1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



139 



HER SILVER SPOONS. 



THEY REMAINED HER PROPERTY, BUT 

 WERE VERY COSTLY. 



After Buying Them Three Times She Re- 

 fused to Risk Them Any More — A Little 

 Story Bearing on the Question of the 

 Wife's Property Rights. 



The following story was told in a pa- 

 per read by Mrs. M. J. Coggeshall at a 

 meeting of tho Woman's Suffrage so- 

 ciety of Des Moines and published in 

 The Saturday Review of that city: 



Today, when we women have not out- 

 grown the pretty fad of collecting sou- 

 venir spoons, the great variety and 

 beauty of which were unknown to our 

 grandmothers, allow me to recall the 

 Btory of a great aunt of ours who also 

 loved spoons, but whose plain cupboard 

 drawer contained no sets of dainty after 

 dinner coffees like tliose from which we 

 love to sip as we sit in our clubs and 

 talk of culture. 



This aunt when a young woman was 

 a teacher in a country school until she 

 had saved enough money to indulge her 

 great desire for a set of silver spoons. 

 She was married soon after to the young 

 man of her choice. Six years passed by 

 — years of hard work and economy for 

 both, happy years, though no children 

 had come to bless their union — when by 

 a sudden illness the husband was taken 

 away. The day after the funeral the 

 grieved wife was surprised by the en- 

 trance to her home of the two brothers 

 of her husband, bringing with them the 

 village lawyer. They told her they had 

 come to set a value upon their brother's 

 property, in order that she might know 

 what part ot it was hers. 



She held her peace as they set down 

 the worth of each article of furniture in 

 the little home, until they finally came 

 to the box of spoons. 



Then she spoke and said: "These are 

 mine. 1 bought them with my own 

 money before I was married." 



"Yes, uKi'am," said the lawyer, 

 "but you know, ma'am, that after a la- 

 dy is married everything belongs in law 

 to her husband. " 



So all the little property was divided, 

 the brothers taking half, and she took 



me spoons witn tne rest at the price 

 that had been set upon them. But it 

 obliged her to give up the home, and 

 she, with her few effects, went into 

 rented rooms and began life anew. Oc- 

 casionally teaching a school and always 

 sewiiig when possible, she supported 

 herself very comfortably for about three 

 years, when a lifelong friend of her 

 husband, an excellent man, offered her 

 his hand in marriage. 



She liked him well, and her friends 

 told her it was the best thing to do, and 

 she thought with pleasure of again be- 

 ing mistress of a home. So they were 

 married. 



In a few years her husband's health 

 declined, and for many months she gave 

 him most tender and unceasing care. 

 She had a few times spoken to him 

 about making a will, but as it seemed 

 an unpleasant, subject she had ceased to 

 mention it. Finally the end came. 

 There had come to attend the funeral 

 his nearest relative, a nephew from New 

 England, whom she had never seen be- 

 fore. In a day or two he brought two 

 men to the cottage to appraise the prop- 

 erty, and again was there a price set 

 upon the well preserved spoons. On the 

 evening of that day as she was prepar- 

 ing supper the nephew entered the 

 kitchen and said: "Aunt Liza, I am 

 disposed to be very easy with you. Tho 

 worth of all of uncle's property has 

 been carefully estimated, and I will al- 

 low you to include in your half of it 

 any article of furniture you may 

 choose. " 



And again she paid the price of her 

 first darling purchase of silverware, but 

 there was not enough left after the half 

 was taken for her to keep the house and 

 lot, so they went into the hands of 

 strangers, and with her cat Aunt Liza 

 again went into cozy, but hired rooms. 

 She was a pattern of thrift and tidiness, 

 as a sniai-t widower of the neighborhood 

 was well aware, and in less than a year 

 he made a cp 11 upon the comely matron. 

 He was wise enough to make his lirst 

 visit short, but lingered a moment in 

 the door and suggested that in the near 

 future they become better acquainted. 



She answered, "I am living here very 

 comfortably, and I think, Mr. Johnson, 

 that it will not be worth while for you 

 to call, " and closing the door hastily 

 she turned to her cat and said: 



