The Young Wife CHAPTER 6.
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"How do you do, Mrs. Campbell! I am really glad to see you this morning!" said Julia, to the lady she had named, who called in to see her on the third day of her trials with Sally as cook — a new one not having yet been obtained.
"I'm well, Mrs. Lawton, or Julia, as I must still call you. And how are you?"
"O, I'm almost worried to death, Mrs. Campbell! I've had no cook for the last three days, and my chambermaid is worth nothing in the kitchen. It's the truth, that I've had to cook, or rather try to cook, for I know little or nothing of these matters, every dinner since Rachel went away."
"I know how to sympathize with you," Mrs. Campbell said; "for I've been served in the same way, many and many a time. The fact is, Julia, this housekeeping is a terrible business. I am so sick and tired, that I would almost be willing to live on bread and water, if I could be entirely free from it."
"It is indeed, Mrs. Campbell. I never dreamed that so many troubles and annoyances were connected with it, or I would have been one of the last ones to have taken upon myself its perplexing cares."
"Well, Julia, if you regard a friend's advice, you will get out of them as quickly as possible."
"I have mentioned it to Mr. Lawton, but he won't listen to me."
"O no, of course not. The men never will listen. It's very comfortable for them — and that's all they care about. Give them a well-kept house to sit down in at night, and read or go to sleep, perhaps, and not a fig do they care how much trouble their wives have! The fact is, I'm getting out of all patience, and am determined to have a change before long."
"I really believe, as you say," Julia replied, "that men cannot truly appreciate the trials and cares to which women are subjected in their families."
"Truly appreciate them! No, indeed, that they cannot! They think we have it all easy enough; and what is worse, you may talk to them until you are mute, about it, and it makes not the least difference. I get so out of patience, sometimes, that I hardly know what to do with myself."
"But in regard to boarding, Mrs. Campbell, Mr. Lawton says that but few real comforts can be had in a boarding-house. That in too many instances the food not only comes on the table badly cooked, but is often inferior in quality, and limited in quantity. That you are constantly liable to be thrown into disagreeable associations; that — "
"Don't say any more, Julia! I have heard these things asserted over and over again, until they have lost all weight with me. Indeed, to tell the truth, I don't believe one word of it all. Isn't it sheer nonsense, now, to talk about the food being badly cooked in a regular boarding-house, where they have the best of servants, and everything arranged to have things done right. And as to its being inferior in quality, I believe as little of that as the other. I go to market, and I see what boarding-house people buy. It's their business to have everything in order for the sake of their boarders, for they know very well, if they don't, that they will lose them."
"As far as all that is concerned, Mrs. Campbell, I am sure I am willing to make the trial."
"So am I, Julia. And I will make it too, and that before long — see if I don't! Why, there is Mrs. Jamison, who has boarded for the last year. She says that it is infinitely preferable. And she had a fair trial of housekeeping, for she was at it ten years. It is all nonsense, she says, to talk about there being no comfort in boarding — for it is all comfort, in comparison with housekeeping. No looking after servants, no slaving in the kitchen, no care about anything but your own room. O, it must be delightful!"
"How foolish I was, not to have gone to boarding at first! Mr. Lawton says that he thought it would have been better to have avoided the trouble and expense incident to housekeeping for a year or so, but, that as I preferred being in a house of my own, he had yielded to my wishes."
"I would think, then, that he would still be willing to break up."
"O no, not he! Now that we are in a house of our own, he thinks that it would be the greatest piece of folly in the world! And besides, he says, now is the best possible time for me to become familiar with its cares and duties."
"Indeed! Ah, Julia, I see that there is little hope for you. Your good man has the same notions that prevail among nine-tenths of husbands — that a wife is never so interesting as when she is engaged in attending to her household duties, as they call them. Aren't we doomed to slavery?"
"It really seems that we are, Mrs. Campbell," Julia replied, despondingly. "I am sure that I have felt like a slave ever since the care of this house devolved upon me. And, instead of things growing better, they grow worse and worse every day. Just to think, in the very first month after marriage, to be left without a cook, and be obliged to go into the kitchen, and toil like a servant! I declare, I get right sick sometimes! Don't you know of someone whom I could get?"
"Indeed I do not, Julia. And if I did, I wouldn't feel like recommending her to you, for they are all good for nothing. I've had about a hundred or so in my time, and never saw one yet that was worth a dime."
"I don't know what I shall do, Mrs. Campbell. If I had known that all were so worthless, I would have tried to persuade Rachel not to have left me. I think, now I have seen a little of Sally's cross-grained temper and indolence — that Rachel was far above the ordinary run of servants. It is true, that she did not always do things just to my mind, but I shall have to put up with some things, I suppose."
"That you will. On this subject, we might say with Shakespeare: Let us rather bear those ills we have, Than fly to others that we know not of.
At least, such is my experience; for so sure as I let a servant go, I get one in her place ten times as bad!"
"Ah me!" sighed the young wife, "we gain our wisdom by sad experience."
"Indeed we do, Julia! But like most of such wisdom, it comes too late."
And thus Mrs. Campbell, one of the too numerous class of modern pathetic and reluctant housewives, chafed and worried the mind of Mrs. Lawton — instead of carefully soothing, and judiciously directing her into the right course of action. When, therefore, this kind friend left — she returned to her parlor, and seating herself near the window, remained for some time, a prey to troubled and gloomy thoughts. But a consciousness that Sally was not to be depended upon for anything, roused her up, and she proceeded to the kitchen, and was soon busied in the preparations required for the ensuing meal. This relieved her feelings considerably, but her countenance still wore a troubled air, when her husband came home to his dinner.
"Haven't you heard of a cook yet, Julia?" he asked, as he observed her unhappy looks.
"Indeed I have not, Frank. And I don't see any hope of getting one. I asked Mrs. Campbell this morning to look out for me, but she says it is no use, for they are all so worthless, that it is a nuisance to have them in the house."
"Still, it would have been only an act of kindness for her to have interested herself a little for you. And as to her sweeping declaration in the matter, I am afraid it is not quite so near the truth as it might be. I am really sorry that Rachel did not stay, for I think that she would have suited you very well, after you had both become more accustomed to each other."
"And I have been sorry a dozen times since she went away. I could get along tolerably well with her, but as to Sally, she is one of the most worthless creatures in the world. Shepretends to do the cooking, but the whole of it falls upon my shoulders!"
"I am really very sorry for you, Julia, and would do anything that I possibly could, to make your task lighter."
"I wish you could do something, Frank; for really, as things are now, I do not see an hour's happiness during the day." This was said in a tone and manner that indicated plainly enough to the husband, that Julia thought it in his power to make her condition easier.
"I am sure I do not know how to relieve you," he replied. "What would you have me to do, Julia?"
"I know but one way, and that is to break up housekeeping, and go to boarding," was the prompt, decisive answer.
"But we can't do that, Julia," replied Frank.
"And why not?" urged the young wife, the moisture gathering into her eyes as she looked her husband, with a steady, appealing look, in the face.
"Because, Julia, we could not, possibly, be so happy in a boarding-house. And now that we have everything comfortable around us, it would be foolish indeed to break up."
"But didn't you say that you thought it would have been better for us if we had taken boarding at once, instead of going to housekeeping?"
"Certainly I did, Julia; but my reason for thinking so was, because I knew that it would be better for me to keep in my business, the money required to furnish a house. Not that I did not prefer being in a house of my own; for I knew that, in the latter case, we would be far more comfortably situated."
"Well, I am sure that I am not comfortable by any means! Indeed, I am miserable!" And Julia gave way to a gush of tears.
Here was a severe and unexpected trial for Frank Lawton. In permitting his affections to become placed upon Julia, he had thought of little beyond her winning appearance andmanners — her amiability and intelligence. Of her qualifications for filling the responsible station of a wife, involving as it does many sacrifices, and a continual round of home-duties — he had thought nothing, for of these duties he was as ignorant, as Julia herself proved to be. The natural conclusion of his mind was, that, under the care of so judicious and sensible a mother as Mrs. Manning appeared to be, that Julia must be fully capable of filling the station she had agreed to assume. Sadly indeed had he been mistaken in this involuntary conclusion.
For a moment after the ebullition of his wife's feelings, just mentioned, Frank Lawton was so troubled and confused in mind, that he knew not what to think or say. Then drawing her to his side, and kissing her cheek tenderly — he tried by all the soothing and affectionate words he could utter, to quiet down her agitated feelings.
"But what shall I do? I am sure I cannot tell," she said, after the lapse of a minute or two, raising her head, and looking earnestly at Frank, with her eyes still suffused with tears.
"Do not distress yourself, dear Julia! All will come right again. I will advertise at once for a cook, and, in the meantime, to make it as light as possible for you, I will not come home to any dinner, until one is obtained."
"But you can't go without your dinner, Frank! That will never do."
"O no! I can obtain it readily enough at an eating-house."
"And then I won't see you from morning until night."
"But that will only be for a few days. And it will be much better, than for you to be put to all the trouble you now are."
Gradually Frank soothed the agitated feelings of his wife, and it was finally agreed that he should, on the next morning, insert an advertisement in one of the newspapers for a cook.
The advertisement was accordingly inserted, and, by half-past eight o'clock in the morning, an Irish woman presented herself, and claimed the place.
"Can you cook well?" asked Mrs. Lawton, eyeing her closely, and feeling by no means prepossessed in her favor, for she had a bold look, and was slovenly in her dress.
"O yes, mum, I can cook anything."
"What is your name?"
"Biddy O'Riley, mum."
"Where did you last live, Biddy?"
"At one of the quality houses up in Bleeker Street."
"And what made you leave there, Biddy?"
"O, because I didn't like the people, at all, at all."
"Why didn't you like them, Biddy?" pursued Mrs. Lawton, who, feeling altogether disinclined to hire her, was yet unwilling to send her away without eliciting in her account of herself, some good reason for doing so.
"Because, mum, they expected too much of me, and that was the reason."
"I am afraid, Biddy, that I would also expect too much of you."
"Oh, no indeed, mum! Your sweet pretty young face tells me I'd have nothing to fear from you at all, at all. Just give me the situation, mum, and I'll run all the risks."
Mrs. Lawton paused a moment or two, undetermined how to act; at last she said,
"Well, Biddy, I suppose I will have to give you a trial. But I shall expect you to do your very best. My last cook did not please me, and she knew her business, I am inclined to think, much better than you know yours."
"Not a problem mum. I cooked for the quality folks before I left the old country, and I know all about it."
"Do you know how to make puddings and pastry?" inquired Mrs. Lawton.
"O yes, mum. We had a pastry-cook in the grand house where I lived in the old country, and I learned from her how to make almost anything."
Preliminaries all settled, Biddy was installed in the kitchen, where she seemed to feel herself perfectly at home.
Contrary to Mrs. Lawton's expectations, Biddy went about her work as if she understood, perfectly, what she was doing. The first dinner was well cooked, and neatly served up; and the dessert as good as if Mrs. Lawton's own hands had made it.
"Why, really, this seems as if Biddy, as you call her, knew what she was about," Frank said, as he glanced over the dinner-table, "notwithstanding she is such an unpromisinglooking subject."
"Yes, she does really seem to know her business, much as I doubted her," Julia replied. "But I am afraid that she is not clean. Her appearance is, certainly, by no means inviting."
"I shall be agreeably disappointed, if she proves to be all that is desired. Still, we must hope for the best."
Day after day passed, and Biddy continued to perform her duties well and promptly. The consequence was, that the smile came back to the lip, and the light to the brow of Mrs. Lawton. Frank attended to the provision of everything. Biddy needed little or no direction in her department, beyond what he gave to her; and Sally kept her part of the house tidy enough. Mrs. Lawton had, in consequence, few cares and no trouble about her domestic concerns, and was, of course, happy enough in a house of her own. Mr. Lawton was also relieved, for Julia was happy, and said no more about breaking up housekeeping.
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