1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
663 
Mrs. Mills’s Economy. 
Part I. 
Farmer Mills, of Burt’s Corner, put 
down the pen he had been writing with, 
and, with a grunt of dissatisfaction, 
pushed a sheet of paper across to his 
wife, who sat opposite, sewing. 
“There, lass, that will be just four 
hundred pounds left owing when old 
Bliss has been paid his interest to-mor¬ 
row; and, what with one thing and an¬ 
other, it’s powerful hard to pay much off 
beside. Now, are you sure, Pris, there’s 
nothing else you can economize in?” 
Priscilla Mills pursed her lips and 
went on working energetically, yet 
glancing significantly in the direction of 
the old-fashioned chimney-corner, where 
sat an old man, with his eyes half- 
closed. 
He had evidently followed the con¬ 
versation, however; and, not waiting for 
the woman to reply, chimed in, with a 
qu'iet laugh: 
“Economize, Abraham? What for? 
What’s the use of stinting and cutting 
everything so fine—eh? I reckon you’re 
doing handsome, to pay interest, and 
some of the capital off every year into 
the bargain, as you know you do. Why, 
when you married my daughter Jane 
for your first wife, there was over a 
thousand pounds mortgage on this farm; 
and since then, between us all, it’s down 
to four hundred; and I reckon that’s 
good work, without economizing much 
further. Economy can go too far some¬ 
times,” concluded the old man, as he 
knocked the ashes out of his clay pipe 
on the hob. 
For the word economize was not to 
his liking; he had experienced so much 
of it one way or another from the pres¬ 
ent Mrs. Mills that he was beginning to 
fear his last solace, his pipe, would be 
stopped. 
Mrs. Mills had waited ominously until 
he had finished, and then let loose the 
vials of her wrath on his head. 
W'ith a shrill voice she told him to 
recollect that he was dependent now on 
their bounty, and as such had no right 
to interfere in uer affairs, as mistress of 
the house. 
“Easy, lass, easy,” interjected Abra¬ 
ham whenever he got a cnance, which 
was seldom, and which was all he dared 
say in the old man’s defense, who had 
sat dazed through the outburst, and, 
without waiting for it to subside, betook 
himself off to bed, while the farmer 
slipped out to the stable to look ’round 
for the night, and to enjoy a quiet half- 
hour. 
When Mrs. Mills was in a worse tem¬ 
per than usual, she always played a 
vigorous tattoo on the table—which was 
one reason why -he old man and the 
farmer thought it wisest to leave her, 
the latter thinking that by the time he 
returned the paroxysm would be over, 
and matters would go on quieter for a 
time; but he was mistaken, for on re¬ 
turning, the signs were as vigorous as 
ever. 
“Abraham Mills, am I to be dictated 
to in my own house?” she demanded 
with emphasis the moment he closed the 
door. 
“Certainly not, my lass; but the old 
man meant no harm; he likes to have a 
say, seeing that he has lived on the farm 
all his life.” 
“Say or no say, Mills, I’ve made up 
my mind, and I give you notice that 
John Walters shan’t stay under this roof 
many days longer;” and her face as¬ 
sumed a determined expression. 
“Come, come, lass; don’t be too hard 
on him,” replied the farmer, somewhat 
startled at the turn matters were taking. 
“I’ve settled everything,” she replied, 
“and so I won’t be 'thwarted; but sit 
down, and hear what I’ve got to say here 
this very night.” 
With subdued mien the farmer obeyed, 
and prepared to listen, knowing full well 
that if she said the matter—whatever it 
might be—was settled, it was of little 
use his objecting. 
She was rather calmer now; but with 
a look of acidity delivered her decision: 
“As I said, I have determined that the 
old man must go, and that speedily.” 
Mills looked at her astonished. “Go— 
go where?” 
Without replying to his query, she 
continued: 
“He is now seventy-five, eats heartily, 
and smokes a lot—all expense; and, as 
he gets older, perhaps a doctor will be 
heeded; or perhaps he might live 10 or 
15—ay, 20—years longer. The Walters 
are a long-lived family. Why, man,” 
she concluded her tirade, “he will be no 
end of trouble, and £ost us two or three 
hundred pounds, maybe.” 
“Ay, ay! Granted. But what the deuce 
are you driving at? Let us be knowing, 
woman.” 
“This: he must go to the workhouse, 
and soon,” she replied deliberately; “be¬ 
fore he becomes a burden.” 
“What!” he ejaculated, regarding her 
with astonishment. “The workhouse? 
Why, the neighbors would cry shame on 
us, lass.” 
“I care nothing for neighbors and 
their talk,” she snapped. “Let them 
mind their own business. I tell you, 
once for all, my mind is made up, and 
has been for some time; therefore, that 
settles the matter.” 
The farmer blew a cloud of smoke, 
gave a whistle, but said nothing, know¬ 
ing it would be useless, and that what 
had been said by his better-half was law, 
and nothing would turn her decision. 
Yet he felt a qualm of shame when he 
remembered what the old man had been 
to him in the past. 
Yet, further to his great disgust, his 
wife laid on him a few days later the 
undesirable office of telling the old man 
as to his future destination; and it was 
not without feeling very shamefaced 
that he broke the news, which was re¬ 
ceived in silence. For a few minutes the 
white-headed old man seemed unable to 
grasp the purport of the message. AS 
he gazed feebly ’round the kitchen, with 
its heavy rafters black with age, and 
hung with hams and bacon in plenty, 
the tears trickled down lus withered 
cheeks as he thought of the past, and 
the happy hours he had experienced un¬ 
der that roof, which was not to shelter 
him any longer. 
“Economize, economize,” he murmur¬ 
ed; “is this, then, what it means? Ah, 
me! Man and boy have I worked on this 
farm for 65 long yet happy years; and 
now I am turned out of where I ought 
to end my uays. Economy’s all very 
well; but doing right’s better. Still, 
God’s will be done,” he said, with a 
pathetic sigh. 
Abraham ivi'ills twiddled his thumbs 
and, shuffling uneasily in his chair, 
looked across at his wife appealingly. 
But she was relentless, and as firm as 
adamant. 
“Now, it’s no use taking on about it,” 
she replied in a hard, matter-of-fact 
tone. “You’ll be comfortable enough in 
the ‘House,’ I’ll be bound; and I have 
settled with Sam Wilmer to come for 
you >in his cart at three o’clock, to drive 
you to Brankcon; so the less fuss the 
better, and the sooner you’ll get used to 
it.” 
Sam Wilmer was a small, hard-work¬ 
ing farmer and general carrier for the 
district, and his wife was annoyed when 
he told her his destination while he was 
harnessing the old mare. Sam’s wife, 
Betsy, before she married him, was ser¬ 
vant to the old man; and. 'in her kind¬ 
ness of heart, could not conceive a rea¬ 
son for the step, knowing how he had 
worked and slaved for them all. So the 
news upset her; but before Sam started 
she gave him instructions: 
“Now, Sam, listen. After you leave 
the farmhouse with tne old man, mind 
you drive with him straight up here. 
It’ll only be a mile out of your way, and 
I’ll get a cup of tea ready, and let him 
see that there’s somebody who thinks a 
little about Mm, different to them two 
graspers up yonder—drat ’em!” And, 
jerking her head contemptuously, she 
departed indoors, flushed with wrath; 
while Sam, with a laugh, jumped in, 
and bade Kitty get on, and started to 
fetch his passenger.—Chambers’s Jour¬ 
nal. 
U TTONESTY is the best 
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