while to
pay a dollar, ma'am, and not stay over night."
True ; the mistress agrees, more or less amiably.
And then it is so easy not to know " when the
train started," to " be hindered by the storm," to
" get belated in the omnibus," to " have a sick
sister, or mother, or grandfather." The causes for
detention are as numerous as the necessities that
are constantly arising for the trip itself.
Mrs. Cooper was aroused by the dreaded re-
quest, " Could you spare me the day, ma'am ? "
from reading a long and sympathizing letter in
Lizzie Grant's lady-like hand-writing, which she
was just preparing to answer. Her writing mate-
rials were laid out. A fresh quire of delicate
paper, a new pen, her favorite inkstand and port-
folio occupied the deep window-seat. She felt
162 THE COOPERS.
that she should enjoy her chat ; she was just in
the mood for letter-writing.
" To-day ! " Mrs. Cooper echoed the request
with a startled confusion of ideas. " What day
is it ? "
" Friday, ma'am ; an' Johnny 's asleep."
" How long do you want to be gone, Kate ? "
" Me sister is in, that I haven't seen in five
years, ma'am ; an' me cousin 's come wid her ; an'
I 've the rnakin' of a driss to buy, an' some shoes ;
an' a boy from our place "
" Pray, don't be so long ! " said Mrs. Cooper,
impatiently. " Do you want to stay till the last
train ? "
" Till the first train, if it 's all the same,
ma'am."
" The first train ? "
" Monday mornin'."
" What ! all day to-morrow and Sunday ?
No ; I can't spare you so long," said Mrs. Cooper,
decidedly.
The girl was evidently bent on her plan.
" I hurried an' done the cleanin', ma'am, all
the rooms up stairs, an' washed the windies. Cook
THE CRISIS. 163
says she '11 see to Master Johnny, for she 's over
wid the heaviest until wash-day ; an' thin it 's the
first train I '11 be out in."
Mrs. Cooper had noticed and commended her
unusual activity but an hour before. It was one
thing which contributed to the cheerful mood in
which she proposed to herself the pleasant task
of letter-writing instead of the basketful of mend-
ing, which made its appearance as regular as the
fish on Friday.
" Katy is certainly improving," she said to her-
self. " I always thought she could find more time
if she chose to." And now it was very provoking
to discover that self-interest lay at the root of the
matter. It was an unlucky argument for Kate's
cause.
" Sure you said 1 could go the next time," mut-
tered the girl, retreating sullenly from a second
and still more irritable denial.
Mrs. Cooper took up her pen, endeavored to
soothe her ruffled spirits, and wrote "Dearest
Lizzie " in a very determined manner ; but Kate's
last shot had told. There was no denying the
promise ; for Mrs. Cooper, feeling particularly un-
164 THE COOPERS.
equal to the care of Johnny, the last time she had
applied for leave of absence, bought her off with
the promise of going next time, and staying long-
er when she did go. How she wished now that
she had not put off the evil day ! for it was almost
time for Mrs. Henderson's expected visit ; and
then she could not be spared under any press of
circumstances. It was the last opportunity. Mrs.
Henderson had not been able to say exactly when
she would leave, as it depended upon her escort,
a friend with whom she was to travel, but by the
last of the next week certainly.
Katy must go.
Mrs. Cooper forced herself to the conclusion
very unwillingly. Johnny had taken cold, as he
always did when " any thing in particular " was
going on. They had not considered him a delicate
child, nor was he so naturally, if he had been left
to himself; but, nursed so constantly, he felt the
least neglect, and suffered from it. So his cough,
and the slight fever with it all of which his
father set down under the general head of " teeth-
ing " had kept her awake more than usual for
several nights. " Johnny was asleep," Kate
THE CRISIS. 165
said. " If he would only sleep till Monday mom-
ing!"
Mrs. Cooper went up stairs to give the desired
permission, in much the same frame of mind as
if she had sentenced herself to six months in a
penitentiary. She dreaded to undertake Johnn}^
His bath, his food, his toilet had of late been
trusted entirely to his nurse. He would be sure
to look like a fright, for she never had been suc-
cessful in soap and water curls ; and he had be-
come so refractory of late that it needed an ex-
hausting amount of coaxing, singing, and Mother
Goosing generally to get him comfortably through
the operation. Kor was Master Johnny so much
to be blamed, by an impartial observer, in declin-
ing to sit up for two hours a day with a wet towel
pinned tight around his neck, soapsuds dripping
in his eyes, and admonished to "kape still," or
" howld his head around," every attempt he made
at amusing himself. ~No wonder that Johnny had
colds.
It was not until the next morning that Mrs.
Cooper fully realized what she had undertaken.
The blessed morning nap, to which the mother is
166 THE COOPERS.
as much entitled as the carver to his ten minutes'
grace, was usually secured by Kate's removal of
the young gentleman, who, of course, was broad
awake with the first streak of daylight. Mrs.
Cooper roused herself sufficiently to prop him up
securely in his crib, and presented him her slip-
pers for playthings. Lapsing softly into dream-
land, a tolerably heavy blow from one of them
roused her again. He had finished the slippers to
his own satisfaction, pulling the bow off of one,
and sucking the cherry-colored embroidery of the
other. Fortunately, his mamma was too sleepy to
realize the mischief; and, reaching towards the
dressing-table, she tossed him a brush and comb,
a half-empty cologne bottle, and an extinguisher.
Five minutes of quiet, two of delightful uncon-
sciousness on his mother's part, was broken in
upon by a wilful cry of " More ! more ! " from the
insatiable juvenile, tugging a night-cap string,
and the half-asleep exclamation from his papa
" Can't you stop that child's noise, Matty ? What
is to pay ? Why don't you wake up and attend
to him ? "
" Why don't you ? " was the quick mental re-
THE CRISIS. 167
tort. " I have been fussing this hour with him.
There, Johnny, you tiresome child. Oh, dear ! I
declare, if he hasn't upset my fine German cologne
all on this counterpane ! It has taken the color
out ; it is ruined."
" And cut his mouth with the bottle into the
bargain. His face is covered with blood ! Good
fathers, Martha, how could you give it to him ? "
Mr. Cooper, thoroughly roused, sprang up, and
snatched Johnny from the crib. His wife, who
saw the unharmed flask lying on the floor, com-
prehended the cause of the red stains at once ;
and her happiness and amiability were not in-
creased at finding her new slippers hopelessly de-
faced. It was a bad beginning for a busy day.
The only hope was that Johnny would take an
unusually long nap to make amends for his morn-
ing sleeplessness. But this he did not incline to
do. Tired out with bathing and dressing him,
there was the chamberwork to be done, with the
boy to amuse at the same time ; and, exhausted
with her morning's exertions, and the unusual
heat of the day, which seemed like a fervid back-
ward glance of the departed summer, Mrs. Cooper
168 THE COOPERS.
took him in her arms, and descended to the kitchen
in the hope of finding Tiny almost through, and
ready to amuse him, while she tried to rest.
But Tiny's dominions, never famous for their
order, seemed in unusual confusion. The clock
pointed to twelve ; but the breakfast dishes still
stood piled up on one table, the silver soaking in
cold suds in the cedar tub, vegetables partially
prepared for soup, apples half peeled for pies,
with a knife standing upright, and blackening in
each pan, flour sifted for the paste, butter melting
in the heat instead of hardening on the ice as it
should have been. Friday's extra wash of towels
and aprons, covered with a swarm of flies, on the
cloth es'-horse, and an unswept floor, completed
the dreary picture. Tiny herself was the dreariest
object of all. Never before had Mrs. Cooper
seen any thing but a smile on her face in the
busiest or most burdened moment. Now she was
sitting quite still, her head bent down on her
folded arms, lying in an attitude of discourage-
ment and helplessness on the table. A small
woollen shawl was tied around her, warm as the
THE CRISIS. 169
day had proved ; and her arms were wrapped in
her check apron.
The reprimand died on Mrs. Cooper's lips.
She was really alarmed.
" Are you sick, Tiny ? "What is the matter ? "
The girl lifted up her face with a blank ex-
pression.
" Yes ; it 's me head. It feels quarely."
" Have you been sick long ? "Were you sick
yesterday when Katy went away ? "
A sudden recollection of her unfortunate posi-
tion, if Tiny should prove seriously ill, in Kate's
absence, made Mrs. Cooper all ready to feel ag-
grieved if the answer was affirmative.
" No, ma'am ; it was the mornin' I took it, wid
feelin' wake an' quare-like."
" Isn't there any thing you can take ? Did you
ever feel so before ? "
" Sure I don't know, ma'am."
" Perhaps you had better lie down."
Mrs. Cooper faltered as if she were suggesting
a bastinado for herself. Her arms ached already
with holding Johnny ; and she felt as if she could
scarcely keep up herself, much less amuse him,
170 THE COOPERS.
and attempt to reduce the mountain of work be-
fore her. It was a great relief that, instead of
accepting the proposition, Tiny stood up, and pro-
fessed herself feeling a little better, and ready to
return to her manifold tasks. It was a peculiarity
of the unmethodical Tiny to get " all her irons in
the fire " at once, and give each a rub, so to speak,
in turn.
But it was a short relief. Half an hour after,
the girl fairly gave out ; and Mrs. Cooper saw that
it was useless for her to attempt keeping up any
longer. Her pulse was quick and hard ; her face
flushed with fever. The only hope was that a
sleep might benefit her. She thought it would.
Mrs. Cooper's first attempt was to induce
Johnny to try the same experiment ; but for two
hours he obstinately resisted all inducements.
The bed, the crib, the rocking-chair, were tried in
turn ; the blandishments of future sugar-plums
when he woke, the soothing melody of " hush, my
dear," were tried in vain. Johnny missed his
Katy, and her invariable " Nelly Ely." He could
not go to sleep on any other tune. Novelty did
not agree with him. But at length exhaustion
THE CRISIS.
in
prevailed where coaxing could not ; and Mrs.
Cooper was free to commence her operations
below stairs.
It was a depressing survey. The chickens had
taken advantage of Tiny's absence to transform
the kitchen into a Central Park for their after-
noon promenade, pecking at the apples and pota-
toes by way of refreshments. The hour hand of
the clock had advanced from twelve to three ;
the sun shone fiercely in at the windows ; and the
fire had taken its. departure for lack of fuel.
She had seen Tiny clear out the cinders and
ashes with her hands. She looked at her own in
dismay. Mrs. Cooper's one weakness was her
hands. The kindlings were in the cellar ; so was
the coal ; and the hod was empty. She turned to
the loaded table, the littered chairs. Literally,
she did not know where to begin.
" Oh, Murray ! "
The sigh of relief came from the bottom of her
heart as she heard the gate click, and saw her
husband coming up the path with his usual assort-
ment of Saturday parcels under his' arm. He
often took half holiday, school-boy fashion, and
172 THE COOPEKS.
came np in the early train, leaving Mr. Hender-
son to do double duty, and satisfying himself with
the demands of the garden upon his time. Jle
had never received such an energetic welcome
before, for Mrs. Cooper rather dreaded his busy
days at home. It was " Martha, where's the ham-
mer ? " " Can you get me some twine as well as
not ? " " Just run up and look in the left pocket
of my gray coat, and see if my garden knife is
there," every five minutes. She always resigned
herself to a series of these and similar interrup-
tions to the business of the day, one of which was
an urgent invitation to "just come out a minute,
and see how that great squash has grown the last
two days ; " or, " don't you want to hold the string
for me while I tie up those tomatoes ? "
It was Mr. Cooper's turn to be pressed into
service now; and very useful and consoling he
made himself.
" Never mind bothering about the dinner,
if that's all. Any thing will do for me. I'll
fix it. Oysters, Matty." And he held up a little
tin can. " "Was n't it lucky ? the first of the sea-
son. And 1 thought they'd taste a great deal
THE CRISIS. 173
nicer here at home. I'm splendid at an oyster
stew. Here, you just empty up these pans. I'll
make that fire. We '11 have our dinner and sup-
per together, right off; and then you can have
the afternoon to put things to rights in."
Mrs. Cooper went to the dining-room to lay
the table ; but even this, simple as it seemed, was
more of a task than she counted on. The " salts"
were to be filled, the knives had not been cleaned
since breakfast, she did not know where half the
things were kept, and lost time in hunting for
them. She had no idea, before, how many steps
lay between the china-closet and the dining-room ;
and, of course, Johnny woke up in the midst of it.
Mr. Cooper was in his element. He was help-
ing his wife; he was experimenting as to how
things ought to be done ; he was enjoying a favor-
ite supper dish in advance, as the fire burned up
freshly, and a savory odor streamed from the
saucepan he so carefully tended.
Mrs. Cooper acknowledged the stew was deli-
cious ; but she was so tired and worried that she
could not do more than taste it, much to her hus-
band's disappointment. Johnny's busy little hands
174: THE COOPERS.
fished for bits of cracker as she held him before
her on her lap ; and, taking advantage of what he
scarcely comprehended, growing bolder, he upset
the salt, and made dangerous passes at the water-
goblet, fork, knife in short, every thing within
reach of his mother's plate.
"I'll tell you," said his father, after one of
these lively sallies on Johnny's part ; " set him up
in his high chair, and let him feed himself. Give
him some of the soup on some cracker in a saucer
of his own. Johnny, want to sit up, like a little
man, by papa ? Well, Johnny shall."
" But he 's never tried to feed himself in the
least, Murray," said Mrs. Cooper, with an appre-
hension of fresh disasters.
" Oh, let him try ! He 's old enough."
" He '11 slop himself from head to foot."
Nevertheless, Mrs. Cooper yielded up her
charge not unwillingly, and began to rub the
weary arm that had been around him. She
agreed to his father's opinion that he could not
look much worse than he did ; but Johnny's sub-
sequent appearance proved to the contrary. He
had managed not only to " slop " his clothes, but
THE CRISIS. 175
to besmear face, eyes, and his long uncurled hair
in the most liberal manner.
Mr. Cooper undertook the child's toilet, and to
carry him off awhile. Mrs. Cooper, in the mean
time, paid a visit to Tiny in the hope of finding
her able at least to clear away their informal
meal.
But, alas ! Tiny lay moaning and tossing in
such a fever as Mrs. Cooper had never before
seen ; and her answers were so incoherent that,
in alarm, Johnny and his father were dispatched
immediately for the physician.
"Oh, Murray! what shall I do ? I don't
know any thing about sickness ; and we can't get
at Katy in any way before Monday morning ; and
the house in such a state ! I 'm so tired, I could
cry."
Mrs. Cooper fairly wrung her hands ; and her
husband acknowledged that it was a very hard
case.
" Is n't there any washerwoman or somebody
in the village you could get for a day or two \
Suppose I ask the doctor."
" Men never know about such things. Oh,
176 THE COOPEKS.
dear ! I wish I was intimate enough with any
one in the neighborhood to ask them."
Mrs. Cooper had herself, together with her
husband's disinclination to visiting, to thank that
she was not. The true, social, good feeling of a
country neighborhood was, as yet, beyond her
comprehension.
The doctor was out ; but he would be in before
dark, and come rouud directly. Mr. Cooper evi-
dently had something else on his mind besides
this message when he returned. Mrs. Cooper
looked towards the window, following his slyly
uneasy glance. A light trolling wagon, with a
pair of fine gray horses, stood under the great
walnut-tree. A gentleman, in a plaid " cut-
away," leaned forward, touching the flies that set-
tled on the fine creatures, aiming scientifically
with the extreme tip of his long whip-lash.
" It 's Sam. 1 happened to meet him on my
way home. He 's brought his horses up, and is
staying over Sunday at Tarrytown. I would n't
ask him in, you see, knowing what a fix you were
in."
" I '11 take Johnny, then," said Mrs. Cooper,
THE CRISIS. 177
amiably, considering her antipathy for Mr. Blodget,
and the state of the case generally.
" I guess he '11 go to bed pretty soon. He
seems tired and sleepy. I won't be gone long ;
that is, Sam wants me to see that off horse in
harness ; it 's a new one ; and it 's such a splendid
evening. Is there any thing more I can do for
you, Matty, before I go ? "
Mr. Cooper did not feel altogether at ease as
he bowled away over the smooth hard road, and
thought of his wife's despairing negative to his
last question.
<: She said I could n't help her," he reflected,
by way of easing his conscience ; " and that she
knew I had so few opportunities for a drive.
That 's a fact ; I 've given up a great deal ; and I
don't know what she would have done without
me, if I hadn't happened to come home this
afternoon. She was foolish to let that girl go.
Jehu ! " And the original Murray Cooper in his
fast days roused up, as the horse began to display
its points. " A stunner, is n't she ? Perfect Lady
Gay Spanker ! That ought to be her name ! "
It was almost dark before the Doctor arrived.
8*
178 THE COOPERS.
Mrs. Cooper could only hold Johnny and watch
for him from the dining-room window. She could
hear Tiny toss and moan overhead, and Johnny
coughed harder than ever, from having been car-
ried out by his father without his sack, she
thought. It was a relief when she recognized the
physician, who had called upon her with his wife,
coming towards the house.
" Not the boy, I hope," he said, pleasantly, as
she went to the door to meet him.
" Oh, no ! " And she ushered him up to his
patient's room, and walked her own wearily, with
Johnny lying over her shoulder, screaming and
coughing alternately ; he had arrived at that in-
teresting period, " being afraid of strangers ; " and
the Doctor's good-natured advances, at making
his acquaintance, had set him off afresh.
u Don't, Johnny ; don't, mamma's little man ;
there, there ! Oh, if Murray would only come
home ! Oh, how he coughs ! " groaned Mrs.
Cooper.
It was quite dark as the Doctor made his ap-
pearance at the door of her room.
" Pretty sick ! pretty high fever ! will make
THE CRISIS. 179
it all right, though ! Now, if you will give me a
light, Mrs. Cooper."
A light ! It flashed into her mind that the
lamps were not trimmed ; and there was not a
candle in the house !
" Won't he come to me ? " said the Doctor, as
she stood still in her forced promenade. But
Johnny declined, as he did having his mother sit
down, with the most violent screams of combined
fatigue and terror ; which brought on a renewed
attack of coughing, almost strangulation.
" I 'in afraid I can't get you one."
" Oh, never mind, it 's not of the least conse-
quence ; I shall do very well by the window."
And the Doctor, scarcely able to distinguish rhu-
barb from ipecac, took out his pocket-case of
remedies. " A bit of paper, if you please ! This
powder immediately, and here, I will prepare two
more, to be given an hour apart ; and then I will
send some pills to be taken every two hours
through the night, after the fever breaks ; and
don't let her exert herself for two or three days ;
she 's got a tremendous constitution, and the chill
must have been pretty heavy."
180 THE COOPEKS.
"The chill!"
" Yes ; it 's a pretty bad case of chills and
fever. It's about as hard as any that's come
under my notice this year."
" But is there ague here, Doctor ? " Mrs.
Cooper felt her heart sink within her. This was
the terrible scourge of the country then, that she
dreaded scarcely less than cholera.
" Oh, yes ; oh, yes ; sometimes arising here,
and sometimes brought from the city. A little of
it, at times. I dare say she 's been careless and
exposed herself," said the Doctor, straining his
eyes in the thick darkness that settled down upon
them. " Let your other girl give her one of these
every hour.
" But she 's gone to town ; I 'm quite alone,"
explained Mrs. Cooper.
" Ah, that 's unfortunate ! I thought it best
to give very active remedies ; and she ought not
to get about for several days. How long has your
little boy had his cough ? You know it is whoop-
ing-cough, I suppose ? "
Mrs. Cooper felt stunned ! She followed the
doctor to the door, mechanically, trying to com-
THE CRISIS. 181
prehend his directions for Tiny's medicines, and
the soothing mixture he was to send over for
Johnny.
" The whooping-cough ! A six months' trial !
Chills and fever ! What next ? "
She had scarcely asked herself the question,
when a roll of wheels sounded along the smooth
hard road, and ceased before the house. Her
husband at last ; and he would hold Johnny while
she got a light. She hurried into the hall, and
fairly threw herself into his arms, ready to pour
out her dismal history. But no ! it was Mr. Hen-
derson and she regained her equilibrium to find
him trying to introduce his mother in the dark,
and to explain that she had arrived unexpectedly
after Mr. Cooper left, and so he had brought her
out himself in the last train !
There was but one orderly room in the house,
the parlor, and thither she led the way ; bethink-
ing herself, in the emergency, of a solitary candle,
which had been used to light a porcelain trans-
parency, and a box of matches which Mr. Coop-
er's peculiar notions of convenience had installed
behind a picture on the mantle where it stood.
182 THE COOPERS.
Mr. Henderson, familiar with the premises, and
entirely unconscious of the position of household
affairs, seated his mother on a lounge, and hurried
to her assistance.
The light fell on her disordered dress ou
Johnny, worse than unpresentable. She thought
of the kitchen that was to have been so neat, of
the table still standing, and nothing to offer her
guests, of the unprepared chambers, of the help-
less, suffering Tiny ; all rushed to her mind, as it
is said a lifetime is compressed into the last
moment of consciousness to a drowning man !
She began an apology, but her voice failed, and
she could only sink into an easy chair, bend her
head down on Johnny's shoulder, and fairly sob
aloud.
Mr. Henderson stood confounded, and no won-
der. His mother's quick comprehension took in
something more of Mrs. Cooper's hysteric burst,
especially as she recognized the dreaded explosive
gasp in Johnny's renewed cough.
!' Never mind, my dear ; we shall do very
well. There, there," she added, crossing the
room, and patting her shoulder as she would have
THE CRISIS. 183
soothed a child. "I was afraid we should in-
terfere with your arrangements, but Stephen
thought not. You must let us take care of our-
selves."
The effect of the touch and kindly tone was
indescribable. Mrs. Cooper could not remember
her mother ; but, as she looked up into those
friendly soft brown eyes, she felt that she could
trust Mrs. Henderson as if she stood in that most
comforting of all relations. Even Johnny seemed
under the same kindly spell, and went to her out-
stretched arms as if it had been Katy herself,
after a moment or two of very contradictory emo-
tions, which were plainly visible in his rapidly
changing face.
Mrs. Cooper thought of her resolution that
Mrs. Henderson should never know "whether
she had a kitchen or not," an hour later, as her
guest stood in the midst of its disorder, reducing
it to respectability with her own hands, dis-
playing a readiness and ease that were mar-
vellous to Mrs. Cooper, as she worked under her
direction-
184: THE COOPEK8.
" So much for pride and obstinacy," she
thought ; but the acknowledgment was to herself
mentally. " Strictly private and confidential," as
her husband would have said.
CHAPTER VIII.
A MOTHER'S WAGES.
" Take this child away, and nurse it for me ; and / will give thee thy
wages."
MRS. COOPER'S own room was partially dark-
ened. September had deepened into brown Oc-
tober ; the foliage was fluttering softly to the
lawn, which was still green and bright as velvet ;
while the borders were gay with a few late roses
and cheerful chrysanthemums of every color.
The sun, at mid-day, streamed through the branch-
es now thinned from the summer luxuriance of
their foliage ; and, as we have said, the curtains
were drawn to exclude them.
A wood fire, made necessary by the coolness
of the early morning, was dying out in red and
still glowing embers upon the hearth. The scru-
pulous neatness of every thing in the arrangement
186 THE COOPEK8.
of the room was especially grateful to the occu-
pant of the nicely made bed with its fresh linen
and exactly folded counterpane. Mrs. Cooper
was an invalid, the mother of a little girl, John-
ny's little sister ; and her white face, as it turned
languidly to the pillow, had an expression of
thankful rest that it had not worn for many a day.
The frail little creature, whose unexpected ad-
vent had changed the unwelcome guest into the
faithful nurse and friend, now began to gather
strength daily, and promised to overcome the
threatened dangers that made its life seem at first
but a fluttering, transient breath. It was Mrs.
Henderson's watchfulness and care, the good phy-
sician said, to which Mr. Cooper owed the safety
of both wife and child ; and his gratitude was un-
bounded. Under ordinary circumstances, she
might have departed as she had come, a genial,
useful, pleasant guest ; but this had made them
friends for life, and established an almost mater-
nal influence over both the young people ; towards
whom her heart was warmed, even before she had
seen them, for her son's sake.
Mrs. Henderson sat before the fire, in a low
A. MOTHER'S WAGES. 187
chair, with the little one, in its soft flannel wrap-
pers, lying in her lap. She had just bathed and
dressed it for the day ; while Mrs. Cooper lay
watching her silently, and envying the ease and
skill with which her difficult task was accom-
plished, and the pleasure she seemed to take in it.
Then her eyes wandered to the neat gingham
morning-dress and apron, the snow-white linen
collar pinned so exactly at the throat, the silver-
thridded hair smoothed back from her low, broad
forehead, and the soft brown eyes bent upon the
child as tenderly as if it had been her own. The
whole face spoke of a peaceful cheerfulness Mrs.
Cooper envied, but could not understand, when
she remembered the many trials and hardships of
Mrs. Henderson's early life, and the straitened
circumstances in which she was still placed, de-
pendent chiefly upon her son's exertions and gen-
erosity. She exercised the same influence over
her, and had done ever since her arrival ; yet not
by counsel example, rather.
" What should we have done without her ? "
she thought for the one hundredth time. " How
much I have to be thankful for ! How kind
188 THE COOPERS.
Murray is ! " Her eyes rested on the vase of
rosebuds and faintly odorous heliotrope he had
gathered, and placed on the little round table, by
her bedside, the evening before. " And Johnny
is so lonely, I hope he will be fond of his sister.
Two dear children ! " And a new mother-love,
her boy had failed to call forth, first born as he
was, rose up in her heart.
" Do you think I am well enough to have
Johnny here a little while ? " she asked, in a
voice so low that it told of the extreme weakness
from which she still suffered.
Mrs. Henderson looked up, as if from some
pleasant reverie.
" If you wish it, certainly. I have only been
afraid of your head. We can have a little visitor
daily now ; and it will do you both good. I do
not think there is any danger from the cough."
" Is baby asleep ? He might wake her."
And a shadow, the old anxious, weary look, came
over the invalid's face as she thought : " How am
I to manage with two children ? "
" Oh, there 's no fear of that ! A baby at this
age doesn't wake so easily. Children, if they are
A MOTHEK'S WAGES. 189
well, sleep the first three months of their lives
with very little consideration of what is going on
around them. By that time, Johnny will be quite
a little man ; and you can teach him that he is to
have quiet plays while his sister takes her naps."
Mrs. Henderson laid the baby down, and folded
the crib blanket warmly but lightly over her.
" What helpless little creatures they are ! " she
said, seeing that Mrs. Cooper's eyes followed her
movements still. " I was thinking of it when
you spoke to me. How unconsciously they win
their way to our love ! It 's well they do, poor
little things ! "
" Do you really love little babies, little crying,
troublesome babies, Mrs. Henderson ? "
" Babies ? Certainly."
But Mrs. Cooper was not to talk. That was
the physician's especial caution. It was only
within the last three days that she had found the
least desire to disobey him.
Johnny was a bright, noble-looking little fel-
low, as Mrs. Henderson took him from Kate's
hands, fresh from his toilet. He was still thin
from his cough ; but his fine eyes, broad, high
190 THE COOPERS.
forehead, and golden hair, in the large smooth
curls of Katy's manufacture, were "set off," as
the phrase is, by a dress of crimson merino, over
which he wore a clean linen apron, fine and white,
though the long sleeves came to his wrists, and
covered the round, arms his mother had taken such
pride in displaying. He had been kept as much
as possible from his mother's room, for the least
noise or exertion was hurtful in the utter nervous
and physical prostration of the first two weeks ;
and now he was told that he must only look at his
little sister, not kiss her, lest she should " get a
naughty cough too."
Johnny was quite ready and eager to go.
Little children, as well as old ones, find a wonder-
ful enchantment in forbidden ground ; and then,
too, there were certain delicacies usually to be seen
on his mamma's tray, in which he had shared on
each visit, as contributing to that state of quiet
which was desirable on his part while there.
Mrs. Cooper had been too ill, heretofore, for
more than a single kiss and caress ; but, this cool,
bracing day, she seemed to gather up strength
with every breath ; and, yearning over the boy in
A MOTHER'S WAGES. 191
his lonely banishment, she awaited his coming
with feverish expectation. She thought he had
never looked so beautiful ; she never had loved
him so well ; and she held out her arms, as Mrs.
Henderson set him down upon the bed beside her,
to fold him close to her heart. But Johnny, with
all a child's waywardness, turned away, and put
back her white outstretched hands with a wilful
" No, no." It was a little thing. He had caught
sight of the pretty Parian sugar-dish, and the un-
tasted plate of toast on his mother's breakfast
tray. Johnny had an eye to these first, and would
be quite willing to repay the expected treat in
kisses, no doubt ; but, weak, and yearning over
him as she had been, the slight repelling move-
ment went to her heart with a pang of pain. Mrs.
Henderson's quickness served to divert the hard
thought.
" Do you see what I have taken upon myself ? "
And she touched the crimson frock and long sleeve
of the child's apron. " The Doctor thought he
would be so much better clothed more warmly.
So Mr. Cooper shopped for me ; and Katy has
made them very nicely, I think ; the dresses, that
192 THE COOPERS.
is. The aprons 1 found cut out in your basket, and
only added the sleeves."
They had been there ever since the spring.
Mrs. Cooper had never found the time to make up
the set she had purchased the day they decided to
go to housekeeping. Long sleeves and colored
frocks ! It was against her creed for a child not
yet two years old, or scarcely that ; still, it was
not so very disfiguring after all, and would save
the washing of those eight white cambric dresses
a week, which was no trifle now that there were
the baby's clothes to be done. She could scarcely
have made up her mind to do it herself, though,
and was really thankful that she could not be con-
sulted at the time. How soft and bright those
long ringlets were in the shaded room. Those
were left of her baby-boy, at least ; and that com-
forted her.
" The Doctor thinks he is having the cough
very lightly," continued Mrs. Henderson, in an
encouraging tone ; " and that, being so warmly
clothed, especially his neck and arms covered, has
a great deal to do with it. He urges one other
thing, though."
A MOTHER'S WAGES. 193
Mrs. Cooper felt instinctively what it was, but
would not ask. No, indeed, nothing should per-
suade her to sacrifice Johnny's curls until he was
five years old, at least. She had often pictured
him to herself, at that age, in a plaid poplin sack,
a jaunty velvet cap, with the curls falling in a
golden shower around his fair face, and had seen,
in imagination, herself leading him by the hand
down Broadway, while people turned to look
again, saying, involuntarily, " What a beautiful
child ! " as she had done of others.
" Doctor Graham thinks, and Mr. Cooper agrees
with him, that this constant dampness is not good
for the child ; though, even if they were perfectly
natural, the curls would be better cut off."
" They shall stay just as they are," said Mrs.
Cooper, so shortly that Mrs. Henderson looked
surprised and then pained ; but the momentary
flush passed away when she remembered the irri-
table mood so often the consequence of extreme
debility. She was a woman, and understood
" nerves ; " so she said nothing as she held Johnny
down to kiss his mother good-by, and carried him
from the room, for she saw signs of boisterous con-
9
194 THE COOPERS.
duct on being denied a second spoonful of calves'-
foot jelly.
She was gone some time, long enough for Mrs.
Cooper to be ashamed and sorry for her quick
words, and to wonder if she were staying away
because offended. It cost her an effort to say as
much when Mrs. Henderson returned.
" I do not know what is the matter with me
lately," she said, so humbly that Lizzie Grant
would have opened her eyes in astonishment if
she could have heard her. " I always used to
think I was amiable ; everybody used to call me
BO ; but this summer I have been so cross that I
sometimes wonder how Murray can love me."
" I have not thought of it since." And Mrs.
Henderson, having covered the tray with a fresh
napkin, for which she had been to the kitchen,
drew the low chair so that she could have a watch
over baby and its mamma. " I know just how
little things touch one at times."
" "Were you ever fretful, Mrs. Henderson ? "
" My dear ? " was the answer, in a tone of the
most extreme surprise ; not that Mrs. Cooper
could imagine her guilty of the infirmity so com-
A MOTHER'S WAGES. 195
mon to our sex, but that she should suppose the
possibility of her being exempt.
" It wasn't about Johnny's hair so much ; but
he turned away from me, and did not want to kiss
me. I loved him so, too, and was so glad to see
him ; but he never loved me, not as I thought
children loved their mothers." And a grieved
sigh finished the confession.
" Children are children," said Mrs. Henderson,
sententially ; " and we must not expect too much
of them. Johnny saw the jelly that moment, and
he wanted it ; that 's all. As soon as he had finished
it, he would have been ready. I dare say he loves
you quite as much as most children do their
mothers."
" Oh, you don't know ! This isn't the first
time. He will go to Kate or his father any minute
from me ; he has all summer. It has been one of
the things, the worries, you know. Murray did
not understand. He only laughed at me, and
called me jealous."
" Now you are talking too long," said Mrs.
Henderson, warningly. " Pll talk, and you lis-
ten ; that is, if listening will not be too much
THE COOPERS.
itself. People listen themselves into fevers as
often as they worry themselves sick. Tell me,
honestly."
" Please do say something ; I 'm so tired of
lying here think, thinking all day."
" "Well, you said : ' As other children love.'
Of course, there's a certain natural instinct of
love between parent and child ; but did you never
notice that the little ones always take a fancy, as
it is called, to those who do the most for them,
those who are always meeting their wants ? I
suppose you have been obliged to leave Johnny
chiefly to Katy's care this summer, which accounts
for the preference."
" Obliged ! " Mrs. Henderson laid an excusing
stress upon the word ; but her listener's conscience
would not suffer her to apply it fully. She knew
that she had many a time been only too glad of
the excuse of hurry or languor, to send the child
away from her as much as possible. She had
none of that "feminine love for babies" which
many young girls have as naturally as an ear for
music ; and every step of nursery experience had
cost something of self-denial and effort. The nov-
A MOTHER'S WAGES. 197
elty of the thing, the dainty wardrobe, the pride
in showing off her pretty baby, in his best moods,
to her fellow-boarders, or the visitors who made
it a part of their morning call to ask for him,
helped wonderfully at first. Then, too, the cham-
bermaid of the floor took care of the rooms ; and
the nurse had nothing to do but amuse the baby,
or walk out with him all day, so that she had
nearly as much time to herself as before. But
when the wakeful nights of teething began, and
the restless stage when constant exertion is neces-
sary to the amusement of the little tyrants when
they will not stay in your arms five minutes toge-
ther, or on the floor three, then Mrs. Cooper began
to shrink from maternal duties, and look, with the
most intense pity, on the mothers of large little
families. She was not to be condemned as un-
natural in this. It is an every-day experience, if
those who undergo it could be brought to a frank
confession. But Mrs. Cooper had given way to
it ; there lay the fault ; and now, when she looked
further on in life, and saw how softly filial love
brightened the barrenness of middle life, and
lighted up its evening, she began to wonder if
198 THE COOPERS.
such love and cherishing would ever fall to her
lot ; and she drew back from the pain of self-con-
demnation, ready to lay the blame on any thing
rather than herself. The germ of that which is
" cruel as the grave " embittered " the well-spring
of pleasure."
" But there is a difference," she said, slowly.
" I am sure Mr. Henderson cares more for you
than most sons do for their mothers. I believe he
loves you better than any one in the world. We
have always noticed it in him. He shows it in
every thing."
Such a light as shone for an instant in the clear
brown eyes that met Mrs. Cooper's questioning
look ! It seemed to her even more beautiful than
the soft flush that witnesses to the confession of a
lover's most entire devotion.
" You will not think me selfish or foolish, Mrs.
Cooper, if I tell you that I believe what you say.
I have such constant evidence of it. He is the
best of sons."
" And has the best of mothers no wonder 1 "
said Mrs. Cooper to herself. The thought had
answered her own questioning of " why it was so."
A. MOTHER'S WAGES. 199
" I have thought a great deal about it, my
dear, how I came to have such a great blessing as
my son" There was an unconscious accent of
just pride as she spoke the words. " And some-
times it seems to me that we are more fully re-
warded in those things for which we exert the
most self-denial. I was obliged to, understand, in
Stephen's case. His father died when he was so
young, only six, and Helen a baby in my arms ;
Sarah was but three, all babies, you may say ;
and there was little or nothing left to take care of
them with."
" Oh, how hard ! " Mrs. Cooper felt her own
burden, the care of two, shrink into nothing.
" What did you do ? "
" The best I could ; but, as an old Quaker
friend of mine once said, ' I did not walk in silver
slippers, / tell ihee? At first, I was perfectly
overwhelmed, naturally enough. Stephen is much
like his father ; so you can tell what I had lost.
"With that ever present, the actual physical care
of my babies, and having to provide for them in a
great measure, I was only a little older than you
are now two years. Perhaps that will be a com-
200 THE COOPERS.
fort to you some day, when you feel that you have
a great deal to accomplish."
It was not Mrs. Henderson's way to speak
much of her own experience. She had learned
that " love vaunteth not itself ; " but she did so
now, knowing that Mrs. Cooper felt weighed down
by the care she was so soon to take up again ; and
she knew, by experience, that trials are often
lightened by comparison.
" I should have given up in despair. I wish
you would tell me all about it. I have often
wished to know what made you always so cheer-
ful. Oh, dear, I wish I was ! but I can't be. Things
go wrong; and I get worried, and wish I was
dead I do, indeed. Don't look so shocked. I
say so, I mean ; and Murray feels as if I did not
love him ; and I can't bear to think of living on
BO, only worse and worse for years."
Mrs. Cooper spoke eagerly. What was this
hidden strength and stay ? It baffled her compre-
hension. Mrs. Henderson saw something of this,
and did not seek to divert the thought. It is
being made fully conscious of our weakness and
need, that leads us to our cure.
A MOTHER'S WAGES. 201
" I do not pity people who seem to be pressed
down by accumulated misfortunes as much as
many do, for I know, in my own case, one helped
me to bear the other. I did not have time to
dwell on my own loss, and so cherish rebellion
against the hand which had dealt it out to me.
That is a temptation the rich have to struggle
with, which the poor, who look to them with
envy, do not understand. I thought it very hard,
then the necessity for exerting myself when I
had never looked forward to such a life, and knew
not what to turn to ; but I see that it was an actual
blessing now."
" But if you had been sure of a maintenance,
Mrs. Henderson if you had had a father or broth-
er to rely on. Stephen told us about it one
evening ; and he seemed so proud of what you
did then."
" I had the best reliance. I remember, one
day, that very thought came into my mind as I
sat over my work with aching heart and weary
hands. It was for the children more particularly.
I thought what if I should die, and they be left
entirely destitute, or if my health should give out,
9*
202 THE COOPEE8.
for I was willing to work for them as long as I
could. It was the common temptation of adding
to-morrow's burden to the day's."
" If you could only have seen the future really,
and how nicely it would all turn out ; if people
could only have their fortunes told ! "
" Yes," said Mrs. Henderson ; " but we do
know ; that is, if we follow the path marked out
for us. I was going to tell you how I found my
help that day ; and I believe I never entirely lost
sight of it afterwards. I laid my work down in
the middle of a seam, and took up my Bible, ask-
ing, in my heart, for some pledge of the future ;
and I found this, which I never doubted be-
longed to me : ' my God shall supply all thy
needs ' not all my wants, you know. I have been
denied them sometimes, but my needs always. I
never had a wholly dark day after that."
Mrs. Cooper wondered more than ever. There
was an earnest conviction of the reality of what
she said, in Mrs. Henderson's tone and manner,
which left no room to doubt her sincerity ; yet
the elegantly bound Bible, lying on her dressing-
table, had never spoken thus to her. She held its
A. MOTHER'S WAGES. 203
pages in a certain awe and reverence, more the
effect of education than feeling. She read it at
times, especially dull Sundays, when there was no
church-going ; but it was a dead letter ; no living
inspiration passed from its pages into her heart ;
the volume closed, the remembrance faded, " as a
tale that is told," in which she had no part nor
lot. ISTay, she had often held those who spoke of it
differently as hypocrites or self-deceived. Mrs.
Henderson could be neither : her consistency had
witnessed to the truth and souadness of her prin-
ciples.
" I don't mean to say that I never doubted or
desponded," said Mrs. Henderson, looking up,
presently. Her pause had been filled with over-
flowing thankfulness in the retrospect thus traced.
" I had often temptations to both, and suffered for
yielding to them ; but the Golden Key of Promise
has helped me out of many a dungeon in Doubt-
ing Castle." And she murmured softly to her-
self : " What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee."
" It has all ended so nicely now," said Mrs.
Cooper again. She could not venture upon a
ground so new to her.
204: THE COOPERS.
" Yes, Stephen is all I could have desired ;
and Helen is teaching, you know ; Sarah is
our housekeeper. I have the great comfort of
seeing my children in peace and love "with each
other, and still turning to me with more than
their childish love and confidence."
" The reward, as well as the comfort," thought
her listener, for she knew of the toiling days and
weary nights Mrs. Henderson had not even al-
luded to ; and her mind passed on to the division,
and ingratitude, a%d indifference, if not open vice,
which she knew embittered the lives of many rich
men, and fashionable mothers, who had sown the
wind and reaped the whirlwind.
" So, my dear," said Mrs. Henderson, cheer-
fully, " don't be discouraged about Johnny or
Johnny's sister. It might be worse, you know.
A mother's life, at best, is one of unavoidable
pain, and care, and anxiety ; but, when once ac-
cepted heartily, it has its own helps and comforts
in abundance. It seems to me that too many
young mothers look on their children only as
accessories to their own pride and pleasure. They
foster vanity in them by indulging their own, in
A MOTHER'S WAGES. 205
their dress and education, instead of putting the
good of the child and its real happiness always
uppermost. Peevishness and discontent don't
need much cultivation ; drop the seed, and that's
all sufficient. I used to be very fond of riding.
I was brought up on a farm, you know. A child
is something like a horse the firmest but the
gentlest hand is the most readily yielded to.
Give to the motion as much as you can, but don't
loose your hold on the reins."
The doctor's daily visit broke in upon the
shortest morning Mrs. Cooper had passed since
her illness ; and she was pronounced as decidedly
convalescent. "How's the boy, Mrs. Hender-
son ? " he asked, as he turned to leave the room ;
and the invalid heard him say, in the hall : " I
wish you could persuade her all that soaking is a
miserable thing for him. If he was my child, I
should have that hair off at once. I don't wonder
he's fretful."
Mrs.' Cooper woke, strangely refreshed from
her mid-day nap. She had slept much longer
than usual, and more soundly. It was almost time
206 THE COOPERS.
for the welcome signal of the first train, in which
her husband came regularly since her illness.
" Can I sit up a little while, here, I mean, with
the pillows ? " she asked of Mrs. Henderson, who
was ministering gently as ever at her side. " And
now I should like to have Johnny in again. I
hear Katy with him in the hall."
Mrs. Henderson opened the door; and the
child stretched out his arms towards his mother
with a pleased cry at the unexpected admittance.
Such a kiss and embrace he had never before
been welcomed with.
" And now my scissors, if you please, in the
rosewood box ; indeed, I must do it myself, Mrs.
Henderson. I could not bear to see any one else
half so well."
Mrs. Henderson ceased to remonstrate. The
thin hands shook a little ; and Mrs. Cooper's eyes
were dim. She could not help it ; but very soon
the curls lay a bright and tangled mass on the
snow-white counterpane before her. They were
the first sacrifice laid on the new altar of a self-
denying mother's love, which wise counsel and
penitent thoughts had that morning helped to rear.
CHAPTER IX.
"THE FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE."
" The origin of wealth is In a moral feeling self-denial. ' Here is some-
thing I will not consume or throw away; I will take care of it, store it up for
the future use of myself and others.' The man who first said and acted thus,
laid the foundation of a virtue upon earth. The savings of each man are a
diffusive blessing to all ; and, therefore, so far, frugality is a thing which all
may and ought to applaud."
" Drive your work steadily, or it will drive you in the end."
" THE neighbors have been very kind ; don't
yon think so, Mrs. Henderson ? " said Mrs. Cooper,
as she sent a message of acknowledgment to the
door. Katy had just brought up a basket with
two prints of fresh butter, so yellow, so delicately
moulded, that they were in themselves sufficient
to provoke an appetite.
" Mrs. Lawrence sends her compliments, and
wants to know how Mrs. Cooper and the baby
are," drawled Kate, with the indifference of one
208 THE COOPERS.
who repeats a thrice-told tale. She had brought
much the same message, and often with a similar
substantial token of good will, from some one of
the neighbors every day for a fortnight.
" I think they have. That 's one blessing of
living in the country neighbors."
" Most people do not think so. That was one
thing we dreaded when we came out here. I had
always heard and read so much of the gossip and
interference of a country neighborhood, and con-
gratulated myself that I lived where the person
next door scarcely knew my name ; and I could
keep my affairs to myself."
"I have not heard much gossip from the ladies
who have called on you, or to inquire for you,"
said Mrs. Henderson. " We have seen a great
deal of Mrs. Lawrence, and Mrs. Phillips, too."
" Oh, I shall never forget how kind Mrs. Phil-
lips was that day I was so very ill ! Why, I
never should have thought of offering to do what
she did, if I had pitied people ever so much, or
even letting her do it, if I had been asked."
" So much for being a countrywoman myself,"
said Mrs. Henderson. " "We were very much in
"THE FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE." 209
need of help that day, with you and the baby both
so ill, such help as could not be had on the instant
for any payment^ She offered it frankly ; and I
accepted it for you. She seems a very sincere
and kindly person."
" She must be, I am sure. I think you can
always tell by a person's face whether they mean
what they say. Can't you ? Thank you ; I am
so comfortable ! You know exactly what I want
always. How did you learn to be such a capital
nurse, Mrs. Henderson ? "
Mrs. Cooper had not yet left her room, though
her husband, after due consultation with the doc-
tor, had promised her, if she would be " a very
good girl," she should dine down stairs on the
next Thursday, her birthday. To tell the truth,
she was not in any haste to " get about." She
had such a dread of the care and worry that would
come upon her when she was where she could see
things going wrong again ; and it was so pleasant
in her neat, well-ordered chamber, enlivened by
Johnny's frequent presence, Mrs. Henderson's
cheerful conversation, and the evening chat, now
that her husband had no out-door pursuits to call
210
THE COOPEKS.
him away from her. He had never been more
attentive and lover-like ; and she had an instinc-
tive dread of breaking the plea? nt spell of conva-
lescence.
" What the eye does not see, the heart does
not rue," thought Mrs. Cooper, as she walked
slowly around the room, pausing to look into
drawers whose contents she had almost forgotten,
or out on the dreary November landscape. " I
suppose the kitchen and door-yard look as usual,
and Kate is as idle as ever."
" Two days more to be a prisoner," said Mrs.
Henderson, who had appropriated the mending-
basket, and was rapidly diminishing the pile of
garments and stockings it contained. She thought
Mrs. Cooper began to feel the restraint irksome,
" It might be two weeks, and I should not cry
over it," she said, turning to the lounge, made
very inviting with its pile of pillows. " Oh, this
is so nice ! No, I don't think I want to go down
stairs at all."
" Let me throw this shawl over your feet,
there. Now you may be as idle as you like."
" I know I ought not to be lying here so help-
"THE FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE." 211
less, seeing you work for me ; that is the only
trouble I have just now. Murray said last night
that we had allowed you to do altogether too
much ; and he wished that he had insisted on
having a nurse."
"I think now, just as I did then, since we could
not get one when most needed, she would only
have been in the way afterwards, with me about
at the same time, I mean. She would have
wanted her fashion of doing things, and I mine ;
and we might not have agreed. Old ladies like
myself are fanciful, or ' notional,' as they say in
Kockland, and very 'set,' which usually means
obstinate."
Mrs. Cooper felt that she never could repay,
in any shape, the peculiar service Mrs. Henderson
had rendered them ; but even that acknowledg-
ment could not be made except by implication.
" I think I could mend those stockings ; that
would be doing something," said Mrs. Cooper,
looking about for her long unused work-box.
"I think you will just lie still for the present."
" But doing nothing so long ; and there's so
much to be done all my fall sewing."
212 THE COOPEKS.
" You are getting well, and strong too, I hope ;
that's of much more consequence. You cannot
have so much work on hand."
" Oh, but there is you don't know I did not
accomplish any thing this summer. There's that
lower drawer half full yet, things I had com-
menced, and had to put by again for something I
was in a hurry for. It has given me a headache
every time I have looked at it. Some days last
summer I used to feel as if I was crushed down
by it."
" Why didn't you give it out ? "
Mrs. Cooper hesitated a moment.
"You know just how Murray and Mr. Hen-
derson began," she said, " and that we have had
to be as economical as possible."
" Suppose I should tell you that, in this case,
I did not think it economy."
Mrs. Cooper looked her amazement at this un-
expected proposition.
" I do not, indeed," said her friend. " You
see what it ended in. Doctor Graham told me
at once that he knew you had worried yourself
sick, from the state your nerves were in."
"THE FBUGAL HOUSEWIFE." 213
"I want to help Murray so much oh, you
don't know ! "
" Do you think it is much help to any man to
have a sick, broken-down wife, always irritable
and complaining? That was what you were
making yourself."
" But I was always brought up to think that
it was great extravagance to give out family sew-
ing. I did not know how else to save."
" I think," said Mrs. Henderson, drawing off
her spectacles she only wore them when sewing
or reading " that every mother of a family must
have her own way of economizing ; but there is
one thing always to be kept in mind. That is not
true economy which wastes your best capital,
health and cheerfulness. I know that hard neces-
sity often obliges men and women to work beyond
their strength ; but I am speaking now of people
in moderate circumstances, where it is not a mat-
ter of daily bread. A mother especially, needs
every bit of strength and cheerfulness she can
hoard to do her duty by her children and their
father."
214: THE COOPEKS.
" But I should only be too glad to be idle, Mrs.
Henderson. "We all like that."
" I did not say any thing about idleness ; no,
nor yet self-indulgence." And the spectacles re-
ceived a gentle polish, more from habit than
present need. " I do not believe in either when
people have an abundance of means. Somebody
says : ' True economy is not pinching in a few
expenses, but a watch over all, and especially a
wise regulation of larger outlays.' What do you
suppose I was thinking when you showed me that
pretty silk you are to have fitted when you go in
town ? "
" You can't call that extravagant ! only a dol-
lar a yard the cheapest thing I could find. Why,
in the city, I should scarcely have thought it would
answer such prices as people pay nowadays !
That is one of my pet economies, I 'm sure."
" The twelve or fourteen dollars it cost would
have paid for all your sewing, a seamstress for two
months, board and all."
" But I needed the dress."
" You showed me two good silks, besides, and
a nice cashmere."
"THE FKUGAL HOUSEWIFE." 215
"I have had the blue one ever since I was
married ; and it 's such an old-fashioned style, that
plain dress, when every one wears flounces. The
other is a year old."
" But perfectly fresh and good. I think you
take excellent care of your wardrobe. You know
I have had to be inspector of closets and drawers."
Mrs. Cooper had always been a wonder to
Lizzie Grant on that account. She looked quite
as well dressed ; but her clothes did not cost half
as much, and looked fresh to the last.
" I have always had to take care of my things,"
she explained to Mrs. Henderson. " Aunt Agnes
was obliged to and of every thing else, for that
matter ; but I never knew much about the house.
Uncle gave me an allowance every year for my
clothes ; and I had to make it go as far as possible."
"You must take just the same principle in
managing your house expenses."
" I have tried to."
"I am sure you have; but, when you first
began to have an allowance, you made some mis-
takes, I suppose."
" Quantities. I remember that I was going to
216 THE COOPERS.
make up a set of underclothes, and I prided my-
self on paying two cents a yard less for the cloth
than Aunt Agnes herself did. I made them beau-
tifully ; and they were gone in less time than I
spent on them, it seems to me ; and all the com-
fort Aunt gave me was to say that she knew it
would be so when I showed her the thin, uneven
cloth."
"There, you see, was a waste of time and
money both in saving fifty or seventy-five cents ;
for, of course, they had to be renewed."
" But then, Mrs. Henderson, it taught me that
Aunt Agnes was right in saying ' the best was al-
ways the cheapest.' "
"There it is again," said Mrs. Henderson.
" An excellent rule when you don't carry it to ex-
tremes. For instance, the bird's-eye in those
aprons of Johnny's."
" Yes, I thought of that then. It was sixty-
two cents."
"And that at fifty would have been quite fine
enough for a boy of his size, and would wear just
as long, if not longer. Let me see ; there were
about eight yards in the set," I suppose."
"THE FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE." 217
"Nine."
" "Well, and nine times twelve are a hundred
and eight. A dollar and eight cents. It would
almost pay for the making that has worried you
so much."
" I never thought of that. But Mrs. Hender-
son, I cannot bear to see coarse material on
babies."
" Johnny is not baby any longer."
Mrs. Cooper looked with a glad, loving smile,
towards the crib to which the baby had that day
been promoted. Mrs!. Henderson, strangely enough
for a matron of the old school, did not believe in
cradles or feather beds for even an infant, and
had advised the anti-rocking principle from the
first. It was one of the "notions" she pleaded
guilty to, that children could be taught regular
habits and regular hours in a great degree from
the first moment of consciousness, and that they
were many times spoiled for good behavior be-
fore they were generally supposed to be old
enough for any training. Consequently, she often
denied herself and Mrs. Cooper the pleasure of
" tending " the little one when quiet, of soothing
10
218 THE COOPERS.
its restlessness by walking about, or administering
anodynes. It was dressed and undressed at very
nearly the same hour every day, and expected to
be in bed and sound asleep for the evening at
dark. So far, the system had answered admirably,
to Mrs. Cooper's wonder, when she recollected all
the trouble there was with Johnny, his colic and
his catnip-tea, paregoric and incessant cradle-rock-
ing. Whether it was the effect of " the system,"
or the young lady's natural amiability, she had
not yet decided.
" What were we talking about ? Oh, Johnny's
aprons ! " said Mrs. Cooper, recalling herself from
some such speculation. " I believe it is partly
taste ; there seems to me such a fitness in having
every thing for a little child as delicate as possi-
ble ; and then I was boarding when I first began
to shop for him ; and I did not know any thing
about it. Mrs. Paul you have heard me talk
about her. Well, I used to go to her. She always
showed me her purchases, and I carried mine into
her room regularly when I came home from Stew-
art's. Her boy was only three months older than
Johnny; and she made such a point of having
"THE FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE." 219
every thing as fine as possible. Why, you could
hardly tell Charlie's aprons from plain linen a
little way off."
" I Ve heard you say, too, that people who
boarded were always extravagant in dress, be-
cause they had to keep up with others in the
house."
" Yes, indeed, it makes the greatest difference.
Murray thought it was all nonsense when I first
began to tell him about it."
" I don't know much about extravagance in
dress," said Mrs. Henderson ; " but it seems to
me that you have not left your boarding-house
principle quite out of sight when you purchased a
third silk dress because one had no flounces, and
the other had been worn a year. But, here it is
lunch-time ; and the butter from Mrs. Lawrence
will make its first appearance."
" I will think it over while you get the tray,"
said Mrs. Cooper, good-naturedly, though she felt
a little crest-fallen at finding herself not quite so
wise and prudent as she had imagined.
" You won't mind my plain dealing, will you,
my dear ? " Mrs. Henderson returned, with a sec-
220 THE COOPERB.
ond thought, from the head of the stairs. " You
seem to me so much like one of my own daugh-
ters, that it comes natural to speak to you as I do
to them."
" Oh, not at all ! not in the least, I assure you.
It is just such help as Aunt Agnes would give me
if I could go to her. I can't write about such
things ; and I have often wished I could talk them
over with some one who was really experienced,
and who could understand our affairs."
" "Which I do, with Stephen in the firm."
Mrs. Henderson seemed to forget her errand in
the interest of the conversation, as ladies of mid-
dle age frequently will, and sat down again.
" You see this, my dear ; you wanted to be eco-
nomical, but you began by making the most un-
comfortable, and, in your case, needless sacrifice.
The will is a great thing ; but experience must be
added before it can be of essential service. I
know how accumulated work, one thing being
decidedly wrong, sets every thing else out of
order. It is a weight always hanging over you.
If you had had a seamstress, and cleared your
hands of the sewing, you would have brought
"THE FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE." 221
more energy and spirit to your nursery and domes-
tic cares, and had ample time for "both. Almost
any woman can compass this, if she will deny her-
self one or two expensive articles of dress or orna-
ment in a year. It always does vex me when I
see people wasting time and strength in little
pinching economies, and immediately spending it
on some article of dress or furniture, only made
necessary by the ' speech of people.' "
" I never have thought of it before, I 'am sure,
and thought I was doing my duty very hard as a
good wife," said Mrs. Cooper, playfully.
" But that was just where you were wrong.
An irritable temper, for one thing, comes of over-
work ; and that is in itself enough to upset all
domestic peace. And then, my dear, just think
of it ! that cannot be duty which absorbs time
and strength belonging to other things. You are
to be your husband's best friend and helper in all
moral and intellectual progress. You are to set
your children an example that will not contradict
your teachings, of all patience, and gentleness,
and firmness. You cannot do this with a mind
constantly distracted by household cares, and
222 THE COOPERS.
your strength spent in toil that gives you no space
for recreation."
" But, Mrs. Henderson, many and many a
poor woman has to work herself ill."
" I know it ; but don't you remember we are
talking about people who do not need to sacrifice
all comfort, only ' to cut off needless expenditures
of time and money,' as one of my best advisers
has it. That was what you were trying to do."
"There, how can a person be economical?
that 's it ! " said Mrs. Cooper, sitting upright with
sudden energy. " If you save in your table, peo-
ple call you mean. I never would, and never will,
pinch in servants' wages, and cheapen things, espe-
cially the price of work, from sewing to house-
cleaning."
" Neither should you. If there is one thing
urged above the rest in our duty towards others,
it is, ' The laborer is worthy of his hire.' "
" ' But the hand of the diligent maketh rich.' "
Mrs. Cooper had never known herself use a
quotation from this authority before ; but it
flashed suddenly into her mind in the heat of
argument.
"THE FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE." 223
" Exactly," said Mrs. Henderson, smiling ;
" you will find room enough for diligence if you
try to keep ahead of your work when it is once
arranged, so as not to have that harassed, driven
feeling which wears upon the nerves so dreadfully
if you oversee your household thoroughly, and
give the time to your children and social duties
which they require."
" Social duties ? "
" You do not leave those out of sight alto-
gether."
" I 'in afraid I have, if there are any. Since
we stopped going to parties ; and, indeed, I never
did care about them, since there was nothing par-
ticular to dress for since I was married, I mean,
and ceased to care about general admiration."
Mrs. Henderson liked the frankness which ad-
mitted she had once done so ; it was one point of
Mrs. Cooper's character which led her to hope and
expect much from her in the future.
" You know what we were saying about neigh-
bors, this morning ? " she returned. " Suppose
Mrs. Phillips had been so loaded down by her
own cares that she could not have given us that
224:
THE COOPERS.
most seasonable aid, or Mrs. Lawrence too much
absorbed in her own family to remember that she
had a sick neighbor to inquire for, and send some-
thing, too, by way of a -kindly remembrance."
" Oh, never mind lunch just yet ! " as this
reminded Mrs. Henderson of her forgotten errand.
" I 'm afraid we shall not get back just where we
are again ; and I really want to know what sacri-
fice I can make : really, I am very much in
earnest, Mrs. Henderson. Do what I would to
be economical, some person would call it mean,
whether I save in dress, or the table, or work."
" Don't live for the opinion of others, to begin
with. I should not think you cared a great deal
for it, from what you told me about furnishing.
But you know these are two things quite distinct,
braving public opinion, pride in another form,
and that just consciousness of your own purity of
intent which can only come from high motives,
and a careful scrutiny of your own conduct to
guard against mistakes as the one we have been
talking of and self-deception."
" I certainly did deceive myself. I never
thought I was going to bring such an illness on
"THE FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE." 225
myself, and risk two lives," she said, softly.
" Poor baby ! what a frail little creature she
was!" ; *,
" As far as I understand economy," said Mrs.
Henderson, pausing to sum up in her mind the
whole conversation, which had lengthened itself
far beyond any they had ever held before, " it is
not in any one grand sacrifice or demonstration,
but a constant, careful exactness in all expendi-
ture of time, health, and money. Most people
think it applies to money alone ; but, as you said,
it is the hand of the diligent, and not of the nig-
gard, or the slothful, or the proud, that maketh
rich. You will have to use a double diligence in
watching all these avenues, than that required to
hoard in one expense that the amount may be
recklessly or even thoughtlessly wasted in others."
" I know I wasted time, for one thing," said
Mrs. Cooper, self-accusingly. "I used to be so
tired out that I did not feel like walking or play-
ing with Johnny, or any thing but taking a book
and going to bed."
" The worst thing in the world for your health."
" I know it for my temper, at any rate for
10*
226 THE COOPERS.
it was so hard to rouse myself at the right time ;
and things would go wrong in the kitchen ; and
Murray said, and I felt, that I was not at all like
my old self; and then I would give up trying for
days together."
"Well, in preaching order and regularity, I
have let you go without your chocolate half an
hour longer than you should have done ; so there
is an example of being over-zealous to take with
you as a warning. Not another word ; you really
must have it at once." And Mrs. Cooper was left
to lay to heart what she chose of all that had been
spoken with an earnest purpose, convinced of one
thing at least, that, but for Mrs. Henderson's wil-
ling help, this long sickness and uselessness would
have drained their income of far more than she
had saved in bringing it on.
CHAPTER X.
MATCH-MAKING.
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Gang aft agley. BtrKNS.
Few people can realize all they arrange. B ATLET.
MR. HENDERSON was quite " the friend of the
family," and especially, since his mother had been
staying with the Coopers, began to be considered
as entirely one of themselves. It was a matter of
course that he should come out to dinner on Mrs.
Cooper's birthday, the 20th of November; and
she had almost forgotten to give the invitation,
until reminded of it by her husband, a few even-
ings before. " I am to be down stairs for the first
time, you know quite a grand occasion ; so you
must be sure to come," she said to him.
"Without fail especially as mother thinks
she must leave for home the next Tuesday."
228 THE COOPERS.
Mrs. Cooper's sigh was audible. " Yes, I
know ; but what in the world am I going to do
without her ? "
" As you did before you knew her, I suppose,"
said Mr. Cooper. " Though I must say I feel just
as you do."
" Better than then, I hope ; but I don't know."
Mrs. Cooper was slow to trust her good resolu-
tions; they had been broken through so often.
"If she was only going to be in the neighbor-
hood, where I could see her once in a while, and
go to her with my bothers. I wish you would
marry, Mr. Henderson, and bring her to live here.
I wonder you don't marry. I often say so ; don't
I, Murray ? "
It did seem a strange thing that a man of Mr.
Henderson's domestic habits, with gentlemanly
manners and refined taste, should continue to live
on so quietly, without even a preference.
" Shall I tell you why ? My chief reason is
that I should not desire to choose a wife purely
for her economical qualities a good thing in a
housekeeper ; but that 's not my idea of a wife.
MATCH-MAKING. 229
Still, it would be all I could afford to look to on
six hundred a year."
Mrs. Cooper's cheeks flushed with the thought
that she had made a very inconsiderate speech,
when she knew that half of his income was rigidly
devoted to his mother and sisters.
" You ought to look out for the spoons," said
Mr. Cooper.
"As you did," said his wife, knowing very
well that he never had a mercenary thought in
his life, and perfectly understood that she had no
property before he addressed her.
" That I never would do," said Mr. Henderson,
with a very decided emphasis. " I would never
be indebted to any woman for a dollar. It is re-
versing the order of things. I should despise my-
self, and expect her to share in the feeling. Be-
sides, inequality of this sort always makes unhap-
piness. I never forget the man whose wife always
threw up the odd two and sixpence whenever they
quarrelled."
" I believe we are happier for the charming
equality of our fortunes," said Mr. Cooper, "ex-
pressed by a cipher on both sides."
230 THE COOPEKS.
" You had only yourselves to think for."
" That 's so, Henderson."
" And I could not expect to be helped in one
duty if I neglected another very plain one to take
it up. No. As I am rather fastidious, and desire
taste, and refinement, and education, and good
principles in any one I choose, or who would
choose me as a lifelong friend, I suppose I shall
go on, as little Johnny's bachelor uncle, till the
end of the chapter."
" Or till Cooper & Henderson make their for-
tunes," said the other partner of this recently es-
tablished house.
" Perhaps he thinks that amounts to the same
thing." Mrs. Cooper spoke jestingly ; but did so
to cover the feeling that was very evident in Mr.
Henderson's face. Her careless words had called
up an old struggle, in which he had done battle
many times. Always, when with them, seeing
his friends' content and happiness, longing, rather
than envy, was stirred in his heart. He never
doubted that Providence had appointed him this
isolated life ; but it was none the less hard to
human nature to crush the yearning for his own
MATCH-MAKING. 231
fireside, for the dream-wife and children that
oftentimes haunted his lonely hours. Fortunately,
he was thrown so seldom into the society of culti-
vated women, that, as yet, he had not been forced
to sacrifice real affection ; and this was in part
owing to the jealous watch which he kept over
any word or deed that might lead him into the
temptation. Of late, he had grown very weary
of this constant battle between duty and inclina-
tion. He suffered himself to think of the time
when he too might have a home, and in it see his
mother winning the love and confidence of his
wife her daughter there was music in the two
words as he knew she had done with Mrs.
Cooper.
" Whoever I might choose, she could not fail
to be a noble woman with mother for a friend and
example," he said, to himself, that night, every
long repressed hope and desire springing up
afresh ; and a lonely, desolate yearning clamored
to be heard and satisfied, warning him that youth,
nay, that the prime of his manhood, was passing.
It was very hard to kneel down and pray, ere he
slept, as he had done ever since he had been a
THE COOPEKS.
little child at his mother's knee, "Thy will be
done." But it was a remembrance of that child-
hood, and his mother's self-denying, toiling life
for him and his little sisters, that gave him the
victory ; and he put the temptation aside, with
the resolve that, so long as she lived, she should
never know another hour of care so far as he
could shield her from it.
Mr. Cooper took up the book of house expenses
as Mr. Henderson left the room. He was very
exact in his entries now, and laid great stress on
having every dime included.
" Mrs. Henderson was talking about him, the
other day, and wishing he would marry," said his
wife, returning to the conversation.
" He 's not a marrying man. He would not
care to give up his ways for any woman ; and
children would drive him distracted. He 's in a
perpetual ' frame of mind,' at the office, because I
don't lay every pen straight, and cut the postage-
stamps to a hair."
" I don't believe it is that so much," said Mrs.
Cooper, with a woman's penetration. " Mrs. Hen-
derson said it was the chief anxiety she had now,
MATCH-MAKING. 233
being a weight upon him, and keeping him single.
I thought they could all make one family, and so
perhaps he could afford it ; but she doesn't believe
in that."
" No ; nor I, either. There never was a house
large enough yet for a mother and daughter-in-
law."
" I think it 's a great pity. He would make
such an excellent husband ! I wish "
" What ? " asked Mr. Cooper, with his finger
upon an entry. " Lamb, one dollar and fifty
cents ! "
" Well, it came into my mind what a good
thing it would be if he could fancy Lizzie Grant."
" Don't turn into match-making, Matty. Hor-
rors ! It would be the worst thing he could do,
for she never would fancy him."
" I know they are not in the least alike ; but
she only needs some one to control her. She has
an excellent heart. You know how I love Lizzie."
" She would get the whip hand of me.- ' Con-
trol ! ' I should think she did ! a girl that has
had her own money and her own way for six
years ! If Steve Henderson ever marries, it will
THE COOPERS.
be some one built on his mother's model sensible
to the last degree, as steady as a mill-race."
" Well, I don't suppose they would fancy each
other. She 's so gay and lively ; but then she 's
so like a sister, and always has been, that it would
make me perfectly happy. And she has money
enough for both of them."
" You heard what he said to-night about that ;
and he never says any thing he doesn't mean."
Mrs. Cooper was forced to confess to herself
that there was very little probability of such an
event ; yet she could not put the fancy out of her
mind. Lizzie's property seemed to solve the
whole difficulty ; not that she would desire any
one to marry for money far from it ; only, if
they should fall in love with each other, how nice
it would be to have Lizzie as good as a relation,
and Mr. Henderson relieved of all pecuniary care !
There was no harm in bringing them together, at
any rate ; for, strange as it might seem, they had
never happened to meet, though both were per-
fectly familiar with each other through their mu-
tual friends.
" Don't fail to come on the 20th Murray, re-
MATCH-MAKING. 235
mind him of it the day before Thanksgiving ;
so you need not think of going back to town be-
fore Friday. Miss Grant is to be here. That 's
all besides yourself."
" Miss Grant ? is she oh ! " The tone ex-
pressed disappointment, and even annoyance. It
would be so near the time for his mother to leave
them, that he had looked forward to having her
all to himself. A stranger would destroy the
familiar household talk he so much enjoyed, and
be a restraint upon every thing. Moreover, he
had taken a prejudice against Mrs. Cooper's inti-
mate friend. From little things he had heard
discussed in her character and conduct, he fancied
that she was a trifling, fashionable girl, one with
whom he could never feel at ease, and who would
be very likely to hold himself and his mother in
that well-bred indifference so nearly amounting to
contempt. Still, what right had he to object?
And Thanksgiving day he could go quietly to
church with his mother. The family were not
likely to join them ; and they would have a long
walk, afterwards, all to themselves.
Mrs. Cooper anticipated her friends' arrival
236 THE COOPEES.
with all the eagerness of a child. She had been
an invalid so long, it was nearly two months since
she had left her room, or seen any one out of the
neighborhood. She wanted to show Lizzie the
house and the baby. To be sure, she would think
the house very small and plain ; and she did not
care much about children, though she was con-
tinually bestowing some dainty piece of finery on
Johnny, and had already sent her namesake that
was to be, Miss Lizzie Grant Cooper, " the sweet-
est breath of a cap " that Valenciennes and em-
broidery could contribute to fashion.
She came up from the city in the noon train,
with Mr. Cooper, who struck for a half-holiday in
honor of the grand occasion, and was to have the
pleasure of taking his wife down stairs for the first
time. Mr. Cooper was fond of surprises ; and his
heart had been set, for a week pact, in getting
some pretty curtains, made and put up in place
of the brown holland shades that had looked very
bare and cool in the parlor ever since the grate
had come into use.
Mrs. Cooper, on the verge of impatience,
thought Mrs. Henderson never would be through
MATCH-MAKING. 237
down stairs that morning. Plum-puddings must
take a great deal more time than she had any
idea of, especially when all the fruit was prepared
days beforehand. Oh dear, if Lizzie should come
before the baby and Johnny were dressed, she
should be miserable for the day ! Babies were
nothing in their night-clothes, especially to people
who did not understand them. She walked to
the head of the stairs, and listened. Every thing
was quiet in the kitchen. She hoped dinner was
not going wrong. Lizzie was so accustomed to
the best of every thing, she was thankful that the
responsibility did not come on her. But Mrs.
Henderson came back just in time, and emerged
from the parlor, instead of the kitchen, when she
did make her appearance. Fortunately, Mrs.
Cooper had gone to her room, and did not see it.
She was quite dressed, her wrapper laid aside
for the first time, and resting on the lounge, after
the little fatigue consequent upon accomplishing
this unassisted, when the whistle announced the
arrival of the train. It was delightful to feel so
like herself again ; and, but for Murray's express
prohibition, she would have flown down the stairs
238 THE COOPERS.
to welcome them. Mrs. Henderson, who had just
completed the baby's toilet, and had not given a
thought to her own, watched the meeting between
the two friends, her soft brown eyes bent upon
Miss Grant, half in pleasure at the affection the
two expressed for each other, and half in scrutiny
to see whether the younger lady was worthy of it,
as she first became conscious of her presence.
" This is Mrs. Henderson, Lizzie," said Mrs.
Cooper, quickly, lest her kind friend, in her plain
morning-dre~ss and apron, should be taken for the
nurse, and an unpleasant contretemps be brought
about. She was a little uneasy about the meeting,
too. Mrs. Henderson's manner was so very plain,
though distinguished by that true courtesy which
springs from right principle ; and her natural tact
supplied the place of much intercourse with formal
society. Still, Lizzie was very gay, very fashion-
able ; and of course she could not be expected to
know or appreciate Mrs. Henderson's good quali-
ties. Miss Grant was all this, a little vain and
selfish besides, a little spoiled by prosperity ;
and her naturally wilful disposition was entirely
unchecked. Still, she was not supercilious ; and
MATCH-MAKING. 239
she gave her hand to Mrs. Henderson with frank
cordiality.
" My dear, isn't that the mother of your 'Ad-
mirable Crichton' 2 " said she, a moment after, as
the elder lady left them to themselves.
Mr. Cooper had hurried down stairs again,
after kissing his wife, to have every thing ready
for her descent, he told her.
" It 's really odd I never have happened to
meet that remarkable piece of masculine perfec-
tion."
" You will have a chance, then. We expect
him out to dinner to-day."
Miss Grant's liveliness vanished for a moment.
Mrs. Cooper thought how very like the disap-
pointed expression was to Mr. Henderson's when
he was told that she would be a guest. Miss
Grant did not consider it necessary to be silent as
to hers, however. In fact, one thing, often brought
against her by those who did not like her and
they were not a few was that she always said
every thing that came into her mind, without
pausing to consider who might be hurt or offended
by it.
240 THE COOPEE8.
" It can't be helped, I suppose ; but I shall be
as dull as possible. I expected to have a grand
good time with you and Murray, I haven't seen
you in so long, and have such quantities to tell
you, all about Newport and Saratoga. You
haven't heard a word yet. Oh ! and Ellen Schro-
der's wedding and Tom Nichols is engaged at
last ; did you know it ? If it was any body in
the world but him. I hate perfect people."
Mr. Cooper appeared while she was rattling
away, brushing out her bandeaux before the dress-
ing-glass at the same time.
" You see I have on my last new dress. Isn't
it charming, that border around the flounces ? You
must have a green one I saw. No ; you 're too
pale for green now. You can afford a pink hat
this winter, if you keep up the invalid. Murray,
how you neglect your wife ! only one kiss since
you came home ! She 's as pale as a ghost."
The charge of neglect was entirely unfounded,
as Miss Grant was forced to acknowledge, when
she saw, the next moment, how carefully he
wrapped her shawl around her, slipping a crimson
tea-rose into her hair she wore no cap, to please
MATCH-MAKING. 241
him and then, lifting her in his arms as ten-
derly as if she had been a child, carried her off
from Miss Grant, still talking nonsense, and ar-
ranging her dress.
" Now shut your eyes till I put you in your
own chair. You will be dizzy there." And she
was desired, in the next breath, to " open them,
and see what she could see."
"Oh, Murray! curtains and a new piano
cover ! how much they furnish the room ! how
pretty they are ! how did you manage ? Does
Mrs. Henderson know ? "
" Rather," said Mr. Cooper rubbing his hands
delightedly, and quite satisfied with her astonish-
ment and pleasure. " Considering I had to leave
her to finish putting them up, this morning, you
would keep me talking about that Rochester con-
signment, and making me explain to you how we
happened to make some money for once in our
lives. I thought you were going to spoil it all,
last night."
"Last night?"
"Yes wanting to know what the man was
bringing in when I came from the depot. Mrs.
11
242 THE COOPERS.
Henderson agreed to keep you from the window ;
but your ears are so terribly sharp ! "
" I wondered what you were opening and shut-
ting the parlor for, when it was tea and soap.
You are veiy kind, Murray. They are just what
I wanted. It's the nicest of birthday presents."
" Oh, those are only to coax you into house-
keeping again, and because you've been a good
patient wife, and two or three other things ! You
shall choose your own birthday gift from me when
you go to town. Here is Johnny, with his."
Katy set her charge down by the door, with a
parting twitch of his white apron, and shake of
the little full skirts. Even the loss of his curls
could not make Johnny a plain child; and his
large eyes were full of surprise and pleasure at
seeing his mother down stairs again. The little
fellow ran straight towards her with open arms,
holding out a bouquet he had been privately in-
trusted with. His kiss and clinging arms were all
the fondest mother could have desired.
" She doesn't deserve the pretty flowers, John-
ny ; she slanders you ; she says you're not fond of
her," said Mr. Cooper, hanging over the two.
MATCH-MAKING.
" Tableau vivant for the entertainment of in-
vited guests," called out Miss Grant, as she made
her appearance. " It's a pity that I am the only-
audience. It's all very well before people."
" And when they are away, as you'll come to
know yet," said Mr. Cooper, who never lost an
opportunity of threatening Miss Grant with matri-
mony.
Miss Grant drew out her crochet-work, and
established herself on the lounge in a most defiant
attitude.
" If you've kissed your wife sufficiently for the
present, Mr. Cooper, you will oblige us greatly
by taking yourself off until we are forced to be
bored with that paragon who is coming up in the
early train. It must fre almost time to escort him
from the depot. Form yourself into a guard of
honor, and march forthwith."
"Come, Johnny; they don't want us here.
Put mamma's flowers into the vase ; and we will
go and have a walk by ourselves. Johnny wants
to ride in his little carriage, with papa for a pony,
so he does. Tell Katy to get your hat and coat,
my boy. Never stay where you are not wanted."
244: THE COOPERS.
And Johnny, nothing loth, was borne off on papa's
shoulder to be equipped for an excursion.
It was quite dusk, in the short November day,
before Mr. Henderson was ushered into the par-
lor where the two ladies still sat, Miss Grant pour-
ing forth an exhaustless tide of news, nonsense,
and clever criticism upon what she had seen and
read since they were last together.
Mr. Henderson could not account for the un-
usual tremor which stole over him as he found
himself at his friend's threshold. He was always
diffident, at first, in the society of ladies ; but this
was an unusual amount of stupidity and self-con-
sciousness, amounting to decided embarrassment,
as he was presented in the dark to Miss Lizzie
Grant. He saw, by the red glow of the fire, a
slight, almost childish figure, curled up in a
school-girl attitude, on one corner of the lounge,
her feet hidden under her voluminous flounces.
Miss Grant, starting from her careless attitude,
could make out, in the shadow, where he stood,
only a tall dark figure, bowing in her direction.
But his voice, as she sat and listened in the few
minutes that passed while Katy brought lights,
MATCH-MAKING. 24:5
had a depth and manliness that interested her in
spite of all resolves to dislike him, and made her
wish Kate would move a little faster, that she
might see what manner of man he was. Probably
Mr. Henderson was guilty of some such natural
curiosity with regard to herself; for, when the
lamp was brought in, she met his eyes ; and, if
Mr. Cooper had seen the start and withdrawal of
both wandering glances, he would have " spared
neither age nor sex" for the remainder of the
evening. Fortunately for them, he was at that
moment busily employed in dressing celery in the
dining-room, to which they were summoned, di-
rectly after.
Mrs. Cooper seated herself beside her husband,
declaring that she was only an invited guest, and
that Mrs. Henderson's reign as housekeeper did
not end before Saturday night, begging every one
to understand that any fault of the dinner was not
to be laid to her charge. " For once, I intend to
enjoy a meal at my own table, irrespective of
burned turkey and spoiled sauces. Don't appeal
to me. Murray," she said, gayly. She had not
felt so light-hearted in many a day ; and the little
246 THE COOPERS.
excitement gave a tinge of color to her cheek, and
brightness to her eyes, that replaced the freshness
of her girlhood.
Tiny was obliged still to be waiter as well as
cook, Kate being detailed upon nursery duty.
She was neatly dressed ; her careless habits never
betrayed themselves in her person ; and the table
was laid with a precision that betrayed Mrs. Hen-
derson's watchful oversight. The whole dinner
thanks to the same was a triumph, and showed
such a progress in Tiny's culinary skill, that her
mistress began to take heart again.
They had to wait an extremely fashionable
length of time, it is true, between the courses,
every thing depending on one pair of hands ; but
no one noticed it, in the light jests and badinage
of Mr. Cooper and Miss Grant, kept from abso-
lute folly by Mrs. Henderson's presence, and an
occasional word from her, thrown in by way of
ballast.
It was as cosey a party as one would wish to
see, lingering over their dessert, and all enjoying
themselves much more than they expected ; though
a certain reserve in Mr. Henderson's manner to-
MATCH-MAKING. 24:7
wards Miss Grant, whenever lie had occasion to
address her, gave her the uncomfortable suspicion,
now and then, that he looked on her childish non-
sense with the calmness of rebuke. But it was
Miss Grant's disposition to resent any such un-
called-for strictures by a gayer manner still ; and
she went on until Mrs. Cooper was forced to con-
fess there was no hope whatever of her cherished
scheme, and wondered what Mrs. Henderson would
think of such " prattle and tattle." " Hark ! " said
she, as even Mr. Henderson's mirth was provoked
by a wilder sally than ever. " I 'm sure I heard
baby hush, Lizzie ! did you, Mrs. Henderson ? "
" Now, pray, don't commence the Mrs. Fair-
bairn, Matty. I shall give you up in despair. It
is perfectly horrid ; isn't it, Mr. Henderson, this
listening with one ear up stairs all the while you
are talking to a person ? Don't you remember
Mrs. Fairbairn ? "
" In ' Inheritance,' Miss Ferrier's novel ; is it
not?"
" Yes, Mrs. Fairbairn one of those women
who, from the time they become mothers, cease
to be any thing else."
248 THE COOPEKS.
"I remember. 'Their husbands are hence-
forth only the father of their children, their brothers
and sisters, their uncles and aunts,' " said Mr.
Henderson, taking up the quotation as they rose
from the table.
His mother stopped a moment to direct Tiny,
and Mr. Cooper assisted his wife up stairs to see
for herself that the baby was not suffering from
any cruel neglect or maltreatment. The visitors,
as they came into the parlor, and stood on either
side of the fire, found themselves quite alone for
the time.
" Matrimony is all very well at a distance,"
and Miss Grant shrugged her drooping shoulders ;
" tea-roses, and new curtains, and all that ! But
I've staid with people, and seen the other side of
the picture."
" Seen what ? " said Mr. Cooper, coming back
to them.
" ' Soap-box empty and flour out ! ' ' How long
have we had that barrel of flour, Julia ? " And
Miss Grant's voice assumed the injured tone with
which a man invariably puts that question. " ' We
use more soap in our family than it ought to take
MATCH-MAKING. 249
to wash for the whole city ! ' Yes, sir," and she
made a sweeping courtesy to Murray ; " when
you find me obliged to listen to such little matri-
monial compliments, I give you leave to tell me
of it."
" We shall see ! " said Mr. Cooper, provoking-
ly. " All bravado, Henderson ; she will turn out
the most devoted wife and mother in the country,
some day."
" Not a bit of it, with poor Matty as an awful
warning before my eyes." And she gave her
flounces a composing flutter as she seated herself
at the open piano, and began singing, defiantly,
"Liberty for me ;
No man's wife Til be ! "
" We shall live to see," chimed in her adversary.
Whatever Mr. Henderson's opinion on the
subject was he kept it to himself, and took up a
volume of plans for Cottages and Yillas, and was
deeply absorbed in them when the other ladies
returned. As they gathered around the table, he
found Miss Grant next to him, placed there by an
innocent little manoeuvre of Mrs. Cooper.
11*
250 THE COOPEKS.
" Do you like the country ? " he said, prosily
enough, addressing her for the first time.
" Don't ask her ; she detests it next to matri-
mony," said Mr. Cooper for her.
" Oh, dear, yes ! I should die of mud and
ennui. I wonder Matty has survived it so long.
They are both of them sick enough of it, if they
would only confess."
" Not I. "We expect to have a charming win-
ter ; don't we, Murray ? "
" Of course we do ; and my highest ambition
is to have a little place of my own. I think I
could improve on some of those things, Hender-
son. It 's strange how a man alters as he grows
old" Mr. Cooper would be thirty on his next
birthday ! " how people do throw themselves
away ; young men, I mean." Mr. Cooper looked
as if he had attained to all the wisdom of the an-
cients.
" After all, Henderson," and he threw himself
back in his chair, " what is there to live for but
to take care of one's wife and children, and to get
a snug little place to put them in ? "
Mrs. Henderson had taken up the volume her
son laid down.
MATCH-MAKING. 251
" Did you notice this last view of all ? " she
said to Mr. Cooper.
" Yes ; poetical fancy, isn't it ? though rather
a skeleton-at-the-feast idea, finishing up with a
design for a grave."
" Shocking ! " said Miss Grant. " Let me see.
It's lovely, though, isn't it ? "
" The last house appointed for the living," said
Mr. Henderson, in his deep, rich voice ; " it is
very appropriate here."
" There is more than an appropriate fancy in-
tended by the designer, I think, to remind people
that there is something else to live for besides
planting and building."
One thing had struck Mrs. Henderson pain-
fully, in the tone, not only of the family, but the
neighbors who dropped in most frequently. They
seemed to live so entirely for this life ; their plans
of thriftiness and reform all ended in the central
point of self. " Wife and children, and a place
to put them in." Mr. Cooper had expressed it
exactly. They all said : " I will plant this year,
I will build next, I will ornament and improve for
years to come ; " as if they held their lives in fee,
252 THE COOPERS.
and no one could dispute the possession. She had
lived to see -wealth take wings, or wife and child
snatched away, making every thing else valueless ;
and what provision were they making against the
evil day, or to render " tithes of all they possessed "
to Him who alone "giveth us the power to get
wealth ! "
It had been a burden upon her heart, many a
day, that the two she had come to love as her
own children should so set aside the highest aims
and motives.
She could not tell, even then, whether hei
grave earnestness had availed to call up one deep-
er thought, for the evening passed in mirth and
music, though scarcely so trifling as it had been
before. Mr. Henderson talked more, though not
to Miss Grant, and as Mrs. Cooper noticed their
studied avoidance of each other, her little scheme
flickered and died out.
" Well, I suppose it is not to be," she said,
when they were alone together. " Mr. Hender-
son and Lizzie, I mean," she added.
" Didn't I tell you so ? You were foolish to
think of it ! They are not in the least alike. Are
MATCH-MAKING.
you very tired, dear ? Have you had a pleasant
birthday ?
" Oh, yes, how could I help it ? every thing
went off so nicely. You are very kind, Murray."
" Well, what is it ? " said her husband, know-
ing from her manner that there was an unspoken
afterthought.
" Don't you think that God has been very good
to us this year ? " she said, hesitatingly. " If I
feel so grateful to you, I ought to be to Him for
giving you to me, and the children, and this dear
little home ? "
" I tell you what, Matty, when Mrs. Hender-
son said that, about something else to live for, it
made me feel I can't tell you how as I did that
day when poor Uncle Murray was buried. What
if I should lose you, or one of the children ? "
"Did you ? Oh, I wish we were truly good,
like her ! and then we should not care so much.
I feel as if I must go to church to-morrow, and
thank God for saving me and baby, and making
us all so happy. May I ? I don't think it would
hurt me ! Will you go with me ? "
Mr. Cooper stroked her hair, as she looked up
254 THE COOPERS.
eagerly in his face ; his eyes were full of thought
as well as tenderness.
" She's a good woman ; there must be some-
thing in it. Yes, we'll go, Matty. But I never
went to church on Thanksgiving day before in all
my life."
CHAPTER XL
THE SERVANT QUESTION.
" The servant question is one of the social problems of the day."
If thou wouldst have a good servant, let the servant find a good master.
Bo not angry with him too long, lest he think thee malicious ; nor too soon,
lest he conceive thee rash ; nor too often, lest he count thee humorous.
Quarle*.
MBS. HENDEKSON was really going. Her trunk
was packed ; her neat travelling-dress hung alone
in the wardrobe, ready for the next morning's
wear. Her gloves, veil, and handkerchiefs were
laid out upon the dressing-table. Mrs. Cooper
looked around the room, and thought how char-
acteristic even these little preparations were.
Nothing left until the last minute nothing to be
hunted up no few stitches to be taken bonnet
in hand. Mrs. Henderson was as much at liberty,
this last evening, as if there was no journey in
contemplation, and had gone down to the parlor
256 THE COOPERS.
to see Mrs. Phillips, whose neighborly offices had
been so very acceptable during Mrs. Cooper's
illness.
Two books were lying upon the table, one of
them opened, as if it had been laid down at the
moment of going to the parlor. The other was a
showily bound Bible, laid in the guest room, as a
matter of course, much as Mrs. Cooper could
have placed a mirror or a footstool there. Evi-
dently, it was still as fresh as when one of her
bridesmaids brought it to her, a wedding gift.
Mi's. Henderson had used it that morning, her
own being laid away. She had shown it to Mrs.
Cooper the day before, a plain, well-worn copy,
full of marks, and the margin pencilled with dates,
or some striking thought, commenting on a text,
as she had read. Mrs. Henderson's clear judg-
ment, and genial philosophy of life, had been re-
marked by all at " the Lodge," as Mrs. Cooper
most frequently called their home. "Whether it
should be " Chestnut," " Hawthorne," or " Elm-
wood " Lodge, was still under discussion. Either
might have been appropriate from the surrounding
foliage. Miss Grant mockingly proposed " Sweet
THE BEEVANT QUESTION. 257
Syringa," as suggested by the lovely domestic
harmony of the inmates, or " Cooper Institute,"
from the wisdom the head of the family was sup-
posed to have attained to ; but Lizzie Grant was a
privileged person.
Mrs. Henderson's wisdom was a reality ; and
here she had gained it. This was her text-book ;
prayer, her instructor. It was described in those
very pages " pure, peaceful, gentle " " unto
all, patience and long-suffering with joyfumess."
Mrs. Cooper felt it more and more to surpass all
knowledge of society, all maxims of self-interest
and worldly prudence ; yet the very alphabet was
still a mystery to her. . She closed the door, and
followed Mrs. Henderson to the parlor with a
heavy-hearted feeling, very like the despondency
of the past summer. The house was all in exact
order, the baby asleep, and Johnny playing con-
tentedly with a box of blocks. How long would
tranquillity reign when her friend and adviser
had gone ? Even Mrs. Phillips noticed her de-
pression, as she came into the room. " You will
miss Mrs. Henderson very much," she said, coming
forward to meet Mrs. Cooper with the cordiality
258 THE COOPERS.
of an old friend. " I have just been telling her
that I wish she could be persuaded to make her
home near us."
Mrs. Phillips, though born and reared in afflu-
ence, had, from the first, appreciated Mrs. Hen-
derson fully ; and this, more than any thing, had
established the friendly feeling which her kind
offices as a neighbor had brought out at the first
of Mrs. Cooper's illness.
" It is too delightful a plan ever to be realized."
And both ladies felt that there was more than
empty compliment in the rejoinder.
" Mrs. Cooper dreads household cares," said
Mrs. Henderson, pleasantly ; " and I have relieved
her from them in a measure. Oh, I did not say
that was all ! " she added, quickly.
" Mre. Phillips knows I am not quite so selfish."
" Still, it is very natural, my dear. I well re-
member how hard it was to look after my children
and servants, in the first years of my housekeep-
ing. I had three so nearly of an age, that the nurse
used to be asked if the two youngest were not
twins, Mrs. Parker and my son George."
" It is the servants, Mrs. Phillips. If I could
THE SERVANT QUESTION. 259
only come upon somebody like your Joanna ! I
don't see where people find such treasures. I
hear of them every now and then ; but I never
came across them."
" They are not to be found" said Mrs. Phillips.
" I agree with you there." And Mrs. Hender-
son smiled, catching at once the meaning of this
contradictory assertion.
" But they are" said Mrs. Cooper, positively.
" There 's your cook. I heard you say she had
been with you five years ; and Mrs. Lawrence has
had hers oh, ages ! "
" Three years, to speak within bounds."
" "Well, that 's a great while. I have had five
in the same length of time ; and not one of them
suited me."
" Good evening, ladies. " The door opened
suddenly ; and a well-dressed, self-assured looking
lady came sailing into the room. " I knocked,
and no one heard me ; so I took the liberty
of waiting on myself. I heard Mrs. Phillips'
voice."
" I 'm sorry it was raised so loud as to be dis-
tinguished in the street."
260 THE COOPERS.
" But it wasn't in the street, only on the door-
step."
Mrs. Graves, the new comer, dropped her
blanket-shawl, threw off a pretty rigolette, and
made herself quite at home. It was her style,
wherever she found herself; but she had taken a
great fancy to Mrs. Cooper, who was nearer her
own age than any one in the neighborhood, and
had resolved to be " intimate."
" I ran over for a moment's peace and quiet.
The boys have a holiday ; and then I regularly go
distracted. Besides, the cook's given warning,
because I took the liberty of inviting company
without consulting her ; and Ann is in the sulks
because she 's going. If ever you hear I 'ni in an
insane asylum, you '11 know what put me there."
" I 've managed to bring up seven children,
and keep out of one," said Mrs. Phillips, who had
been the recipient of her neighbor's domestic dif-
ficulties for a year past.
" Oh, you ! Your children are born with such
immense bump of order, that their very playthings
walk off, and put themselves away ; and you have
the luck of finding servants that haven't a fault.
THE SERVANT QUESTION. 261
It 's no trouble to you to keep a house ; it keeps
itself."
" Mrs. Phillips just told me, though, that these
wonders of servants are not to be found. I agree
with her, so far as my own experience goes."
" Well, mine is the ditto of yours," said Mrs.
Graves, swinging her rigolette by the tassels.
" They are an ungrateful, impudent, idle set, now-
adays. All they want is high wages and a kitchen
full of company. I 'd go to board any moment ;
but Mr. Graves won't hear of it."
""Well, I've tried my best." And, as Mrs.
Cooper said it, she caught Mrs. Henderson's glance,
and remembered that, by her own confession, she
had done nothing of the kind.
" Oh, dear, yes, so have I ! I give tremendous
wages, and indulge them every way. That doesn't
do. Then I'm horribly hard with the next set
screw them down a dollar a month don't allow
them to go out, or have a visitor ; and they get
sulky and discontented, and march off. But la,
iny dear, it's so all the world over ! Every body
has the same trouble."
"Not every body," said Mrs. Cooper, "for
262 THE COOPERS.
then I would not mind so much. Every now and
then Mr. Cooper comes home with such a remark-
able story that he has picked up among his busi-
ness friends ; and then you read about these old
family servants, who are so devoted, and do such
wonderful things. For my part, I don't see where
people find them."
" Mrs. Phillips just told you they were not to
be found."
" "Well, where do they come from, then, Mrs.
Henderson ? ' I don't understand it more and
more,' as my Harry says."
" They are made, trained," said Mrs. Phillips.
" I wish you 'd enlighten us as to the process.
Don't you, Mrs. Cooper ? "We would take some
lessons."
" Like every other study, you would have to
bring patience to help you, and take experience
for a teacher."
u But we must make a commencement," said
Mrs. Cooper.
" That is true ; and it is the chief thing, after
all we must commence with ourselves."
" I have had very little experience in ' servant
THE SERVANT QUESTION. 263
troubles,' " said Mrs. Henderson, not hesitating to
avow in saying this the limited scale of her house-
hold. " In Rockland, we have * help.' "
" The worst of all hindrances ! " And Mrs.
Graves threw up her eyes and her hands.
" They often are, because living out is a choice
with them ; and places are more plenty than girls
to fill them. They seldom stay long enough at
one house to be trained."
" How trained ? I want to find girls that
know their business before they come to you, and
go straight through it, and make no trouble," said
Mre. Cooper.
"And never desire to go out," added Mrs.
Graves. " They have no business to go out. Com-
pany ruins them. Extravagant, idle "
" Do you know, Mrs. Graves, I always thought
servants were human ? " interrupted Mrs. Phillips.
" "Well, of course they are. Who denies it ? "
" It 's not a human trait to need no recreation
and no society. Isn't it your place to see that
both are well chosen ? "
" My place ? No ! What have I to do with
my servants' visitors ? "
264 THE COOPERS.
<k What have you to do with the company your
children keep ? "
" It isn't a parallel case."
" But it is, in a measure. You are responsible
for every member of your family."
" For my children ? Yes." Mrs. Graves al-
lowed that, though conscious that she was often
guilty of neglect. Mrs. Phillips knew that she
professed, as well as herself, to be guided by the
highest motives that can influence any one.
"Guided" would scarcely express the position
Mrs. Graves held, in common with many others.
She was a church-goer, and a church-member, a
Sunday Christian ; but she never thought of re-
ligion as having a positive connection with her
daily life, further than an obedience to the out-
ward rules of morality.
" I don't see where you get it from."
" I rather think you will find it in the same
book in which you learned your duty to your chil-
dren. If we were not responsible for our servants,
why should we be told to see that they hallow the
Sabbath?"
" But most people expect more on Sunday
THE SERVANT QUESTION. 265
than any other day," said Mrs. Cooper " a better
dinner, and the children more carefully dressed.
Every one that I know does."
Mrs. Graves said nothing. Her conscience
could not clear her on the starting-point.
" I have sometimes wished that there was no
such responsibility." Mrs. Phillips' bright face
clouded for a moment.
" Here is something exactly to the point," said
Mrs. Henderson, who had been turning over the
leaves of an English magazine lying upon the
table. She had come upon it several evenings
before ; and there was a pencil mark against the
paragraph, which she had made in the hope that
Mrs. Cooper would chance to see it after she left.
" Shall I read it ? I dare say you will think it
very dull ; but it goes to the root of the matter."
" Oh, by all means, if it is going to help us ! "
" It will not lighten what Mrs. Phillips has
found her burden. It insists upon the responsi-
bility as something ' that cannot be shaken off, or
delayed, or, in common circumstances, even dele-
gated.' Shall I go on ? " And Mrs. Henderson
finished the paragraph in a clear, low voice, by
12
266 THE COOPERS.
which its deep significance lost nothing : " A per-
son is introduced into our household as a servant.
She is young, we shall suppose, and therefore, to
a considerable extent, of unformed character. Her
very youth and inexperience, however, render her
the more susceptible to the moral influences under
which she may be brought, whether for good or
evil. Here, then, is a connection formed, the
duties springing out of which are no more optional
than those of parents to their children. She has
been brought into a peculiar society, of which you
are the responsible and recognized head, and over
whose various members it is impossible that you
shall not exert an influence of some kind. All
authority over others is a talent with which we are
intrusted / and, from the nature of the relation,
this is emphatically true of the mistress of a family.
How much may be done by you to check the
growth of evil habits ! to encourage the formation
of good ones ! to engraft all upon a living root of
Christian principle ! How much may be done by
a system of kindly instruction to add to the young
domestic's stock of religious knowledge ! to com-
mend religion by showing its blessed effects in sub-
THE SERVANT QUESTION. 267
duing and sweeteniny your temper! in making
the law of truth and kindness preside in your
whole conversation ! in giving you moderation in
prosperity, and resignation in affliction ! in spread-
ing a genial sunshine upon your countenance, the
radiation of the pardoned soul, and the holy glad-
ness that is within ! and not the least in the hal-
lowing and cementing influence of family prayer !
The obligation is only deepened when, as often
happens, the young servant is the daughter of
poor parents, or when she is a poor orphan, cast
inexperienced and penniless on the world.' "
" Oh dear ! " groaned Mrs. Graves, as the book
was laid down '' worse and worse. It's all very
fine that we are to turn parish school-teachers to
every ignorant, awkward soul we stumble over at
an intelligence office ; but who believes it ? "
" It sounds as if you had written it yourself,
and laid it there for our express benefit. Let me
see the magazine. It 's here, after all, Mrs. Graves ;
but, as you say, ' who believes it ? ' "
" It is something forced upon us," said Mrs.
Phillips, who was delighted with the extract. " I
shall never forget the horror I felt when poor
268 THE COOPERS.
Eliza died. She had lived with me two years,
and her illness was so rapid that we had scarcely
realized her danger when she was gone ! She was
devoted to the children, and it was a great loss to
me, personally ; but the most bitter feeling was,
that I had not been a faithful mistress. I could
not accuse myself of any great lack of kindness
or consideration. I had cared for her body ; and
there it lay cold, rigid, stiffening in death. "What
had I done towards the life she had entered upon ?
I shall never forget that pang of self-reproach,
never ! "
Mrs. Graves did not feel at all comfortable at
the serious turn the conversation had taken. She
wanted to hear how to make her servants do their
duty to her, and not that she failed in hers towards
them.
" Oh, if people choose to make themselves
miserable, they could find a bed of nettles to walk
over any day ! I want to find out how to get at
one of those perfect machines like your Jo !"
" Do you suppose she has no faults ? Or, that
she came to me without any ? "
" Well, tell us how you managed to cure her
THE SERVANT QUESTION. 269
of them. No, she 's one of those monsters of per-
fection ! Faults ! You '11 be trying to make us
believe that you have some next."
Mrs. Phillips was accustomed to her neighbor's
style of conversation, and took no notice, save by
a smile, of this last speech, until Mrs. Cooper
joined in the same request.
" I wish you would tell us your way. How
are we ever to learn ? There 's your cook, for in-
stance ; what was her trouble ? "
" She was very untidy ; so much so that I
thought the first month I should never be able to
keep her. I used to go regularly every morning,
while she was making up her own room, and set
out every dish, that was not what it should be, on
a table in the middle of the room."
" I should have a very heterogeneous collection
if I tried it with Tiny," said Mrs. Cooper.
" You should have seen mine ! Sauce-boats
with two spoonfuls of gravy, bits of butter, slops
of cold tea, unwashed saucepans ! Oh, dear, such
a state as those closets were in ! "
" It wouldn't do to try the experiment with
most girls," said Mrs. Graves. " Nancy would
270 THE COOPERS.
have ordered you out of the kitchen. Why, I
never think of going near it when they are at
their meals ; she resents it so."
" Then I should have to give her up, that is all.
I should not be just to Mr. Phillips, if I allowed
waste in any part of his house."
" But I always feel so mean if I go poking
and prying into things ; and I always see so much
I don't care to know about."
" How are you going to correct them then ? I
always tell a new cook that once a day she may
expect me to take a general survey of her regions ;
and I never spare commendations where they are
deserved."
Mrs. Cooper thought of her voyage of discovery
on the day of Tiny's illness. How disheartened
she had been to find the tin burned off the set of
new saucepans they had bought at Berrian's ; the
handles melted from the measures in setting them
on the coals to boil eggs for breakfast, when every
thing else was unwashed ; the ivory handles of
the knives yellow and cracked ; a heap of broken
dishes in the cellar ; and a bundle of sheets and
THE SERVANT QUESTION. 271
pillow-cases stained with mildew from lying over
after they had been damped for ironing.
Mrs. Phillips's plan of daily inspection would
have prevented much of this ; but she lacked
courage to undertake the search or the reproof.
Like Mrs. Graves, she shut her eyes deliberately
to many things. Her chief excuse to herself and
her husband had been want of time. That family
sewing, again ! How much more had she lost by
undertaking to do it herself ! Only that very
morning she had gone through the house-linen
and bedding with Mrs. Henderson. The best
blankets were soiled and dingy, by lying about
in the dust, until it suited Kate's convenience, or
Johnny's whims to have the beds made ; the pil-
low-cases were " melting," as Tiny expressed it,
where she had used acid to remove the mildew ;
no set of towels or napkins was complete, not
even the pretty " snow-drop " pattern ; they had
enlisted into foreign service, as dish-cloths and
chamber towels. It was a disheartening review
from first to last, convicting Mrs. Cooper of neglect,
and her servants of gross carelessness.
" I often blamed the girls for what was my
272 THE COOPERS.
own fault when I came to look into the matter,"
Mrs. Phillips was saying, when she recalled her
thoughts from this disagreeable retrospect. " I do
so, now. But I mean it was more frequent when
I began to look into the matter at first."
" Well," said Mrs. Graves, " your talent for
humility only equals your housekeeping propen-
sities ; mine don't run in either direction. 1 pro-
test to the last that it 's the place of my servants
to know their business, and do it thoroughly.
That 's my parting shot ; for I don't intend to stay
and be lectured any longer. Mrs. Cooper, let me
know when I have no such risk to run, and we'll
have a comfortable half hour together berating
the whole tribe ! "
Mrs. Graves made a pretty movement of self-
defence, as she gathered up her shawl, and hurried
out of the room, using as little ceremony as when
she had entered it.
"If ' berating ' would do any good," Mrs.
Phillips called after her.
" I wish it would," said Mrs. Cooper.
" Why not try the training process which Mrs.
Phillips seems to succeed with ? "
THE SERVANT QUESTION. 273
" It 's just as you say ; girls never stay long
enough to be trained."
" I meant another class from those you have
to deal with."
" But you see how we city people change ! "
" It is a lack of patience and consideration on
both sides, I think, Mrs. Henderson."
" But it is impossible to take the time and trou-
ble your plan requires," Mrs. Cooper said, in reply
to Mrs. Phillips.
" I don't think it would cost you more in the
end than changing so frequently."
" Nor I," said Mrs. Henderson. " I have heard
you say very often how you dreaded to change,
the time, and trouble, besides having a stranger
in the household."
"That's true."
" And then, when there are children, you run
such a risk of bringing them into contact with bad
principles ; a fault of temper is much less to be
dreaded, or a failing that can be cured with time
and patience. Your strictures will have to begin
at home, though we are the gainers there, by any
12*
274 THE COOPERS.
thing indeed that enforces self-control and dili-
gence upon us."
" But, Mrs. Phillips"
" Well, ray dear, go on."
" I was only going to say that I wanted to feel
the girls had some interest in me and the children.
I think that makes all things go smoothly."
" It is very pleasant. I know how it is with
Joanna, especially ; but you must have time for
such a feeling to grow. Bribes will not bring it,
or gifts or indulgence, and then flying out at them
when you find the next minute some trivial or real
neglect. Time and uniform friendliness will, in
most cases, 'fashion one of those trusty family
servants' you fancy so much."
" But they are such an ungrateful set, as Mrs.
Graves says."
" Not in general ; and if a person proves un-
principled and ungrateful, it is no more than our
Master meets, and has infinite long-suffering with."
Mrs. Henderson's face lighted with that pecu-
liar expression Mrs. Cooper had so often noticed
when she found her faith the mainspring of action
or feeling in another.
THE SERVANT QUESTION. 275
" If He should be extreme to mark what is
done amiss, who of us could abide it ! " she said,
gently. " If we could but remember that, in all
our daily and social trials of temper and taste ! I
often wonder when I see people exacting so much
of others, passing over a hundred excellencies,
and treasuring up a single error or failing."
" It has checked many a quick word, and fret-
ful fault-finding," said Mrs. Phillips, u for me. I
believe it was the very foundation of my first at-
tempt at training Eliza. But if we take only
selfish motives, we are the gainers in the end. I
am at perfect liberty to leave home at any moment,
for I know that, unless something unusual occurs,
every thing will go on much the same as when I
am there."
" I suppose I might say the same in another
sense ! " said Mrs. Cooper, laughing. " Tiny does
wonders now but it is only Mrs. Henderson's
work ; so does Katy, for that matter. I have been
trying to study her magic, but I have not learned
it yet. She never scolds, and is not forever fol-
lowing them about. I can't see into it."
" Perhaps she rules by ' the law of kindness,'
276 THE COOPERS.
a very different code from the absence of all re-
straint," said Mrs. Phillips, as the deepening
twilight warned her of the gathering about her
own hearth at that hour. "I hope very much
that we may see her again, and frequently."
" I am very glad the conversation took this
turn," said Mrs. Henderson, as they went up to
the nursery, after their visitors' departure. Every
thing was quiet there. The baby was in one of
those long, unbroken naps that are such blessings
to young mothers, and Katy carried Johnny to the
dining-room for his bread and milk. Under Mrs.
Henderson's rule, he seldom saw the interior of
the kitchen ; and it was wonderful how much
more time Katy found for her work than when
she had full liberty to stand gossiping with Tiny,
or at Tiny, rather, under pretence of amusing
Master Johnny.
" There is one thing I notice about Mrs. Phil-
lips," said Mrs. Cooper, as she began to lay the
baby's night-clothes on the towel horse by the fire.
" She always has something to say, something that
does one good, I mean ; not about other people's
THE SERVANT QUESTION. 277
dress or affairs, and not often about her own. We
asked her to-day, you know."
" I dare say she feels the responsibility of every
such encounter as this, and tries to turn it to the
best advantage."
" I believe you do, Mrs. Henderson."
" Perhaps so. It becomes a habit after awhile ;
though every one knows how much they find to
reproach themselves with daily." Mrs. Cooper
sat down in her low nursery-chair, and shaded her
face with her hands, leaning down as she did so.
" You are tired ; we did too much this morn-
ing. Let me undress the baby."
" Oh, no, it is not that ; but the more I try to
do right, the more I see undone. You and Mrs.
Phillips talk as if we were actually responsible
for every thing we do, or think, or say, or have, or
do not have ! That is what tires me. I am so
weary, so very weary of myself,- of every thing !
I have been this long, long time ! "
Mrs. Henderson waited for this hysterical burst
of feeling to subside. " I long more than you can
believe to comfort you, my dear child," and she
laid her hand upon the bowed head before her ;
278 THE COOPERS.
" but I cannot help you with this weight, or by
telling you that it is imaginary."
" But what ana I to do ? You are going to-
morrow, and I shall just fall back into the old
way, and make Murray miserable, as I did before."
" You have depended on my help ? "
" Oh, you know I have."
" Yes, I do ; because you believed I was right,
and could counsel and assist you ; that I was dis-
interested too you felt that and that my desire
to help you was real."
" Yes, that is it. I have Tested on you so, you
will never understand how much ! or what a friend
in need you have been."
" I have a friend who never leaves me," said
Mrs. Henderson, her voice trembling with the sud-
den hope that she might lead one she loved so
well to Him also. " One I can always trust and
turn to ; sometimes he allows us to feel just this
ueed when he is ready to help us. We should not
reach out for his strength if ours did not utterly
fail us."
But she said no more. Not when they sep-
arated for the night, though the burden of her
THE SERVANT QUESTION. 279
evening prayer was for a blessing on the home she
was leaving ; not even when they parted the next
day, though it might be for a lifetime.
Mrs. Cooper turned to the house again, with
the self-same weight upon her heart, and saw Katy
holding Johnny at the dining-room window, kiss-
ing his hands after the vehicle which carried Mrs.
Henderson to the depot. On the door-step stood
Tiny gazing after it, while she held up the corner
of her apron as if it had been applied to her eyes
recently.
" There isn't many the likes of her, ma'am,"
she said, retreating into her own dominions.
Mrs. Cooper went to her little one, agreeing
with this voluntary sentiment in full. Mrs. Hen-
derson had stolen in to kiss her little charge good-
by, while the family were still at the breakfast-
table. Mrs. Cooper found her own Bible lying
beside the child, as if Mrs. Henderson had felt
where she would first turn, and a bit of ribbon
marked some page she had evidently intended to
be searched for a parting message. She found it
by the pencilled line lightly drawn against the
verse : " Come unto me, all ye that labor, and I
will give you rest."
CHAPTER XII.
GIFT-MAKING.
" It is by no means a misfortune to be born in that station of life where
we cannot eat our cake, and have it too."
MRS. COOPER had made a grand discovery.
Somebody finds it out every day for themselves,
and imagines it to be a perfectly original theory. It
is this, that we enjoy doubly what we strive for, and
that the pleasure the rich find in the gratification
of every fancy is made up to those in moderate
circumstances by the attainment of some single,
long-desired object. " Don't you think so, too,
Murray ? " she said, when she had stated her
proposition as clearly as the jar of the train and
the hiss of the locomotive would allow. She was
going to town for the first time since her little
daughter's birth ; and it was quite an event to her
going on a very pleasant errand, too the fit-
GIFT-MAKING. 281
ting of the silk she had shown Mrs. Henderson ;
and, though every woman exclaims against the
annoyance of being fitted, every soul of them en-
joys the near prospect of wearing a new and be-
coming dress. Besides which, she was to choose
her birthday present from her husband, according
to his promise on the day of their dinner-party.
After much grave deliberation, it was to be some-
thing for the house. She had decided on a set of
candelabras. She found, after being accustomed
to gas and a chandelier, that it was almost impos-
sible to light their parlor for any thing like an
evening gathering with a solar lamp.
" If there 's any thing more than another which
makes a stiff evening, it's an ill-lighted room.
When I came down that night Lizzie and Mr.
Henderson were here, I noticed at once how for-
lorn it was."
" I thought it very cheerful, for my part," said
her husband.
" Oh, I had candles set on the piano at once !
but we had nothing but the chamber candlesticks
to put them in ; and that would never do with
strangers."
282 THE COOPERS.
"Any thing you fancy. It's nothing to me.
I only want something useful, of course, that will
last ; and things of that description are always
economical, you know."
" But how came you to be able to afford to
give them to me ? "
" That 's my affair. Have you any idea what
they cost ? "
" 1ST ot exactly."
" Going to get those dingle-dangles ? "
" Oh dear, no ! They 've been out of fashion
these ages. I could have had a set of those, for
that matter. Aunt Agnes has a pair set away in
her store-closet, no use to any one ; but they are
so antediluvian. I want a pair of pretty bronze
figures. Gilt always seems tawdry to me ; besides,
it wears off ; so bronze is really much cheaper."
" I thought bronze ornaments were the most
expensive of any. I don't believe they will come
within my limits."
" Oh, not real bronze, you know ! Everybody
has imitations that not one in twenty discovers.
Mrs. Phillips has, and Mrs. Graves."
GIFT-MAKING. 283
" None of your imitations, Matty. I don't go
in for shams in any thing."
" But this is quite another thing. Everybody
has them. JSTo one expects the real thing."
" Beautiful consistency ! I always did admire
it. Didn't I hear somebody defending mock dia-
monds with that very argument, and you say that
your own self-respect wouldn't allow it ? Self-
respect less stringent in bronze than diamonds ! "
And he teazingly drew out his pocket diary, as if
to make a memorandum of it, but, in reality, to
set down his wife's fare to the city.
" You have a desperate memory, Murray."
" And you a very convenient one. No shams !
Come, now ! "
" But you just said you couldn't afford the
real ; you know you did."
" I suppose I ought to say, then, go without
till we can. But I don't intend to. You 've made
yourself sick trying to save for me ; and I Ve de-
nied myself every thing, this year ; and it 's a great
pity if I can't indulge such a good little woman
once in a while. So she should have her cande-
labras ; there ! "
284 THE COOPEE8.
" Don't be nonsensical, Murray. But hav'n't
we done wonders, this year ? Our expenses have
been fully a hundred less than last, and with the
moving and two children, too. I think we deserve
a great deal of credit."
" "We must do a great deal better, though, next
year. What 's a hundred dollars ? "
" Nothing to spend, that is true, but a great
deal when it was spared from twenty things that
had always been held as absolute necessities."
Mrs. Cooper experienced that cheerful glow of
satisfaction which arises from the consciousness
of moral exertion successfully put forth, and felt
equal to writing an appendix to Miss Beecher's
" Domestic Economy." Indulging in this mental
self-glorification, she submitted to the silence al-
ways imposed on the female part of the commu-
nity from the moment the newsboy makes his
appearance in the cars with the morning papers,
and was handed out at Chambers street, with the
settled opinion that very few women were more
entirely devoted to their husbands' interests than
herself.
" We will take the candelabras first," said Mr.
GUT-MAKING. 285
Cooper, as they walked up Chambers street ; " for
I must be at the store by half past ten. Where
shall you go ? I believe there 's an establishment
near the Park ? "
" Hadn't we better go to Haughwout's, where
we had our china and things ? "
" That 's so far up town. Here, this place is
as good as any other, I suppose. Yes ; there are
candelabras. Now, don't be all day choosing,
but suit yourself."
Mrs. Cooper had been perfectly innocent in her
decision innocent of any extravagant intentions,
that is. She thought a pair of low, plain candela-
bras, in imitation bronze, could be had for about
twelve dollars, and asked to have some shown her ;
but there were none at that price ; some below it,
dwarfed and inelegant in shape ; others ranging
higher, but with a mixture of gilt, or painted
porcelain, which did not please her at all. " There,
something like those," she said, pointing to a pair
of single figures on marble pedestals, upholding a
branch. They came very near to her ideal
simple, chaste, and elegant.
"Those are the real thing," said the shopman.
286 THE COOPEKS.
" You can't find any thing like those in imita-
tion."
" That 's what we want," said Mr. Cooper,
speaking for the first time. " Let us see some more."
" Oh ! " And the man's manner instantly
showed an increase of animation, as if it were
considerably better worth his while to attend to
them. "Much cheaper in the end, sir. These
twist and droop with a very little wear. Those are
always the same, firm as iron, you see heavier.
Just try to lift it, ma'am."
"I should think they would break more easily
then," said Mrs. Cooper, studying the figures, and
admiring them more every moment.
" Copies from, celebrated antiques. There,
sir! observe the poise of that figure. Break,
ma'am ? Oh it 's possible ! but bronze itself can
easily be mended. The imitation is quite useless,
after a hard knock ; that 's the great advantage."
" "What 's the price ? " said Mr. Cooper, shortly.
The man spoke low. Mrs. Cooper, at a little
distance understood him to say twenty -five dollars.
They were quite out of her reach ; but she liked
them more than ever. Even her unpractised eye
GIFT-MAKING. 287
could see their purity and grace beside the best of
the imitations.
Mr. Cooper took out his watch. Time was
precious to Mrs. Cooper as well as himself. She
could not leave her baby longer than the mid-day
train. " Have you any others, a little lees, some-
thing this style ? "
No. Unfortunately, that was the only pair they
had then at a medium price. All the rest were
larger, and still more expensive. This pair was
unusually low ; but they had marked every thing
down ; it was near the holiday season ; and they
wanted to make way for a new lot of goods they
were just getting through the custom-house.
"No, sir. Those are a tremendous bargain.
They could not be imported for that price."
Mrs. Cooper knew enough of such wares to be
sure that this was true. Twenty -five dollars was
little enough for any thing so handsome. " They
are certainly very low, Murray. I wish we could
afford it," she said, in a rapid aside ; while the
clerk, accustomed to such little colloquies between
customers, politely turned a deaf ear to the whis-
per, and appeared to be about replacing the coveted
288 THE COOPERS.
articles on the upper shelf from which he had
produced them. " They suit me so exactly ; eveiy
thing else will seem so shabby. I 'in almost sorry
we looked at them."
" Do they suit you ? are you sure ? " said Mr.
Cooper, hastily. " You are giving yourself very
little time for the dressmaker. The care leave
exactly at half past twelve, recollect. Are they
just what you wanted ? "
u Oh, handsomer ! There isn't a single pair
here I would have but those ; and, of course
But her criticism was cut short by Mr. Cooper's
abrupt call to the shopman : " You may pack those.
Have them at the depot in time for the four o'clock
train."
" But, Murray ! " His wife looked aghast at
the order ; but it was too late for expostulation.
The shopman was busy writing down the address ;
and she could not expostulate before him. It was
so very extravagant ; but they were so very hand-
some. They ought not to afford it ; but it was
just Murray's old self when they were first mar-
ried. He never could bear to deny her any thing
she had set her heart on. Perhaps they would be
GUT-MAKING. 289
the cheapest in the end, as the man said ; and she
would not allow him to make her any Christmas
or New-Year's gift. " I 'm so sorry," she began,
the moment they set foot on the pavement again.
" Sorry for what ? Didn't you say you liked
them?"
" Yes, indeed ; but you know as well as I do
that"
" Oh, don't let 's talk any more about it ! I
know all you intend to preach ; and I 've been a
devout hearer for so long, I had to break out to
be sure of my own identity. I set out to make
you a present for the first time in a year ; and I
wanted you to be suited ; if you are, it 's all right.
I wouldn't give any of those other things house
room."
They separated at the corner ; and Mrs. Cooper
went her way, half pleased, half sorry, but think-
ing, after all, that it was not such a very enormous
" lapsus" into past offences, as it might have been,
and committed solely to give her pleasure ; while
some men would have wasted twice as much on
selfish gratification. She had her own little secret,
that morning a plan to surprise Murray with a
13
290 THE COOPERS.
Christmas gift, simple and inexpensive, yes, in-
deed, she must be more prudent than ever, now
but something that he had once expressed a
wisli for.
Long ago, in the days of their courtship, they
had read an Italian story together, of some hus-
band lost in a shipwreck, and washed ashore
clinging to driftwood, witli a band of hair, braided
and clasped with gold, about the rigid arm. His
wife's hair it proved to be when identified by the
clasp ; and it had never left his arm since the day
she fastened it there. It was decidedly sentimen-
tal ; but Mr. Cooper had an unsuspected vein of
romance hidden under his careless manner ; and
he liked the fancy very much, and had spoken of
it several times since. " Only I should want you
to braid it yourself," he said, in one of these lover-
like outbreaks. " It would destroy all the poetry
to have it go through the gum and bobbins of
those hair-workers."
Mrs. Cooper was rather touched by this mani-
festation, and secretly resolved to get up a bracelet,
according to desire, and manage to place it on
his arm Christmas morning. She had the braid
GIFT-MAKING. 291
with her, having shorn an ample tress of her wavy
black hair ; and a clasp would cost but little, as
inexpensive as her most rigid resolutions required.
The principal of the large Broadway estab-
lishment which she turned to happened to wait on
her himself. He required a little explanation.
The bracelet would be so very large ; she must
have mistaken the size. Uo ; she was positive ;
and, to convince him, she produced the tape-
measure she had cleverly contrived to slip around
Murray's arm without his detecting her. " It was
to be worn very high up, quite out of sight," she
explained " a gentleman's arm." She felt her
face flush.
" Ah, I understand ! a gage d 1 amour" said
the jeweller, with a smile she did not like. " Mad-
am wishes a very handsome clasp, with an in-
scription."
"A single word and initials ; that is all."
"What kind of braid?" And he produced
several specimens of fanciful hair-work from a
drawer close by.
"Ah, this ! exactly as it is. I wish you to be
very sure it is not touched."
292 THE COOPEKS.
" It will wear very easily in this style " and
the jeweller turned the braid over and over
" fray and fret out. Perhaps madam has plenty
to replace it."
Mrs. Cooper had not thought of this contin-
gency. No, indeed ; she could not make up her
mind to spare any more with the present style of
broad braids. She knew the man was right, too.
Even the closely woven bracelet she wore showed
symptoms of the fraying he spoke of. " Is there
no way to prevent it ! " she said, glancing at the
large clock over the show-case, which ticked
warningly. Her morning was already half gone.
The obliging jeweller suggested several ex-
pedients, if she was entirely determined not to
have a fancy braid. She had seen rings with the
hair set in the centre of a gold band, perhaps ?
That would be too heavy and inflexible, she
thought.
How would some little links, lightly chased,
which would make it more ornamental,*do ? " He
had an idea." And the dark eyes studied the
tress awhile, with his forefinger laid meditatively
on the side of a fine, prominent Boman nose.
GIFT-MAKING. 293
" Perhaps he should not be able to make it very
clear to her. Suppose she left it to his taste and
judgment ? "
It was all she could do, for her time was almost
up ; and she could not stop for a lengthy expla-
nation. She gave particular instructions as to the
time it must be done, the initials, etc., and turned
to leave the counter. But what would the ex-
pense of this novel arrangement be 2 She ought
to ask ; but she hesitated, and went towards the
door. Perhaps he would think her very fussy
and particular. She wished one of the clerks had
waited on her. She would not have minded them
so much. But she summoned courage to turn
back and make the inquiry, faltering a little, pos-
sibly, as she saw the expression of those pene-
trating eyes, which seemed to read her economical
motives through and through, though she had en-
deavored to put on a careless manner, as if it were
not of the least consequence.
" Really, it would be impossible to determine
before the work is done. We have never manu-
factured any thing of the kind. As reasonable as
possible : madam may depend upon that."
294 THE COOPERS.
A dismal foreboding flitted across Mrs. Coop-
er's mind. " Perhaps yon had better leave out
the chasing," she said, with a great effort.
" Oh, if madam wished it ! but it would quite
destroy the effect we should desire to produce.
Certainly."
Mrs. Cooper, over sensitive, imagined that she
detected the faintest perceptible sneer in tone and
manner. " Just as you please, then," she said,
quickly, "so it does not make it too expen-
sive."
" Oh, no, she could depend on that ! " And,
wishing she could, she left the store with an unde-
fined apprehension of loss or disappointment. It
went with her as she kept her engagement at the
dressmaker's. It followed her home, where she
arrived weary and jaded with the effort she had
made to keep up to the time of the train. Even
in its bare November aspect, the quiet of the vil-
lage was a relief after the hurry and jostle of the
city. All the gay elasticity with which she left
home that morning had vanished. " I don't care
if it 's the last time I shall see New York this
winter," she said to herself, as the garden-gate
GIFT-MAKING. 295
swung to behind her. She felt as if her holiday
had been filled with vanity and vexation of spirit.
The sight that greeted her as she went up stairs,
and opened the nursery-door softly, lest she should
disturb either of the children in a nap, was the
best thing that could have happened to restore
the tone of her mind. Johnny was still tucked
under his crib blanket, tired with his long morn-
ing's play ; but the baby was up, and as quiet as
a kitten, looking with round, astonished eyes, into
the face of her new nurse, as if she had the sense
to comprehend and be astonished at the fact that
Lizzie Grant was, of her own free will, actually
holding a baby. " Horrid little wretch ! There !
take it ! " she called out, her face flushing at the
discovery. " Of course, I could not let it scream
itself into convulsions while Katy went to the
kitchen for some milk and water, to make up for
the detention of its unnatural mother. Pretty
story for Mrs. Henderson to hear, so soon after
her departure, too, that I came out to console you,
and found you dancing off to the city after Mur-
ray, and leaving the baby to its fate ? "
" If you only knew how interesting you looked !
296 THE COOPERS.
Oh, if Murray was here ! How did you coine ?
How long have you been here ? "
" Take this monkey first. There ! she 's going
to cry, of course. I never touched a child in my
life that didn't scream immediately. Go to your
mother, you ungrateful little thing ! "
" But when did you come ! " asked Mrs,
Cooper, as Katy appeared to the rescue, while she
laid aside her things.
" Since you left, of course. As a special act
of charity, to find you comforting yourself other-
wheres ; next time I shall keep my condolence to
myself." And, though greatly wondering what
was the real motive for this unpremeditated but
most acceptable visit, Mrs. Cooper failed to dis-
cover it in the chat which ensued. Lizzie per-
sisted that she had come to comfort her after Mrs.
Henderson's departure, and listened with great
friendliness to Mrs. Cooper's eulogium, considering
how little she fancied good people, and that the
son of this " best of women " was her especial
aversion. She managed to inform herself of the
whole domestic history of the family, however, of
Mrs. Henderson's widowhood, her struggles to
GIFT-MAKING. 297
bring up her children, the names and ages of the
girls, and the story of Stephen's self-denial for
their sakes. Mrs. Cooper talked away on this fa-
vorite theme very willingly, with a few leading
questions, and thought Lizzie extremely amiable
to listen.
The afternoon passed rapidly ; and Mrs. Cooper,
rested and diverted from her morning's adventures,
was quite herself again by the time her husband
came.
" So Matty imported you for the purpose of
admiring her birthday present, did she ? " was
Mr. Cooper's salutation. " Did you run over each
other at Stewart's or Thompson's? Here they
are, Matty. The individual positively kept his
word for once in his life. I hope they are all
right. There ! that will do, my man. Put it
down in the hall."
" What a large box !" said Mrs. Cooper, walk-
ing around it, a little uneasily.
" Presents. Oh, I 'm always ready to inspect
and admire ! Let 's unpack. Where 's a hammer
or something, Tiny. ' Collameres ! ' Oh, a French
china tea-set ! "
13*
298 THE COOPERS.
" I might have had one for the same money,"
said Mrs. Cooper, a little regretfully. Still, there
was zest in the unpacking, which all three assisted
in, making a great litter of tissue-paper and straw
for Tiny to clear away at her leisure. Mrs. Cooper
dusted, and her husband set up the very handsome
addition to their little parlor.
" You extravagant people ! " said Miss Grant,
dispatching Tiny for the candle-box to see how
they would light up. " But bronzes are not quite
so costly as they were. I chose a set for Jane
Lawton, when she went to housekeeping, you see,
and happen to know."
" Oh, these were a tremendous bargain ! "
Mrs. Cooper was very willing to believe it, as she
looked around the room, and thought how much
more she could have done with the same amount
to add to its decoration and comfort "only
twenty-five dollars."
" You couldn't get them for that, I know,"
said Miss Grant, essaying vainly to lift one.
" But we did." And Mrs. Cooper appealed to
her husband, who had gone for the candles him-
self, delighted at this confirmation to the shop-
GIFT-MAKING. 299
man's assertions. " Lizzie won't believe that we
only paid twenty-five dollars for them."
" Forty-jive ! " said Mr. Cooper, with emphasis.
" No, Lizzie ; he 's only teazing you. It was
twenty, not forty. That 's bad enough. We have
not quite lost our senses."
" But it was forty-five," said Mr. Cooper, se-
riously. " I thought you understood it. There J 8
the bill, any way ; and that 's what I paid him."
A faint, sick feeling made Mrs. Cooper sit
down in the nearest chair, as she came to under-
stand that her incautious admiration had really
cost them so much.
The room was a blaze of lighrt a moment after ;
and Lizzie was calling her to admire the effect.
She could scarcely force a smile in reply, or wait
until her friend had gone up stairs to renew her
toilet for dinner, to say : " Oh, Murray, how could
you ! Oh, I never shall want to see them or hear
of them again ! "
Mr. Cooper had meditated the gift so long, and
had even involved his own conscience to gratify
his wife entirely, that he felt aggrieved, naturally
enough, at this reception of it. When Miss Grant
300 THE COOPEKS.
came down again, she rallied them both on their
long faces, and secretly wondered whether it was
flour or soap out this time coal, possibly, by their
extreme gravity and mutual politeness.
If the purpose of a gift is to make both parties
happier, neither the one received nor premeditated
had its due effect on Mrs. Cooper. She avoided
the parlor as much as possible, for she was con-
tinually computing what might have been done
for it by the forty-five dollars stiffly transfixed on
the corners of the mantelpiece ; and, as she had
said to Murray, no one thought of looking for the
real thing, so they should never have the credit
of possession.
" Better hunt up the shop ticket, with the price
in full, and hang on one of the branches," said
Murray, tired of the bewailing that would break
forth, now and then, to him. A less amiable man,
under the circumstances, would have retorted with
the threat of this being the last time he should
ever try to gratify her, or that she had no one to
blame but herself.
Then there was the uncertainty about the
bracelet whether it would be done in time
GIFT-MAKING. 301
whether Lizzie Grant, to whom the commission
had been intrusted, would remember to call for
it and, above all, what would be the amount of
the bill. Five dollars was the utmost limit she
had first intended ; but gradually she tried to ac-
custom her mind to the idea of ten, though it
might involve her in some difficulty, and perhaps
an appeal to Murray's purse, very annoying, con-
sidering the circumstances.
Christmas week came, and no package from
Miss Grant. She did not like to write to her, for
fear Murray might chance to receive and open the
reply, so spoiling the surprise ; and a message, if
ever so carefully worded, might lead to the same
result. Going in herself was out of the question,
in a week so busy to all housekeepers, and with
no ostensible excuse. But her suspense was ended
at last.
" There 's a package somebody left at the office
for you," said Murray, one evening. There were
only three days to Christmas ; and Mrs. Cooper
had been resolving to go in at all hazards, if she
did not hear that night. " It 's Lizzie Grant's di-
rection a Christmas box for you or the children,
302 THE COOPERS.
I suppose ; so I thought I would give you the
pleasure of opening it."
Mi*s. Cooper caught at the neat little parcel.
It was evidently the bracelet ; and a note was
slipped into the cord which secured the wrapper.
" Read it first," suggested Mr. Cooper. " That
will tell the whole story."
It did !
" MY DEAK MATTY : I despair of getting this to
you by any one but Murray. Your friend, Mrs.
Phillips, had left before I received it. So we must
trust to fortune and the Evening Post as to the
chance of a premature disclosure. I send the bill,
which I paid at once, as I supposed you wished
me to.
" My devoted love to the nursery department.
" In haste, LIZZIE."
The bill, indeed. Mrs. Cooper opened it des-
perately, quite oblivious, in her agitation, of her
husband's movements. Unsuspicious that he was,
in any degree, verging on forbidden ground, Mr.
Cooper occupied himself in unloosing the parcel
on the other side of the lamp.
GIFT-MAKING. 303
Mrs. Cooper gave a little sigh of relief as she
saw the sum total three dollars and seventy-five
cents. She might have spared herself all that
worry for such a pitiful sum, far less than she ex-
pected at first. But no ! as she looked again, to
be sure it was all right. The figures danced be-
fore her eyes, while the blood rushed to her face
with fright and mortification. "$37 75" were
the correct figures. There was no gainsaying it ;
and the only hope now was that the book-keeper
of Tait & Co. might have made an error. But
this dismal train of reflections, rapid as they were,
had a sudden interruption.
" Hallo, Matty ! what 's this ? a dog-collar ? "
A dog-collar, indeed ! The article which Mr.
Cooper had just freed from its bedding of pink
and white cotton, and now held up with wonder-
ing scrutiny, was, in size and shape, to be com-
pared to no other known invention. Massive and
richly wrought, nearly an inch in width, and at
least nine in circumference, it seemed to her first
amazed, disappointed, incredulous gaze. " It must
be a mistake. Oh, I'm so glad ! Yes, I guess it
is a collar for a pet greyhound, or something of
304 THE COOPEKS.
that sort ; and they 've sent it to me by accident.
Let me see." And she reached out her hand with
a little nervous laugh of relief.
" Wait a minute. Here are the owner's ini-
tials, then : 'M. S. C. to M. C.' Why, what an
odd coincidence ! And here 's this dark line I
thought was enamel. Why it 's hair, a braid of
hair 2 Did you ever see any thing so mysterious ? "
Mrs. Cooper had it in her own hands at last.
There was a mistake, true enough, plenty of mis-
takes, but not the one she had comforted herself
with. The tape measure she had left had been
used in its full length, not to the knot expressly
pointed out to Mr. Tait. The bracelet was a heavy
hoop of gold, something like those so much the
fashion for ladies' wear, only twice the width, the
outer surface relieved by a wreath of delicately
wrought leaves, under which the braid was to be
discovered, having precisely the effect of black
enamel. The design was well enough in its way,
the workmanship exquisite, but the misconception
of her purpose and her order absolute. It would
have encircled the brawny arm of " the village
blacksmith ; " and, as for all sentimental associa-
GIFT-MAKING. 305
tions, the " dog-collar" had nipped them in the
bud.
Mrs. Cooper began to explain, but thought of
the bill, and her great worry and disappointment
after all. She could not go on. Her husband
laughed till the tears stood in his eyes, when he
at last began to have some glimmering of the
truth, and then checked his mirth, and tried to
console her, finding how really distressed she was.
" Can't you wind it round with something, so that
I could wear it after all, Matty, or pad it ? " And
then he slipped it up over his coat-sleeve, quite to
the elbow. No ; that would not do. " Perhaps
the man can take a reef in it somehow. Never
mind ; there, ' the will for the deed,' you know,
little one."
But, as in many another case, this was no con-
solation whatever ; and Mrs. Cooper went to bed
with a fast increasing nervous headache, leaving
the " dog-collar" on the table with her untasted
dinner. She passed a restless, miserable night,
full of expedients to clear herself of the obligation
to Miss Grant, without applying to her husband,
all equally useless and visionary. She slept heavily
306 THE COOPERS.
towards morning ; and, when she awoke, Murray
had gone to town, leaving a note on her pillow,
inclosing a check for the amount.
" Don't worry any more, Matty. Set it down
opposite to candelabras, and balance the account.
Next time, we will consult each other you in
word, and I in deed."
The generous forbearance made Mrs. Cooper
far happier than the costliest gift could have done.
But the next train found her speeding to town,
with the parcel and the check, animated by the
most courageous resolutions, and sustained by
them when she entered Tait's, and inquired for
the head of the establishment. He was sorry,
very sorry, that he had not apprehended the lady's
order ; but he had taken great credit to himself
for its execution. The mistake must assuredly lie
with herself, and of course the loss. Such a trinket
could never find sale, would be perfectly useless
in his stock.
" Is there any way of alteration, then ? " in-
quired Mrs. Cooper. " It might make a pair of
bracelets for a lady." And, if the worst came to
GIFT-MAKING. 307
the worst, she could bestow them on Lizzie Grant,
in return for some of her numerous gifts.
Mr. Tait smiled loftily. " Impossible to bend
without injuring," was his imperturbable reply.
" What can be done with it ? " said his cus-
tomer, rapidly losing every particle of interest in
the unfortunate gage d? amour.
The jeweller shrugged his shoulders.
" It would be worthless to me, except its in-
trinsic value as old gold."
" How much would that be ? " Happy thought !
She might recover at least half her loss.
" "Was madam really in earnest ? "
Yes ; never more so ; not only earnest, but
almost defiant. Half the amount of boldness that
now came to her aid would have saved her the
dilemma.
The scales were adjusted, with a manner the
reverse of courteous.
" Nine dollars and a half is all I could allow,"
said a voice so cold that it might have been
that of Sir John Franklin wafted from the Arctic
region on the bleak north wind, that had given
Mrs. Cooper's cheeks a brilliant glow. There was
308 THE COOPERS.
a little of her old spirit, too, in the flush. The
man's demeanor was rude almost to insult.
"You charged me thirty-eight, nearly. Im-
possible ! " said Mrs. Cooper, at this revelation of
business profits.
The jeweller held out the bracelet, pointing to
the chased work.
" I explained that it would be expensive."
Mrs. Cooper scorned an altercation, in which
there was evidently nothing to be gained.
" You may pay me nine and a half."
" Just as madam pleases."
The dark eyes glowed; and the hand that
counted down the money fairly trembled with
suppressed anger. Then, before she could place
it in her purse, he seized a heavy pair of iron
pincers, and crushed the costly bauble hopelessly
between them, as if it had been paper, sweeping
the fragments into an open drawer.
Whatever of fable may be inwrought with this
family history, the scene thus ending is veritable,
and " trade profits" still are realized over the
counter which separated the negotiators in this
rapid transaction.
GIFT-MAKING. 309
Mrs. Cooper made her appearance at her hus-
band's office with a lighter heart, if a lighter purse,
than she had known since ordering the bracelet,
and laid down the notes she had just received.
" A trifle on account," she said, meeting his half
questioning, half teazing look.
Johnny's angola stockings were both crammed
out of shape on Christmas morning ; and a Noah's
Ark from Mr. Henderson was hitched behind a
toy locomotive, regardless of all precedent, and
headed straight for the grate-pan, below the sus-
pended sugar-plums and lady-apples. Even the
baby's socks held a gift from Lizzie Grant, a set
of corals that overflowed in a crimson rivulet on
the dressing-table. But Mr. and Mrs. Cooper ex-
changed only a very fond kiss, and the promise
that even in gift-making they would hereafter let
appropriateness and thoughtful consideration stand
in the place of lavish expenditure.
CHAPTER XIII.
TINDER FULL SAIL.
"And so He bringeth them to the haven where they would be."
THERE was a grave consultation in the little
counting-house of Cooper & Henderson. The short
winter's day had already given place to an uncom-
fortable murky twilight. The gas had been called
into service two hours before ; and the partners
still lingered over the thick ledgers and great
balance-sheet which Mr. Henderson, as book-
keeper, had prepared for his friend's inspection.
It was the result of their second year of co-part-
nership, to which Mr. Cooper had brought the
few thousands, his Uncle Murray's bequest and
Mr. Henderson, experience, many friends, and un-
bending integrity. It was a time for grave and
thoughtful faces. All the future depended upon
the result ; to Mr. Cooper, the little home, which
UNDEE FULL SAIL. 311
he was content to work for, and his wife to exer-
cise the industry and self-denial which were grow-
ing to be habitual now, and therefore a yoke to be
borne more easily. Yet Mr. Henderson showed
the greater anxiety of the two. Usually so calm
and self-possessed, his forehead was bent almost
into furrows ; and his hand shook as he went slowly
over the result, proving to his friend that there
was no possibility of an error in the sum total.
Mr. Cooper, noisily demonstrative at other
times, uttered only a prolonged whistle, and sud-
denly discovered that it was car time. The con-
ference broke up in haste.
But a wife's quick eyes were not to be deceived
by outward composure. Mrs. Cooper and Johnny,
watching for papa, were rewarded, at length, by
the quick, well-known tread upon the gravel-walk ;
and the boy, forgetting " the moon " made by the
lamp-shade upon the ceiling, and papa's slippers,
which he had been keeping watch over for half an
hour, trotted out into the hall, suddenly lighted
by the opening of the dining-room door.
" Halloo, youngster ! you up at this time of
night ? " was the ungrateful salutation with which
312 THE COOPERS.
the child's rapturous welcome was received, though
it was by his father's especial desire that Master
Johnny had made acquaintance with the evening
lamp and a six o'clock bedtime.
"When was Johnny ever before found in the
way ? Johnny in a sack, too, for the first time in
his life, with white trowsers, and brass buttons,
and a belt almost a boy. Mrs. Cooper was quite
cut down at having failed in making a sensation,
when Tiny in the kitchen, and Katy up stairs, had
met this first appearance by a burst of admiration
and applause ; and even the baby, just advanced
to Johnny's colored merino frocks of the last win-
ter, shouted " Da da ! " in her best style at the
bright buttons and shining belt.
Mr. Cooper put his hand to his eyes as he came
into the cheerful light of the dining-room ; and
his wife saw at once, by the tired haggard lines
which she knew so well in the old times of their
anxiety, that " something had happened," that in-
definite conclusion which reacts so suddenly upon
the lightest and most hopeful mood. She pointed
to the slippers, and lifted Johnny quietly to her
lap, steadying her voice before she said, " What
UNDER FULL SAIL. 313
is it, Murray ? " a simple question enough, but
conveying all her anxiety and her desire to com-
fort him in its cadence.
"Matter? "Why what what do you mean,
Matty ? "
He stooped down, as he dre~w off his boots
she thought intentionally, so that she should not
see the working of his face.
" Oh, nothing ! You do not look well, though."
"Don't I?"
She would rather have seen any other expres-
sion than the sudden gayety with which he
snatched Johnny from her arms, and began ad-
miring his unusual accoutrements, which he had
just caught sight of.
"What's all this, Johnny? Where did all
these buttons come from ? and a potet ? bless us,
a potet just like papa's! Why, Johnny's a little
man now ! " And the gratified youngster was
lifted on the table, in dangerous proximity to the
castor and the lamp, where he commenced dis-
playing all his glories forthwith. But his mother's
promised enjoyment of the scene had vanished.
This boisterous manner did not quiet her ever rest-
14
314 THE COOPERS.
less apprehensions. Something of importance had
happened, she was sure ; and Murray was only
putting her off.
" There ! that will do for to-night. Where 's
Katy ? " said Mr. Cooper, suddenly relapsing into
the jaded manner which she had first noticed.
" Katy has gone to the village with a message.
I am to put him to bed," said Mrs. Cooper, not
sorry to be alone for a moment before she heard
the bad tidings, whatever they were. " Come up
softly when you go to our room ; the baby is a
little restless."
" Well, don't be all night. Good-by, Johnny.
See who'll be dressed first in the morning, you or
papa." And, with a parting squeeze and kiss,
Johnny was resigned to his mother's charge.
The tired little hands dropped away ; and the
childish utterance of " Now I lay me down to
sleep " died out at the first line of the boy's baby
prayer. Yet his mother still knelt as she had done
to teach him the faltered words. She was praying
with an earnest vehemence of desire, though her
lips did not move, which showed that this was not
her first petition, that she trusted in Him to whom
UNDER FULL SAIL. 315
she opened her troubled heart for comfort and
help, that had been received heretofore, and was
ever ready for the humble asking to supply the
need of the hour. She had come to this faith,
wooed by the gentleness of the invitation sent by
the hand of a well-beloved servant, "that she
might have rest ; " and she found not only rest,
but strength, for all that might be before her. She
met her husband with the serene, quiet look that
he noticed more and more often of late, as he some-
times wondered from whence came the new love
liness that he felt, but could scarcely define.
Dinner was on the table, and Tiny moving
about with bread and water pitcher. There was
no time for an explanation then ; besides, Mrs.
Cooper never wanted the width of the table be-
tween them when there were any confidences to
be made. Mr. Cooper carved silently, with a pre-
occupied, steadfast look, as if he were cutting his
way through some unseen difiiculty, instead of the
breast of an innocent chicken. What could it be ?
Mrs. Cooper's quick imagination caught at the
worst, for a moment. She knew it was very near
the time for their yearly settlement. No doubt
316 THE COOPERS.
they had gone behindhand ; perhaps they were
insolvent.
Tiny had retreated to her own domains, moving
the bell, significantly, a little nearer to her mistress.
Mr. Cooper threw down his fork.
" It's no use ; I hav'n't a bit of appetite."
His wife left her seat, and came around behind
his chair, drawing his head back, and pressing her
hand to his throbbing temples. His face certainly
looked very pale in the strong light.
" Never mind, then ; neither have I. Come
and sit on the sofa, and tell me all about it."
" Can you bear it ? " And she was followed
unresistingly.
" Oh yes, any thing but suspense ! Is it business ?"
" Yes ; I have been going over the balance-
sheet with Henderson."
"To-day? It is a week to the first of the
month."
" I know it ; but we could get -at it near enough.
You know, Matty, I never proposed going into
business myself."
" I know it ! I know it ! " she said, with quick
foreboding. " It was my plan."
TINDER FULL SAIL. 317
" It was, Matty. I should have been content
to purchase a little home for you and the children,
and gone on with my salary to support it."
" It was all my fault, I know," said Mrs. Cooper,
her self-accusing spirit accepting the disappoint-
ment she had herself prepared. " But we are no
worse off than we were then ; I hope not, at least.
"We can go back to the salary ; can't we, Murray ?
Is it very bad ? " And a new fear of liabilities
over and above their little capital came with a
pang as she spoke. " How much is it ? "
She almost held her breath for his reply. A
vision of long, toilsome, burdened years rose up
suddenly before her. Nevertheless, if God had
seen fit to send the trial, He would send the
strength also. " As thy days, so shall thy strength
be." There was a promise that could never be
made void.
" Two thousand three hundred and odd, to the
credit of each."
" I don't understand." And the face, looking
up so earnestly into his, changed suddenly.
" Over and above our four thousand, of course,"
318 THE COOPEES.
said Mr. Cooper. " Good gracious, Matty ! you
ain't going to faint, are you ? "
" No." But the voice, the sudden drooping
of the eyelids, and the quiver of the mouth seemed
very much like it.
" You see the twelve hundred last year and
this, make more than as much again pretty good
profits for young beginners, hey ? and the safest
kind of a business ; you may be sure of that, with
Steve in the concern," explained Mr. Cooper, ea-
gerly, nearly exhausted by the restraint he had
imposed upon himself to carry out his passion for
agreeable surprises. " Splendid prospects for next
year, too. We never began to do the business we
are doing now ; and a year from this, old lady,
somebody is going to have a place of her own."
" Oh, I don't care for that ! not at all." And,
at the moment, she did not. It was enough to be
relieved of her fears, and certain that her husband
was solvent and prosperous. She sent a grateful
upward thought, and, as when she had numbered
their blessings the year before, said, aloud : " God
has been very good to us."
" You ought to have seen Steve, though, Matty,"
UNDER FULL SAIL. 319
said Mr. Cooper, breaking out again. " Took it a
great deal harder than I did, for all he has no wife
and babies. I 'm uneasy about him. Positively,
I 'm afraid something serious has happened to him.
He was so shaky, to-night, that, if it had been
anybody else, I should have thought he had been
taking a flyer in stocks, and the market had turned
against him."
" I hope he is not sick, and keeping it from us.
His mother ought to know. Oh, Murray, how
delighted she will be ! " And the real enjoyment
of their good fortune began slowly to dawn on
Mi-s. Cooper's mind.
What, that her son 's sick ? "
" You know what I mean. You know she 's
almost as much interested in us as in him."
" I shouldn't wonder no ! there ! well, I
shouldn't be in the least astonished if Steve was
fond of somebody. There 's that Miss Caswell,
his mother used to talk about, up at Rockland."
" Oh, yes, I remember ! he calls her Sarah.
Don't you know, they were saying how much good
she was always doing ? "
" And he 's going home next week, and was
THE COOPERS.
only waiting to find out how things stood before
he proposed. That 's it ! clear as day ! "Won't I
let him down hard to-morrow ? "
" I suppose, from all they said, she must be
jnst suited to him." And Mrs. Cooper thought,
with a sigh, of Lizzie Grant, who was not in the
least ; and yet it would have made her so happy
if they had fancied each other. They had met
frequently since the birthday dinner ; but Mrs.
Cooper's little scheme had been completely extin-
guished there. It was her first and last attempt
at match-making. " Isn't Mr. Henderson coming
out before he goes home ? Oh, and Murray, now
I am so glad ! I did want to send Mrs. Hender-
son something ; and now we can afford it."
" There ! that 's the way ! Now, how can a
man get ahead in the world ? The instant he gets
a few hundred dollars, his wife rushes off, and
spends it."
Mrs. Cooper caught a momentary twinkle in
her husband's eyes, and was not the least thrown
back by this reception of her proposal.
" But this is a debt, you know. We owe more
UNDER FULL SAIL. 321
in dollars and cents than I should think of giving
for all she did for us last fall."
" That 's so ; but you '11 have to be in a hurry
about it. This is Friday ; and he goes on Monday."
The time had been when Mrs. Cooper could, by
no possibility, have left home on the last day of
the week ; but she had learned better than to let
cleaning and baking accumulate until it was such
a day of toil that the Sabbath was by no means a
rest, simply physical and mental stagnation, as so
many thrifty householders find it. A consultation
with Tiny, growing stout and rosy since her final
recovery from chills ; unnumbered charges to
Kate ; and an indefinite promise of good things
to Johnny, covered her retreat from Saturday's
domestic cares. She was not bent on any extrav-
agant purchase. She thought of a great many
costly things she should like to send ; and Murray
would have agreed heartily to any thing ; but
Mrs. Henderson's probable tastes and wishes were
to be consulted ; and she never had been guilty
of an extravagant fancy in her life. Mrs. Cooper
remembered having heard her say that her eyes
were getting almost too old for the fine print of the
14*
322 THE COOFEB8.
pocket Bible she had used so long, though she dis-
liked to lay aside such an old friend and comforter.
To Appleton's, therefore, Mrs. Cooper betook her-
self, and was presently busied with russet-bound
quartos and duodecimos. " Fine white paper and
clear type. It is not so much matter about the
binding," she explained to the polite shopman,
expatiating upon standard and Oxford editions ;
and, as she waited for his descent for the third
time from the accommodating step-ladder, which
brought the treasures of the alcove within her
reach, she discovered, notwithstanding " the dim
religious light " which befitted the space thus ap-
propriated, a familiar figure, though the face was
turned away. The sable cape, the ash-colored silk
dress, the very toss of the plumes on the little vel-
vet and lace apology for a bonnet, were unmis-
takable. But why was Lizzie Grant ruminating
among velvet-bound prayer-books ? and what did
her attendant oracle mean by reading from his
list " one illustrated * Pilgrim's Progress,' English
edition ? "
Mrs. Cooper came very near dropping the two
books she was comparing Miss Grant turning
UNDER FULL SAIL. 323
suddenly, flushed with a color almost as deep as
the fuchsias in her bonnet; but the power of
speech never deserted her in any emergency.
"Don't think I've gone and turned 'good'
after your fashion. I'm shopping for country
friends, as usual ; and I hate to make purchases
that I don't know any thing about ; so you 're just
in time. Going to present that to Murray for
New Year's?"
But Miss Grant did not ask her friend's advice
at all ; on the contrary, her selections were com-
pleted before Mrs. Cooper had decided between
russet and Turkey bindings ; and the two left their
purchases to follow them. Miss Grant was in un-
usual spirits even for her. She proposed escorting
Mrs. Cooper to the depot, when she found that she
was to return immediately. They were just in
time ; the first cars were moving out of the grace-
less shed, which answers to that name, as they en-
tered the last one, where they found abundance of
room ; and Mrs. Cooper proposed that her friend
should ride up town and finish their chat.
" You can easily get out at Fortieth street."
And so they thought ; but the halt was momentary ;
324 THE COOPERS.
and they were so busily occupied, Miss Grant hav-
ing to hear the whole story of their good fortune,
that neither perceived the peril until the united
train moved out steadily under steam. It was use-
less to grieve over it then, though Miss Grant
looked really vexed for a moment, and said some-
thing about a special engagement to send off her
morning's purchases. Nor did the restless, pre-
occupied look pass from her face until, by consul-
tation with the conductor, she found that an after-
noon train would land her in the city a very little
after dark.
" So you see you might as well go on and enjoy
yourself," said Mrs. Cooper ; " and, speaking of
engagements, what do you think Murray said, last
night, after he told me all about the business ? I
was quite astonished. Though, when I came to
think of it, he had made a great many inquiries
about the expense of housekeeping, and so on,
lately ; Mr. Henderson, I mean."
" And what remarkable discovery did Murray
light on ? " said Miss Grant, with a carelessness of
her important news that would have vexed Mrs.
Cooper had she not known of old how little Mur-
UNDER FULL SAIL. . 325
ray's partner was to her liking. " Is this Kiver-
dale ? " she added, before the answer could be
given.
" Oh, it 's only supposition ! "
Miss Grant turned from spelling out the station
signs, and seemed more inclined to listen.
" Murray thinks he is really interested in some
one, and has only been waiting to be sure the bu-
siness would allow him to marry. Miss Caswell,
we think it must be, the daughter of a lawyer in
Kockland."
" Oh ! " said Miss Grant, " rustic and perfect,
I suppose, given to soup-societies, and cutting out
red flannel for the Dorcas. I wish you joy, my
dear, of such a delightfully congenial friend."
Mrs. Cooper declined any further communications.
It was a sore point between Miss Lizzie and her-
self, the lack of appreciation, the bombast, and
even ridicule with which she always met any allu-
sion to Mr. Henderson. For a few miles there
was a most unusual silence between them ; and,
when the conversation recommenced, it was with
a strong resolution, on Mrs. Cooper's part, never
326 THE COOPERS.
to mention Mr. Henderson's name to Lizzie Grant
again so long as they were friends.
Bat the best resolutions are forgotten ; and so
it was that, this same afternoon, when Miss Grant
was sitting by the parlor fire, with her cloak
thrown around her, and bonnet in hand, waiting
only Mr. Cooper's arrival to be escorted to the
down train, the conversation came round to Fair-
view, the pretty place occupied by Mrs. Graves,
who had fulfilled her threat of breaking up, and
going to board.
" It 's the most delightful house, so tasteful and
well built. I only wish it was for sale a year later,
or that Mr. Henderson would marry a rich wife,
and settle down there. Dear me, with Murray
doing so well and all, I don't think I should have
a thing to ask ! "
" State your case. There 's no knowing what
he might do to oblige you."
" He wouldn't do that to oblige his own
mother," said Mrs. Cooper, with energy, and walk-
ing quite out of sight of her resolve. " He never
will mawy any one with money. He has a per-
fect horror of any thing mercenary. And, who-
UNDEK FULL SAIL. 327
ever his wife is, she will be fortunate among
women."
" Isn't it a great pity you can't dispose of Mur-
ray, and take him yourself? "
" There he is now, I verily believe," said Mrs.
Cooper, distracted from this taunt by the appear-
ance of two dark figures passing the window in
the twilight. " Lizzie ! " But Miss Grant had
disappeared.
Mrs. Cooper met Mr. Henderson with both
hands extended, though glancing uneasily over
her shoulder to see if there was a flutter of Miss
Grant's dress in the dining-room beyond. " I did
not think you would go without coming out for a
quiet evening," she said.
" But he can't stay over the next train," said
Murray ; " so make the most of him."
" Oh, but you must ! "We shall not see you
again in so long ; and I have a hundred and one
messages to send to your mother."
"I'm sony; but any other time to-morrow
being Sunday," said Mr. Henderson, hurriedly, as
he came into the fire-light, and stooped down a
little, rubbing his hands in the bright warmth.
328 THE COOPERS.
" Positively 2 "
" Positively."
" And I haven't written that note to your mother,
or seen you to congratulate you."
Mrs. Cooper said this very innocently; and,
referring to the business, wondered greatly at the
explosion that followed ; Mr. Cooper thumping
his friend unceremoniously on the back, with
" She 's got ahead of you, after all ; out with it,
old fellow ! Here ! what 's the use of being bash-
ful ? Steve 's in for it, Matty ; he 's engaged."
" Engaged ! " And Mrs. Cooper forgot the
necessity there was for Murray to post directly
back to the cars with Miss Grant, in the certainty
of this overwhelming intelligence.
" Positively done for, by telegraph, I expect
for I '11 answer for it, every thing hung on that
balance-sheet, last night."
" No wonder you are anxious to get to Rock-
land," said Mrs. Cooper. " But tell us all about
her ; is she young ? is she pretty ! is she so dread-
fully, dreadfully good? am I going to be very
much afraid of her 3 "
Mr. Henderson smiled ; yet his manner was
UNDER FULL BAIL. 329
more embarrassed than the position seemed to re-
quire.
" I have not her permission to tell even such
close friends all about it. Don't think it strange ;
you shall know first of any one, even before my
mother."
" Pray don't make a stranger of me, good peo-
ple ! "
The voice sounded close at Mr. Henderson's
elbow ; and the window-curtain was thrown over
a chair by the movement Miss Grant made in
emerging suddenly from her concealment.
" Lizzie ! "
Yes, positively Mr. Henderson said " Lizzie,"
and started as if somebody had thrown a torpedo
under his feet ; so did Mrs. Cooper, as he drew
the delinquent's hand through his arm, the next
moment, and kept it in his, moreover.
""Well, what have you got to say? Why
don't you congratulate us ! " said Miss Grant,
dropping a defiant courtesy at Mr. Cooper ; " or
are you so very much afraid of her ? " And she
caught the tone of Mrs. Cooper's query exactly.
" I wash my hands of the business for one,"
330 THE COOPERS.
said Mr. Cooper, regaining his mental equilibrium,
and comprehending the position of affairs. " Don't
expect me to sympathize when you come to sep-
arate six weeks after the wedding."
" Keep your sympathy till it is called for ; one
thing at a time; where 's your manners? you
haven't congratulated us yet. Why, Matty, what 's
the matter?"
But Mrs. Cooper was really hurt and offended.
That all this should have been going on, and she
not even consulted, when they might thank her
for it all, too ! And Lizzie had been there all day,
and was going, without so much as a hint of what
had happened. JSTo ; it was too unkind. " She
would never forgive them as long as she lived."
"I couldn't tell you I intended to marry the
man before he asked me," said Miss Grant, really
disturbed by this unlooked-for emotion on Mrs.
Cooper's part.
" And I couldn't tell you I thought she would,
when she never allowed me even to guess what
she intended to say."
" My dear, he was the longest time coming to
UNDER FULL SAIL. 331
the point. Positively, I thought he intended to
get out of it, after all."
" Not many minutes after he found he could
afford to propose I '11 wager," said Mr. Cooper ;
" he couldn't stop for an omnibus, I recollect, when
we left the office."
" That 's it ; 'twas the man's dreadful anxiety.
I was surprised into it. I fully intended to say
no."
" Did you ? " said Mr. Henderson, quietly.
" But here she 's been all day, yes, very much
concerned about being brought out against her
will."
Mrs. Cooper was battling between her mortifi-
cation at not having been made a confidant by
either party, and the good sense which forced her
to acknowledge that, just as Mr. Henderson had
been situated, there was nothing to confide up to
the last hour of his suit.
" I didn't wish to hurt Mr. Cooper's feelings,"
said Miss Grant, demurely. "The fact of the
business is, we were both so interested in each
other's affairs, last night, that we forgot to ex-
change permission to put it in the papers."
332 THE COOPEK8.
" And he was too honorable to tell names, as
it was your secret ; and you were afraid to.
That's it; own up that you're afraid of him,
Lizzie ; and we '11 forgive you. That ever I should
live to see the day Lizzie Grant acknowledging
mortal man for her lord and master ! "
" There 's the train, now," said Mr. Henderson,
as a faint, shrill shriek began to sound in the
distance ; yet he made no attempt to regain his
hat.
" I suppose we must ask you both to stay un-
til Monday, now." Mrs. Cooper came out of her
pet with an effort. " You don't deserve it, either
of you. Oh, you might as well make the best of
it, Lizzie ! You could not possibly reach the depot
in time. I don't believe it in the least, even yet,
after Mr. Henderson's long list of qualifications."
And, in the bottom of her heart, she wondered how
he had overlooked the giddiness and frivolity so
opposite his staid gravity, or Lizzie contented herself
to encounter what would be a strict though gentle
rule if she became his wife. But then, as she said
to herself, the next moment, how very unlike Mur-
ray and herself were, in the opinion of their friends ;
UNDER FULL SAIL. 333
there was no accounting for these things, after all.
" What possessed you, Lizzie ? " she said, the mo-
ment they were alone.
" My dear, you don't think it's him ! No ; I'm
going to marry for a mother-in-law. I dote on his
mother. I did from the first moment I saw her
here. I never remember one of my own ; and it's
the only way I can get a claim on her ; that 's
all. I shall make up my mind to endure his perfec-
tions. They were dreadfully in the way, I assure
you."
" How about a rich wife ?" said Mr. Cooper,
afterwards, in the same bantering tone.
The gentlemen had strolled out to smoke in
the moonlight, frosty though it was.
" It was hard to get over. I told her so at once.
It kept me balancing the matter for months. But
I said to myself, if the woman I loved had been so
unfortunate as to have had the smallpox, or a cast
in the eye, I could get over it."
"And you wasn't going to let twenty thousand
dollars stand between you and happiness ? Mag-
nanimous ! "
" Precisely ; when I was sure of being able not
334: THE COOPERS.
to touch it, in any way. If you knew how I felt
when I was making out that balance sheet ! "
They were passing by Fairview at this moment ;
and, as things will come about in stories, and some-
times in real life, Mrs. Cooper had the pleasure of
superintending the arrangement of this charming
place for its future mistress, not many months af-
terwards. A part of the obnoxious money had
been disposed of in its purchase, and something
more in its comfortable plenishing. Miss Grant
declared her utter indifference to all the prepara-
tions, with the exception of a large bright chamber,
which she called, from the first, " mother's room."
And Mrs. Cooper bid fair to have all her wishes
gratified when she found that Mrs. Henderson,
well pleased at this unusual devotion in her son's
bride, had consented to occupy it six months of
every year, though she resisted every entreaty to
unite the two families, and bring her daughters
with her as permanent residents.
" I really think I can manage it, " said Mrs.
Cooper, talking of the intended wedding which
was to take place at the house of Miss Grant's old
guardian in Albany. " Tiny does so well, now,
UNDER FULL SAIL. 335
I scarcely have to look after her ; and all my
spring sewing is done ; so the children's clothes
are ready."
" To be sure you can, and stop a week with your
Aunt Agnes. Tiny is worth a dozen housekeepers.
We '11 get along."
" She really is quite a treasure. I remember
how I used to wonder where people found their
' treasures.' I understood what Mrs. Philips said,
that they were not to be found."
" Curious how things come about ; isn't it
now ? " said Mr Cooper, reflectively. " Here we
are married, and settled, and doing well in the
world. Curious how Steve and I happened to
go into business together. Anybody else might
have made ducks and drakes of the little we had.
Well, we shall know how to spend money now,
when we get it ; hey, Matty ? "
" Thanks to him and his mother ! " said Mrs.
Cooper. " It is beautiful to see how devoted Lizzie
is to her, just as she ought to be to such a mother.
Oh, Murray ! " she added, with sudden energy, " I
do hope we shall have the same comfort in our
children." And, with this hope, we leave them
336 THE COOPERS.
on the verge of that good fortune which they had
BO worthily won by the help of the ever- watchful
Providence that had so strangely and happily
mingled the lives of these iriends.
THE END.
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