Life at High Tide

am received, in exchange for a husband and his small earnings, the sum of $12 a month. But when you own your own very little house, with a dooryard for chickens (and such

se was chilly, and months when fresh meat was unknown, and years when a new dress was not thought of. This state of things is not remarkable, taken

promptly sent to the Poor Farm. No sentimental consideration of a grateful country would have m

l had been away from home for many years; rumors came back, occasionally, that he was going to make his fortune by some patent, and Jonesville said that if he did it would be a good thing for the town, for Nathaniel wasn't one to forget hi

said; "well, it's

ll, scratched lenses; the poor clothes upon his back; and twenty-four cents in his pocket. He walked hesitatingly, with one hand outstre

been financially successful, so far. I shall be, of course. But in the city no one seemed willing to wait for payment for my board, so

s forehead significantly, and whispered, "Too bad!" and added (with ill-concealed pleasure at finding new misfortune to talk about) that the Selectmen had t

izzie Graham; "but, course, he can't just let him set down at the hote

willin' to take and willin' to give. Don't you mind how he used to be always sharin'

get rich," Mrs. Butterfield s

ernoon; a northwest wind, harsh and dry, tore fiercely across the scrub-pines and twinkling birches of the sun-baked

ike wind," she

while," Mrs. But

blew about her forehead in little curls; her eyes, brown like a brook in shady places, and kind. It was a mild face, but not weak. Below them the valley shimmered in the hea

round it," Lizzie said; "just sets

eld said; "your house is too dark for my taste.

re real kind o' friends. There! I knowed you'd laugh; but I

do d

m to. And the Poor Farm ain't got a scrap of sh

st set and wrung his hands when Hiram Wells told him he'd got to go. Josh said it was

't he ju

ys one of the dreamin' kind; a real

ie n

goes to the Farm, what with him bein' blindish and not able to do for himself, that his glasses and wheels-and dear knows what all that he's got for ghost-seein'-will get all smashed up. An' I guess he's 'bout right. They're terrible crowded, Mis' Dean says. Nat allows that if he could stay at Dyer's,

aybe," Li

Hiram Wells, he says, 'Gimme a month-and I'll finish it. For the sak

at he believes

st as sure a

he Farm? I guess Mis' Dean would

d look at it, and bust right out laughin'. Josh says it's all little wheels and lookin'-glasses, and

aham said: "Does he feel bad at bein' a pauper? The Ma

m nothin',' he says, 'and my pride is less than nothin'. But for the sake of the poor Dead, grant m

's people would pay money for on

money. But he didn't care about that, except then

won't

s he has any call to,

one person's chore more 'an another's. But-there! If this wa'n't Jonesvi

ouldn't do it-you. You ain't got to spare, in the first place. And anyway, h

ily. "Guess I could have a

provider," Mrs. Butterfield said, turnin

about," Lizzie said; "Jonesville is just no

" Mrs. Butterfiel

sunbonnet. "Better be g

d say you was a spiritualist, too; they'd say

sharply. "I ain't a mite of a spiritualist, and I d

a good name," Mrs. B

n. Once they stopped for some more blueberries, with a desultory word about the heat; then they picked their way around juniper-bushes, and over great knees of

en they stopped under her great elm; "I cou

d, "'cept at noon. And then he could set indoors. It won't be anything so bad, Lizzie. Now d

ain and fanned herself; she look

field, honest: do you

' woman, Lizzie, yet. No; I ain't one to flatter; you be. And ain't he a man? and a likely man, too, for all he's crazy. Course they'd talk! Now, Li

aughed, but w

o it," Mrs. Butterfield went on, coaxingly; "Dean ain't hard. A

tuals that would

think anything more about him visitin' you

after I've lived here all my

hat's that got to do with it? You know

lace!" Lizzie

greed. "Well, Lizzie, you're good, but you ai

the road between its walls of rusty hazel-bushes and its fringe of joepye-weed and goldenrod turned to the left and the stout, kindly figure di

mayn't be wealthy, but I got a good name. Course it wouldn't do to ta