HOUSEWIFE S DEPARTMENT. 



277 



MR. DUROPUS AND FAMILY. 

 CHAPTER I. 



One Friday evening, as Mr. Duropns came 

 in IVom the field, lie foiuid his house in espe- 

 cial fine order, and idl die labors with which 

 he was wont to close the day anticipated. — 

 This was certainly a very pleasant liict, and 

 not a very unusual one in the history of his 

 experience. It was conimouly followed by 

 a demand, ou the 25art of Mrs. Duropus, upon 

 a leathern purse which lay in a email chest, 

 under the bed, in which (the piu'se, not the 

 bed) was deposited gold, silver, and bank- 

 notes, received iu exchange for beef, pork, 

 hay, oats, potatoes, apples, and other commod- 

 ities produced by the fann of sixty acres, 

 owned and cultivated by Mr. Duropus. 



When the supper table was removed, and 

 the girls had gone over to the next neighbor's, 

 and Mrs. Duropus had lighted her candle and 

 threaded her needle, (wliich last feat was not 

 performed till alter divers nippings of the 

 thread with her eye-teeth, and many fears 

 that Mr. Duropus would repeat a remark, not 

 at all pleasant, " you had better take your 

 spectacles,'') and had commenced repairing a 

 rent in her husband's coat. When aU these 

 important things had taken place, Mrs. Duro- 

 pus began to expatiate ou the prosperity and 

 line appearance of their neighbors, the Dash- 

 iels. "Only to think," said she, looking up 

 from her work by way of emphasis, " how 

 well they have got along in the world. Two 

 or three years ago, when they came into the 

 village, they had nothing at all, and now there 

 is not a family in the place that dress better ; 

 I do n't know of a single family that has got 

 along as well as they have." 



" Mr. Hardy's family have got along better, 

 to my notion," said Mr. Dm'opus. 



" According to your notion ; but your no- 

 tions are different from those of most per- 

 sons." 



" When Hardy bought that nm-down fann, 

 four years ago, he paid two hundred dollars 

 down, and gave a mortgage for eight hundred. 

 Suice then he has managed to pay one huii- 

 di"ed and twenty-five dollars a year, besides 

 the interest, and to make the fann worth 

 double what it was when he took it. He will 

 soon be out of debt, if he lives, and be the 

 owner of a fine fann." 



" How has he done it ? He has n't allowed 

 his family the comforts of life." 



" I think you hardly do right to say that. — 

 The house is about the neatest one I have 

 been in, and the children look as plump as 

 partridges." 



" I presume they have enough to eat. As 

 to the house, I suppose you have never been 

 in any room l)ut the kitchen. Their parlor 

 has nothing in it but the bare floor and walls, 

 a table and a few old chairs." 



" I can't say how that may be ; I was in 

 the room they live in, and, if anything, it was 

 more comfortable than this one." 



" There is no need of our living in this 

 room," Mrs. Duropus was tempted to say — 



(665) 



but, remembering the object in view, she sup- 

 pressed the remark. The good lady, together 

 with her three daughters, had simultaneously 

 conceived the idea that it was uugenteel to 

 live in the kitchen. Hence, when in com- 

 pany, they spoke of it as a dim and shadowy 

 land, into which they rarely made excui-sions. 

 They were too well acquainted with Mr. Du- 

 ropus's notions, to make any attempt to dis- 

 lodge him from the time-honored corner, or to 

 make their own residence in the ' front room' 

 other than theoretical. 



'• I presume," continued Mr. Duropus, after 

 a brief interval of silence, " that Mr. Hardy 

 feels that he can't afford to fumish a room 

 which is so little used as a parlor is, while he 

 is in debt, and has so many improvements to 

 make on the farm." 



" That is always the way with you men. 

 There are so many improvements to be made 

 on the farm that the house can never be made 

 decent inside. Eveiy old bam' and rail-fence 

 and ditch must be fixed first." 



It was plain tlaat Mrs. Duropus was losing 

 sight of the object for which the house was 

 put in extra order, and losing something of 

 the pleasantness of her voice ; she perceived 

 it, and made an effort to repair the error, but 

 her feelings were too much interested in the 

 topic we have mentioned, to leave it without 

 a few more remarks. She moreover hoped 

 she might give them a bearing which might 

 tell on her as yet secret purpose. 



" If he has some excuse for not furnishing 

 the house, he has no excuse for letting his 

 girls go dressed as tliey do." 



"I don't know much about such things, 

 but they always look very nice at home and 

 abroad." 



" It behooves those who have only one or 

 two frocks to keep them clean." 



" I should thuik it would be harder work 

 to do so, and therefore they deserve the more 

 credit for it." 



" I don't think their father deserves much 

 credit for laying out so much on his {arm, and 

 making his daughters do with only a dj-ess or 

 two.'" 



" I do n't know how many they have, I 'm 

 sure ; they always appear well dressed at 

 meeting." 



" They have worn the same dresses at meet- 

 ing, and everywhere else they have been, for 

 a yem-; and will do so, I suppose, a year 

 longer." 



" It may be, and, if they are kept nice, I 

 don't see why they shouldn't." 



"I don't suppose you do, but other folks 

 do ; I reckon you would like to have the girls 

 wear the same dresses. Sabbath after Sabbath, 

 for a year." 



" I should stand a better chance to know 

 them when I meet th(mi than I do now. The 

 other day, as I was going U) neighbor Hardy's, 

 I passed a smart-looking young woman with 

 a good many ribbons flying. I tliousht she 

 noticed me as I passed, though I did n't know 

 her." 



