 | Life and sayings of Mrs. Partington and others
of the family |  |
TIMELY REFLECTION.
“Dear me!” exclaimed Mrs. Partington; and her
hands were raised above a basket of potatoes, in a provision
store, as if she were asking a blessing upon it.
It was in response to the shopkeeper, who had told
her, in sepulchral tones, that the potatoes were all rotting.
“O, dear me!” said she, “if the potatoes is all
rotting, what upon airth will poor people do for bread?
What will the poor Paddygonians do that don't eat nothing
else? And flour is very high, too. They tell us
every now and then of an improvement in the market;
but flour is always just as dear after it, and we have to
pay full as much for a half dollar's worth. It takes
almost a remissness of Californy gold every week to get
along now-a-days. Heaven help the poor!”
What a heartiness there was in that simple prayer!
The provision-dealer was affected. He dropped the long
red, he had been holding, pensively into the basket again,
and wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his white frock.
That stern man, who had unrelentingly cut up tons of
beef, nor shed one tear over the struggles of expiring
lambkins, showing no quarter while quartering them, —
that stern man wiped his eyes on his frock-sleeve, and
murmured “Yes'm!” It was touching! Everything
was sixteen ounces to the pound with him for that
day.
| Life and sayings of Mrs. Partington and others
of the family | |