"I thought you'd get your fill in a hurry.That's why I wouldn't go to any expense.If we keep out of the poor-house we have to cut the corners close.It's likely this Brushwood road tax will eat up all we've saved in years.
Where the land tax is to come from I don't know.It gets bigger every year.If they are going to dredge the swamp ditch again they'll just have to take the land to pay for it.
I can't,that's all!We'll get up early in the morning and gather and hull the beans for winter,and put in the rest of the day hoeing the turnips."Elnora again smiled that pitiful smile.
"Do you think I didn't know that I was funny and would be laughed at?"she asked.
"Funny?"cried Mrs.Comstock hotly.
"Yes,funny!A regular caricature,"answered Elnora.
"No one else wore calico,not even one other.No one else wore high heavy shoes,not even one.No one else had such a funny little old hat;my hair was not right,my ribbon invisible compared with the others,I did not know where to go,or what to do,and I had no books.What a spectacle I made for them!"Elnora laughed nervously at her own picture."But there are always two sides!The professor said in the algebra class that he never had a better solution and explanation than mine of the proposition he gave me,which scored one for me in spite of my clothes.""Well,I wouldn't brag on myself!"
"That was poor taste,"admitted Elnora."But,you see,it is a case of whistling to keep up my courage.
I honestly could see that I would have looked just as well as the rest of them if I had been dressed as they were.We can't afford that,so I have to find something else to brace me.It was rather bad,mother!""Well,I'm glad you got enough of it!"
"Oh,but I haven't"hurried in Elnora."I just got a start.The hardest is over.To-morrow they won't be surprised.They will know what to expect.I am sorry to hear about the dredge.Is it really going through?""Yes.I got my notification today.The tax will be something enormous.I don't know as I can spare you,even if you are willing to be a laughing-stock for the town."With every bite Elnora's courage returned,for she was a healthy young thing.
"You've heard about doing evil that good might come from it,"she said."Well,mother mine,it's something like that with me.I'm willing to bear the hard part to pay for what I'll learn.Already I have selected the ward building in which I shall teach in about four years.
I am going to ask for a room with a south exposure so that the flowers and moths I take in from the swamp to show the children will do well.""You little idiot!"said Mrs.Comstock."How are you going to pay your expenses?""Now that is just what I was going to ask you!"said Elnora.
"You see,I have had two startling pieces of news to-day.
I did not know I would need any money.I thought the city furnished the books,and there is an out-of-town tuition,also.
I need ten dollars in the morning.Will you please let me have it?""Ten dollars!"cried Mrs.Comstock."Ten dollars!
Why don't you say a hundred and be done with it!I could get one as easy as the other.I told you!I told you I couldn't raise a cent.Every year expenses grow bigger and bigger.I told you not to ask for money!""I never meant to,"replied Elnora."I thought clothes were all I needed and I could bear them.
I never knew about buying books and tuition.""Well,I did!"said Mrs.Comstock."I knew what you would run into!But you are so bull-dog stubborn,and so set in your way,I thought I would just let you try the world a little and see how you liked it!"Elnora pushed back her chair and looked at her mother.
"Do you mean to say,"she demanded,"that you knew,when you let me go into a city classroom and reveal the fact before all of them that I expected to have my books handed out to me;do you mean to say that you knew I had to pay for them?"Mrs.Comstock evaded the direct question.
"Anybody but an idiot mooning over a book or wasting time prowling the woods would have known you had to pay.Everybody has to pay for everything.Life is made up of pay,pay,pay!It's always and forever pay!
If you don't pay one way you do another!Of course,I knew you had to pay.Of course,I knew you would come home blubbering!But you don't get a penny!I haven't one cent,and can't get one!Have your way if you are determined,but I think you will find the road somewhat rocky.""Swampy,you mean,mother,"corrected Elnora.She arose white and trembling."Perhaps some day God will teach me how to understand you.He knows I do not now.
You can't possibly realize just what you let me go through to-day,or how you let me go,but I'll tell you this:
You understand enough that if you had the money,and would offer it to me,I wouldn't touch it now.And I'll tell you this much more.I'll get it myself.I'll raise it,and do it some honest way.I am going back to-morrow,the next day,and the next.You need not come out,I'll do the night work,and hoe the turnips."It was ten o'clock when the chickens,pigs,and cattle were fed,the turnips hoed,and a heap of bean vines was stacked beside the back door.
