236 THE TIM BUNKER PAVERS. 



that he does not need to go to meeting and hear Mr. 

 Spooner preach. He would try the temper of a much 

 more saintly woman than Aunt Polly, and keep her on the 

 rack. He might just as well put red pepper in her eyes, 

 as to keep her kitchen always smoked up with green 

 brush. Her eyes always look red, and it is nothing under 

 the sun but that smoky kitchen. The draft of the chim 

 ney is none of the best, but that would be remedied with 

 well-seasoned wood. Now, you see, that man had Chris 

 tian marriage, but he don t care no more for his wife than 

 for a dumb animal. I guess he would lift a sheep out of 

 the ditch, especially in these times, when wool is a dollar 

 a pound. But he keeps his wife in the ditch about all the 

 while, and never suspects that she is a bit uncomfortable. 

 He thinks he saves something by burning brush, but it 

 don t pay unless you have a machine to chop it up fine, 

 and keep it under cover until it gets dry. To work it up 

 with the axe into fuel for a stove, it costs more than it is 

 worth. If it lies on the ground in the woods, it rots and 

 makes good manure without any expense. Then if you 

 have it, or any other wood, green, there is a matter of un 

 certainty about meals, which throws the whole work of 

 the farm into confusion, and puts every body out of 

 humor. 



But this is only one way in which a wife is kept uncom 

 fortable. It does seem as if some men took less care of 

 their waives than of the dumb cattle in their fields. If the 

 rooms in their houses had been thrown together by 

 chance, they could not have been more inconvenient. A 

 good arrangement of the rooms saves one-half the labor. 

 Some times the sleeping room is on the second floor, and 

 there is many a journey up and down stairs during the 

 day for a woman already overburdened with care. Some 

 times the store room is in the garret, and other journeys 

 have to be made daily, for supplies for the table. Every 

 thing that she needs for her work should be upon the first 



