Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 November 1907 — HIS HARD WORK. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HIS HARD WORK.

“He has been workin’ —workin’ hard," said the thin woman with the Wet apron, dusting a chair for her Tlsitor. “Won’t you please sit down? Certainly he ain’t workin’ now, hut a fob is hard to get, an’ he’s a man who fron’t take everything that comes along. It waa too confinin’ for him, that last Job —■omethin’ fierce ; an’ the man he Was workin' for didn’t treat him right My husband’s a man that’s got a sperPit, an’ he won’t let nobody run over him. No, he’s not workin’ now, but he would be if he found a Job to suit him.” “What Is his trade?” asked the visitor. "Well, ma’am, I can’t rightly say that he’s got any pertickier trade,” replied the thin woman. “He’s what you might oall a handy man. There ain’t nothin’ that he can’t turn his hand to if he’s a mind to, but as for workin’ at any one trade regular.it’s somethin’ that he ain’t never done. One thing, if a man has a trade he ’most always has to belong to one o’ them unions, an’ you know an’ I know that a union man has got to do just the way his union fays. My husbau’s too independent to let any union run him.” “How long did he work at this last Job he had?” Inquired the visitor. ’ “Three days." “And how long was he out of work before he got that job?” "Well, it must ha’ been close on to three months, ma’am. Not but what he tried. He’d go out in the ruoruln’ an’ sometimes be gone all day lookin’ for work. But it’s hard to find, ’specially any work ’at pays livin’ wages. He might have got somethin’ at a dollar au’ a quarter or a dollar an’ a half a day, but he don’t b’lleve in encouragin’ low wages. He’s a man ’ud sooner •offer himself than do that. It’s the principle of it If he can’t get what his work's jv-orth be won’t work at all. That’s what he says, an' I say he’s ri^ht." “How do yon manage to get along, then?" asked the visitor. “Well.” said the thin woman, “I most giucrally get about all I can do, with the washlu’ an’ the scrubbln’. It ain't much for pay, but It’s better than nothin' at ail. An’ then the boy is a-workin’ over In the tannery, an’ he brings In $3 a week—an ’they say it’s wholesome work Inthem tanneries. Then the foclety has been good to me an' helps me out at a pinch. Oue way an’ another we got along, though we’re behind with the tent now* In another year the girl Will be able to go out an’ bring in a little aomethiu’, though It’s the truth I don’t know what I will be

doing without her to take care of the small children. I guess they will have to kind of look after one another.’’ “You say your husband is a handy man?” said the visitor. “That he Is. As I say, there ain’t nothin’ he can't turn his hand to. I’ll show you the elegant wash bench he made for me if you’ll step Into the kitchen.” “Do you think he would like to do the janitor work in a small building? I think I can get him the position.” The thin woman looked a little doubtful. “I’ll ask him,” she said. “I don’t know whether he would fancy that, to tell you the honest truth, for there’s scrubbin’ an’ window cleanin’ an’ such about janitor work, an’ that’s more of a woman’s job. Mebbe I could help him out on that part of It, though, while he did the rest of It. When he wakes up I’ll ask him. and very much obliged to you, ma’am.” “Is he asleep?” asked the visitor. The thin woman blushed a little. “Do you mean that he’s been drinking?’.’ asked the visitor, severely. The thin woman bridled. “If he has taken a drop or two 1 don’t know but it’s his right,” she said. “If he earns the money he’s a right to spend It the way he wants to. He ain’t a drinkin’ man. Not like some Is, anyway. If once in a while he gets a bit off, I don’t know that It's anybody’s business.” —Chicago Dally News.