Rensselaer Union and Jasper Republican, Volume 8, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1876 — MUMBER FOUR, PROVIDENCE ROW. [ARTICLE]

MUMBER FOUR, PROVIDENCE ROW.

CHAPTER I. Providence Row consists of a collection of little cottages, with long, narrow gardens in front. . . Their outward appearance is inviting; but to find out what pretty little homes they are we must take a peep into No. 6 for No. 6, Providence Row, is always in readiness to receive a visitor The Dutch clock strikes two; and Mary Gooding begins to fold her work as she says: “1 suppose I had better go now, mother. promised Mrs. Parkins I would run in for a little while as soon as you could spare me.” “ Very well, my dear, he off as soon as you dike i-and if you can .help her to get her home a little straight, do so.” Mrs. Gooding might well make this last remark; and Mary thought of her mother’s words as she entered Mrs. Parkins’ house, number four, a few minutes afterward, and cast a glance around at the picture of misery that it presented. As she looked at the unswept stove, and the unwashed breakfast and dinner things, a thought came into her mind how different the room would look if these little matters were attended to. The room altogether wanted freshening; there was an unwholesome closeness that made Mary long to throw open the window and to have a purifying current of fresh air through at once. She had ample leisure for noting all these things; for Mrs. Parkins was a few doors down the Row, gossiping with a neighbor, whose tastes were, unfortunately, very much like her own. On seeing Mary turn in at the garden gate, Mrs. Parkins had given her a friendly nod as she called out: “ You can let yourself in! I’m coming in a minute!” But the minute extended to twenty before she could put an end to her interesting conversation. The sight of Mary Gooding, looking so. neat, brought up a fresh subject to talk about, and Mrs. Parkins and her neighbor had to wonder at the anparent extravagance of Mrs. Gooding m wearing, (did allowing her daughter to wear, print dresses, which, as Mrs. Parkins and every one else Knew, showed the dirt at once, and required to be washed so, frequently. “ But then some people are like that,” said Mrs. Parkins; “ and it I went to those extravagances, my young manmight have cause to complain of me; but as I am as saving os I can be, I do think it’s a little hard when he’s everlasting fault finding!” “ That’s just as I feel!” and the neighbor settled herself against the rails in order to be a little more comfortable while she poured a few other troubles into Mrs. Parkins’ ears. “ I’m sure we poor wives are perfect slaves.** “ Yes, nothing but work 1" “ When am I ever tidy and done? when does any one ever see me sitting down to needlework ?” “ Never!”

“ No! It’s as much as I can do to get ■ straight by the time Jones comes home, and men he’s always grumbling because I don’t mend the children’s clothes.” “ Mend!” exclaimed Mrs. Parkins. “ there’s not much time for that. But I must be off now.” “ Yes, and 1 suppose I must go in and light the lire again; I dare say it is out by tins time. You wouldn’t believe the wood we burn!” added Mrs. Jones, in injured tones; “ but my grumbler expects a good Are when he comes home, cost what it will.” With a laugh the two neighbors separated. Mrs. Parkins, with her two unwashed children, hastened down the dusty Row, raising quite a cloud behind her by the fluttering of the untidy rags at the end of her dress. “ I’ve got back at last,” she said, as she stepped into her cottage. “Really, when Mrs. Jones gets hold es one, there’s no knowing when to get away. But, Mary, what are you about?” “Oh, Mrs. Parkins, I hope you won’t mind,” and Mary looked up from the stove at which she had been industriously brushing, “ but I thought I might help to clean up the place a bit.” “ Yes, but you needn’t take all that trouble; and you’ve taken up all the cinders!” " I would have sifted them for you, but I couldn’t find a-sieve.” “Oh, we’ve no sifter." : T, “ Well, we always burn our cinders. Mother says it is such a saving of coals; it makes them last as long again.” Mrs. Parkins made no answer to this; but in a moment she said: * Well, it does seem a shame to let you do that for me, with your clean dress on.” “ I brought my large, coarse apron with me, for I knew you wanted to get a bit straight for when Mr. Parkins comes home.” “ Ah, that I do; for of late he has been more than usually grumbling, and he has threatened to be off to the public-house, so I thought of doing up a little more, to see if that would make him better pleased; but tiie time goes on, 'and there’s such a deal to do.” “ Oh, we shall have time,” interrupted Mary, briskly: “we can make the place look so nice before he’s home; he’ll be so surprised.” “Weil you are making me feel quite bustling,” answered Mrs. Parkins, pleasantly, as site rose from her chair. Both, set to work with a will, and in lest than an hour quite & change had taken plaee in this home. Not only was the cottage itself in order to receive its master, but the wife and little ones presented such a trim appearance that Mr. Parkins himself would scarcely have recognized them. No cottage home could look more comfortable. The tea-things were set, and the curtains were drawn: and as Mrs. Parkins sat enjoying the fire whose cheerful blaze lighted up every comer of the little

room, she began to look back over the years of her pas! life. She had time to do so, for the little ones were unusually good, and Mary, after all her kindness, had taken her departure. But the good she had done remained behind her. Its healthy influence was at work in the cottage home that November evening. Guardian angels must have drawn near and brought a holy power with them! Jane Parkins was beginning to see her faults more clearly; ana as the new light dawned upon her she resolved to guard against them. There should be no more gossiping with neighbors! This, she saw, was the foundation ot her untidy home, and also the cause of the many quarrels that had taken place between herself and husband. This bad habit, given up, would leave plenty of time for keeping her house in order, and for attending to her duties as a wife and mother. “ But where is Toni?” she asks herself after a long and thoughtful pause; “he certainly ought to be home by this time.” With a look of anxiety on her face she glanced at the large Dutch clock, and saw that it was half an hour over his time already. She went to the door and tried to look down the Row, but the fog that had been gathering when she let Mary out had become so dense that she could only see a few yards before her. \ es, the tog had increased, and walking was most uncomfortable. Along the crowded thoroughfares people werenastening home, cheered by the memory of the loving faces which would welcome them at the end of their journey, and which made home home to them.

chapter n. • , It was not with any of these pleasureable feelings that Pom Parkins turned his face homeward; indeed, the nearer he apSroached his own neighborhood, the eavier grew the frown upon his brow. “ I’ve berne it as long as I can—what’s the good of toiling and saving? I may just as well spend a bit of money on myself,were his thoughts. Just at this momenthecameto a tavern, the bright light from which shone full on his gloomy tace. Three men were going in at the door, but one of them catching sight of Tom, stepped back, and grasped him warmly by the hand, as he said: “Well, old fellow—it is you! 1 thought I couldn’t be mistaken.” Then as the other two men came up, hearty greetings were exchanged all round. Zi" “ There’s no reason for us to stand out in this fog,” said the first speaker; “ we’re just going in to knock about tho balls a bit, and to have a glass—you’ll make one of us, Parkins, won’t you?” The other two joined in with, “Comenow, do; yes, you must—you are not going to get off in that way.” Tom nesitatea and said no, he could not, for he must get home to his wife; but as he spoke the miserable picture of his comfortless home rose before him; and as he glanced at the half open door of the tavern the light and warmth seemed to encourage him to yield to the wishes of his ~ “Comenow, do! Nevermind about the wife; she can spare you for an hour or two.” “Oh, yes; she can spare me well enough!” replied Tom, with some bitterness. “ Well, then, what’s to prevent you having a game or two at bagatelle—got something about you I dare say that you would like to double.” And the speaker gave a knowing look at his companions,, whilst Tom answered openly: “ Yes, I’ve my week’s wages, but I should be more afraid of losing it instead of doubling it.” He spoke very firmly, and at the same time held out his hand, and wished his tempters good night; but they had no intention of letting their prey slip through their fingers, and they renewed their persuasions that he should make one of them. Tom wavered, and he began to argue with himself. “If I do go in this onee, I’m not obliged to become a drinking man, and surely the tavern will be more comfortable than my untidy home?” But, speaking aloud, he said: “Well, at any rate, home I must go first, and if 1 come back I shall be with you in half an hour.” “ Better come at once!" “No, I must go home first.” Tom was a kind-hearted man, and as long as he was in his sober senses he would remain so; his only reason for going home was to let his wife know of his whereabouts, for, being a foggy night, he thought she would be uneasy about him. But this night Tom Parkins, without knowing it, is on the edge of a precipice. The evening that he thinks of spending will be “in the counsel of the ungodly,” and among the “ scornful.” Not that he thinks thus of the companions from whom he has just parted—he tries to persuade himselt that they are his friends. Yet Tom Parkins cannot think himself into a comfortable state of mind; playing with edged tools is always dangerous! and so many find to their cost.

Another quarter of an hour has passed sinco Mrs. ’Parkins looked out at her door, and her mind is getting seriously uneasy. The unused tea-thihgs are still on the table; but the blaze has died out, and Mrs. Parkins begins almost to give up her idea of waiting tea for her husband; for she is afraid that the children, who are, as yet, wonderfully good, will get fractious if kept- longer without their accustomed meal. But hark! and she hastens to the door, and listens a moment to make quite sure—yes, she knows the step, and before Tom Parkins can knock, his anxious wife stands at the open door to receive him. But he enters not. “Don’t stand in ths fog, Jane—l’m not coming in! I’m going to spend an hour or two with some friends to-night —so you need’nt be uneasy if I’m a bit late,” he says, before she can speak a word. Mrs. Parkins’ heart sinks, as she sees all her little plan of surprise falling through, and her voice is frill of disappointment as she says; “On, Tern! you would be better at home on such a night as this. It flashed into her husband’s mind that so he, might if his home were anything like a home; but he.only says, a little impatiently : “ Tbere, makt haste out of the fog!” Turning on his heel, be was making ofl without even a look at the comfortable room that had been made ready for him; but just then the coals in the grate gave & grand crackle, and up sprang a bright flame making such an illumination, and

showing Mrs. Parkins’ trim figure off to such advantage, that her husband stood for half a second, is speechless amazement. * Without a word, Tom gently pushed his wife into the cottage, and closing the door, he stood staring at the alterations that had taken place in his home—his home? Yes, it was his home; and the neat-looking young woman standing by his side firmly resolved that the home—as far as she was able to keep it—should never look less attractive than it did tonight; and as her husband kissed her she asked: ( “You won’t go out again to-night, Tom?” And, a feeling of delight went through her as she heard the answer “No indeed, lass—nor any other nighty as long as home looks as cosv as this.” Bo Mrs. Parkins, by a near touch, saved hei husband from gambling and a public house; let us hope that the good thus begun may continue —British Work women.