ECONOMY AND THRIFT IN THE HOME by Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 18, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 20.

ECONOMY AND THRIFT IN THE HOME.

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

(Concluded.)

I KNEW that Robert would never consent to running into debt, for we were struggling to make payments on our little home. So I waited until one day when he was away for a day and a night on business, and then we went to the village,—the fine lady and I,—and the deed was done. The merchant did not at all object to trusting me; he only opened his eyes wide, for neither Robert nor I had ever asked for a penny's credit before. But when we drove home that sunny afternoon in late September, the books of the merchant bore a very pompous entry:— Robert Hale, Dr., To six chairs . . . . . . . . . . . $15.00 “ one rocker . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 “ 15 yds. dress goods . . . . . 15.00 Total, . . . . . . . . . . . $40.00

“I shall never forget that ride home. The brightly-varnished chairs sat stiff and elegant, and glimmered in the yellow sunshine, and the fine rocker swayed back and forth with every lurch of the heavy wagon, while our nearest neighbor, Mrs. Hill, craned her neck to see where we were going with all that finery; for she had too great a sense of propriety to imagine for a moment that it was intended for our little log house. “My companion chatted volubly all the way home, and rallied me more than once on account of my stupid dullness, but somehow I had no heart to talk. Ever and anon the question would leap to my lips: ‘What do you think Robert will say? Will he be very angry?’ “‘What if he is?’ replied my Job's comforter; ‘small good it will do him to be cross; and I’m sure you’ll look quite stunning in your new gown when we get it made.’ “For the first time in our married life, I went to bed that night with a heavy heart; for Robert and I had promised solemnly never to have any secrets which the other might not share, and to consult each other in everything. “As my feverish cheek pressed the pillow, I tried to sleep, but every tick of the old clock seemed to say, ‘Forty-dollars!—forty-dollars!’ O, how I dreaded the morrow when Robert would come home! If I could only have returned the finery that night, I would gladly have done so; but this seemed out of the question, and I decided to do so early in the morning. How strangely grotesque those chairs looked in our modest little cabin, as my feverish eyes gazed upon them from my bed by the light of the moon, which shone brightly through the tiny window! And then, that dress! how would it look beside poor Robert's homespun suit? “‘Forty-dollars!—forty-dollars!’ still ticked the old clock, as I finally fell asleep. “I soon awoke from a troubled dream, with a horrible sense of suffocation. I tried to scream, but my throat was dry and parched, and it was only with great effort that I raised my head from the pillow. Then the full horror of the situation dawned upon me. The room was filled with dense smoke, and already the red tongues of flame were playing about my bed. My first thought was of Robert. O, if he would only come and save me! In horror I laid hold of my companion, and barely succeeded in dragging her from the burning pile, as the roof came crashing downward. “We spent the rest of the night with the cattle in the shed; and in the morning my guest made her way to the village as best she could, and returned home; for I could no longer offer her a place in which to lay her head. So she went, bewailing the loss of her finery (for she went in plain clothing, borrowed from the neighbors). “In the afternoon Robert returned. I shall never forget the look upon his dear face, as he clasped me to his breast and cried huskily, ‘Thank God you are safe, my darling!’ “‘O Robert! Robert! all my elegant furniture and my new dress! it is all burned!’ I wailed, ‘and I was going to take them back to the merchant today.’ “‘Why, my dear Jane, what do you mean?’ and then the whole miserable story came out.”

“What did Uncle Robert say, auntie?” asked young Mrs. Stanwood in a broken voice.

“He did not reproach me, dear, for he saw that I had suffered deeply. But I determined to earn the money myself with which to pay for my burned finery; but it took me all the long winter to do so. “In the spring we built another cabin, but it was furnished as simply as the first, and I have never forgotten my lesson, and firmly believe that more real happiness comes from simple living and the avoidance of debt than in all the luxury of fine feathers and borrowed plumage.”

A very serious young face was turned toward Auntie Hale for a kiss, and an earnest voice whispered in her ear:— “I don't believe I need that new parlor suit after all, auntie, for I'm sure Bryan would have to run into debt for it; and I am determined to try the pleasures and virtues of more economical living.”

APPLIED SCIENCE IN THE HEAVENS AND ON EARTH.

ON Saturday night, October 31, the Northern Pacific telegraphic department telegraphed a distance of six hundred and fifty miles without batteries. On that night extraordinary aurora borealis displays were seen. The electric waves were noticed as early as seven o'clock by the superintendent and assistant superintendent. They decided to experiment with the atmosphere as a current, and had the line opened from Saint Paul to Dickinson, N. D., with the batteries along the line removed. The electricity was taken from the atmosphere during the disturbance, which lasted twenty hours. We take the scientific account from the despatch in The World. The superintendent said: “We found that the electricity from the overcharged atmosphere registered from twenty-three millimeters positive back to the same figure negative. Pure green light shot forth at stated intervals toward the earth, and each time it descended it charged the electric wires all over the country to such a degree that all communication was stopped for a time and disturbed for many hours. The electrical waves came with the regularity of the pendulum. They were of about three minutes' duration each, shifting from negative to positive polarities in almost perfect rhythm. The instruments showed a maximum intensity of three hundred and seventy volts.” When the current was at its maximum positive polarity, they could talk to Dickinson very easily by using the regular Morse alphabet. As the pendulum swung back to the negative pole the sounds from the instruments would become fainter and fainter until the pressure came back. Superintendent Green declared it one of the most remarkable atmospheric disturbances coming under his knowledge for thirty years.—Christian Advocate.