A few moments brought him to the door, and he went in with the quick step that had marked his entrance for several days. It was not quite dark, and his wife sat sewing by the window. She was finishing a pair of pantaloons that had to go home that very evening, and with the money she was to get for them she expected to buy the Sunday dinner. There was barely enough food in the house for supper; and unless she received her pay for this piece of work, she had no means of getting the required sustenance for herself and childrenor rather, for her husband, herself and children. The individual for whom it was intended was not a prompt pay-master, and usually grumbled whenever Mrs. Jarvis asked him for money. To add to the circumstances of concern and trouble of mind, she felt almost ready to give up, from the excessive pain in her breast, and the weakness of her whole frame. As her husband came in, she turned upon him an anxious and troubled countenance; and then bent down over her work and plied her needle hurriedly. As the twilight fell dimly around, she drew nearer and nearer to the window, and at last stood up, and leaned close up to the panes of glass, so that her hand almost touched them, in order to catch the few feeble rays of light that were still visible. But she could not finish the garment upon which she wrought, by the light of day. A candle was now lit, and she took her place by the table, not so much as glancing towards her husband, who had seated himself in a chair, with his youngest child on his knee. Half an hour passed in silence, and then Mrs. Jarvis rose up, having taken the last stitch in the garment she was making, and passed into the adjoining chamber. In a few minutes she came out, with her bonnet and shawl on, and the pair of pantaloons that she had just finished on her arm.
"Where are you going, Jane?" her husband asked, in a tone of surprise, that seemed mingled with disappointment.
"I am going to carry home my work."
"But I wouldn't go now, Jane. Wait until after supper."
"No, John. I cannot wait until after supper. The work will be wanted. It should have been home two hours ago."
And she glided from the room.
A walk of a few minutes brought her to the door of a tailor's-shop, around the front of which hung sundry garments exposed for sale. This shop she entered, and presented the pair of pantaloons to a man who stood behind the counter. His face relaxed not a muscle as he took them and made a careful examination of the work.
"They'll do," he at length said, tossing them aside, and resuming his employment of cutting out a garment.
Poor Mrs. Jarvis paused, dreading to utter her request. But necessity conquered the painful reluctance, and she said
"Can you pay me for this pair to-night, Mr. Willets?"
"No. I've got more money to pay on Monday than I know where to get, and cannot let a cent go out."
"But, Mr. Willets, I"
"I don't want to hear any of your reasons, Mrs. Jarvis. You can't have the money to-night."
Mrs. Jarvis moved slowly away, and had nearly reached the door, when a thought of her children caused her to pause.
"I cannot go, Mr. Willets, without the money," she said, suddenly turning, and speaking in an excited tone.
"You will go, I'm thinking, madam," was the cool reply.
"O, sir," changing her tone, "pay me what you owe me; I want it very much."
"O, yes. So you all say. But I am used to such make-believes. You get no money out of me to-night, madam. That's a settled point. I'm angry nowso you had better go home at once; if you don't, I'll never give you a stitch of work, so help"
Mrs. Jarvis did not pause to hear the concluding words of the sentence.
"What shall I do?" was the almost despairing question that she asked of herself, as she hurried towards her home. On entering the house she made no remark, for there was no one to whom she could tell her troubles and disappointment, with even the most feeble hope of a word of comfort.
"Does Mr. Jarvis live here?" asked a rough voice at the door.
"Yes, sir," was the reply.
"Well, here is a barrel of flour and some groceries for him."
"There must be some mistake, sir."
"Is not this Mr. Jarvis's?"
"Yes."
"And number 40?"
"Yes."
"Then this is the place, for that was the direction given me."
"Yes, this is the placebring them in," spoke up Jarvis, in an animated tone.
The drayman, of course, obeyed. First he rolled in the barrel of flour; then came a number of packages, evidently containing groceries; and, finally, one or two pieces of meat, and sundry lots of vegetables.
"How much is to pay?" asked Jarvis.
"Twenty-five cents, sir," responded the drayman, bowing.
The twenty-five cent piece was taken from his pocket with quite an air, and handed over. Then the drayman went out and that little family were alone again. During the passage of the scene just described, the wife stood looking on with a stupid and bewildered air. When the drayman had departed, she turned to her husband, and said
"'John, where did these things come from?"
"I bought them, Jane."
"You bought them?"
"Yes, I bought them."
"And pray, John, what did you buy them with?"
"With the quarter of a dollar you gave me on Monday."
"John!"
"It is true, Jane. With that quarter I went and joined the
Washington Total-Abstinence Society, and then went to work at Mr.
Lankford's. Here is the result of one week's work, besides this
silver," handing her all that remained, after making the purchases.
"O, John, John," the wife exclaimed, bursting into tears, "do not again mock my hopes. I cannot bear much more."
"In the strength of Him, Jane, who has promised to help us when we call upon Him, 'I will not disappoint the hopes I now revive,'" said Jarvis, slowly and solemnly.
The almost heart-broken wife and mother leaned her head upon the shoulder of her husband, and clung to his side with a newly-revived confidence, that she felt would not be disappointed, while the tears poured from her eyes like rain. But her true feelings we cannot attempt to describenor dare we venture to sketch further the scene we have introduced. The reader's imagination can do it more justice, and to him we leave that pleasing task, with only the remark, that Mrs. Jarvis's newly-awakened joys and hopes have not again been disappointed.
TIME, FAITH, ENERGY
"I DON'T see that I am so much better off," said Mr. Gordon, a man who had recently given up drinking. "I lost my situation on the very day I signed the pledge, and have had no regular employment since."
"But you would have lost your situation if you hadn't signed the pledge, I presume," said the individual to whom he was complaining.
"Yes. I lost it because I got drunk and spoiled my job. But to hear some temperance people talk, one who didn't know would be led to believe that, the very moment the pledge was signed, gold could be picked up in the streets. I must confess that I haven't found it so. Money is scarcer with me than it ever was; and though I don't spend a cent for myself, my family haven't a single comfort more than they had before."
"Though there's no disputing the fact that they would have many less comforts if you hadn't signed the pledge?"
"No, I suppose not. But I cannot help feeling discouraged at the way things go. If I had the same wages I received before I signed the pledge, I could be laying up money. But, as it is, it requires the utmost economy to keep from getting in debt."
"Still, you do manage to keep even?"
"Yes."
"On about half your former income?"
"A little over half. I used to get ten dollars a week. Now I manage, by picking up odd jobs here and there, to make about six."