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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