Mrs. Mumpson Takes Up Her Burdens
The next morning Holcroft awoke early. The rising sun flooded his
plain little room with mellow light. It was impossible to give way to
dejection in that radiance, and hope, he scarcely knew why, sprung up
in his heart. He was soon dressed, and having kindled the kitchen
fire, went out on the porch. There had been a change in the wind during
the night, and now it blew softly from the south. The air was sweet
with the indefinable fragrance of spring. The ethereal notes of
bluebirds were heard on every side. Migratory robins were feeding in
the orchard, whistling and calling their noisy congratulations on
arriving at old haunts. The frost was already oozing from the ground,
but the farmer welcomed the mud, knowing that it indicated a long
advance toward plowing and planting time.
He bared his head to the sweet, warm air and took long, deep breaths.
"If this weather holds," he muttered, "I can soon put in some early
potatoes on that warm hillside yonder. Yes, I can stand even her for
the sake of being on the old place in mornings like this. The
weather'll be getting better every day and I can be out of doors more.
I'll have a stove in my room tonight; I would last night if the old
air-tight hadn't given out completely. I'll take it to town this
afternoon and sell it for old iron. Then I'll get a bran'-new one and
put it up in my room. They can't follow me there and they can't follow
me outdoors, and so perhaps I can live in peace and work most of the
time."
Thus he was muttering to himself, as lonely people so often do, when he
felt that someone was near. Turning suddenly, he saw Jane half-hidden
by the kitchen door. Finding herself observed, the girl came forward
and said in her brief monotonous way:
"Mother'll be down soon. If you'll show me how you want the coffee and
things, I guess I can learn."
"I guess you'll have to, Jane. There'll be more chance of your
teaching your mother than of her teaching you, I fear. But we'll see,
we'll see; it's strange people can't see what's sensible and best for
'em when they see so much."
The child made no reply, but watched him intently as he measured out
and then ground half a cup of coffee.
"The firs thing to do," he began kindly, "is to fill the kettle with
water fresh drawn from the well. Never make coffee or tea with water
that's been boiled two or three times. Now, I'll give the kettle a
good rinsing, so as to make sure you start with it clean."
Having accomplished this, he filled the vessel at the well and placed
it on the fire, remarking as he did so, "Your mother can cook a little,
can't she?"
"I s'pose so," Jane replied. "When father was livin' mother said she
kept a girl. Since then, we've visited round. But she'll learn, and
if she can't, I can."
"What on earth--but there's no use of talking. When the water
boils--bubbles up and down, you know--call me. I suppose you and your
mother can get the rest of the breakfast? Oh, good morning, Mrs.
Mumpson! I was just showing Jane about the coffee. You two can go on
and do all the rest, but don't touch the coffee till the kettle boils,
and then I'll come in and show you my way, and, if you please, I don't
wish it any other way."
"Oh, certainly, certainly!" began Mrs. Mumpson, but Holcroft waited to
hear no more.
"She's a woman," he muttered, "and I'll say nothing rude or ugly to
her, but I shan't listen to her talk half a minute when I can help
myself; and if she won't do any thing but talk--well, we'll see, we'll
see! A few hours in the dairy will show whether she can use anything
besides her tongue."
As soon as they were alone Jane turned sharply on her mother and said,
"Now you've got to do something to help. At Cousin Lemuel's and other
places they wouldn't let us help. Anyhow, they wouldn't let me. He
'spects us both to work, and pays you for it. I tell you agin, he
won't let us stay here unless we do. I won't go visitin' round any
more, feelin' like a stray cat in every house I go to. You've got to
work, and talk less."
"Why, Jane! How YOU talk!"
"I talk sense. Come, help me get breakfast."
"Do you think that's a proper way for a child to address a parent?"
"No matter what I think. Come and help. You'll soon know what he
thinks if we keep breakfast waitin'."
"Well, I'll do such menial work until he gets a girl, and then he shall
learn that he can't expect one with such respecterble connections--"
"Hope I may never see any of 'em agin," interrupted Jane shortly, and
then she relapsed into silence while her mother rambled on in her
characteristic way, making singularly inapt efforts to assist in the
task before them.
As Holcroft rose from milking a cow he found Jane beside him. A ghost
could not have come more silently, and again her stealthy ways gave him
an unpleasant sensation. "Kettle is boilin'," she said, and was gone.
He shook his head and muttered, "Queer tribe, these Mumpsons! I've
only to get an odd fish of a girl to help, and I'll have something like
a menagerie in the house." He carried his pails of foaming milk to the
dairy, and then entered the kitchen.
"I've only a minute," he began hastily, seeking to forestall the widow.
"Yes, the kettle's boiling all right. First scald out the
coffeepot--put three-quarters of a cup of ground coffee into the pot,
break an egg into it, so; pour on the egg and coffee half a cup of cold
water and stir it all up well, this way. Next pour in about a pint of
boiling water from the kettle, set the pot on the stove and let it--the
coffee, I mean--cook twenty minutes, remember, not less than twenty
minutes. I'll be back to breakfast by that time. Now you know just
how I want my coffee, don't you?" looking at Jane.
Jane nodded, but Mrs. Mumpson began, "Oh certainly, certainly! Boil an
egg twenty minutes, add half a cup of cold water, and--"
"I know," interrupted Jane, "I can always do as you did."
Holcroft again escaped to the barn, and eventually returned with a deep
sigh. "I'll have to face a good deal of her music this morning," he
thought, "but I shall have at least a good cup of coffee to brace me."
Mrs. Mumpson did not abandon the suggestion that grace should be
said,--she never abandoned anything,--but the farmer, in accordance
with his purpose to be civil, yet pay no attention to her obtrusive
ways, gave no heed to her hint. He thought Jane looked apprehensive,
and soon learned the reason. His coffee was at least hot, but seemed
exceedingly weak.
"I hope now that it's just right," said Mrs. Mumpson complacently, "and
feeling sure that it was made just to suit you, I filled the coffeepot
full from the kettle. We can drink what we desire for breakfast and
then the rest can be set aside until dinner time and warmed over. Then
you'll have it just to suit you for the next meal, and we, at the same
time, will be practicing econermy. It shall now be my great aim to
help you econermize. Any coarse, menial hands can work, but the great
thing to be considered is a caretaker; one who, by thoughtfulness and
the employment of her mind, will make the labor of others affective."
During this speech, Holcroft could only stare at the woman. The rapid
motion of her thin jaw seemed to fascinate him, and he was in
perplexity over not merely her rapid utterance, but also the queries.
Had she maliciously spoiled the coffee? Or didn't she know any better?
"I can't make her out," he thought, "but she shall learn that I have a
will of my own," and he quietly rose, took the coffeepot, and poured
its contents out of doors; then went through the whole process of
making his favorite beverage again, saying coldly, "Jane, you had
better watch close this time. I don't wish anyone to touch the
coffeepot but you."
Even Mrs. Mumpson was a little abashed by his manner, but when he
resumed his breakfast she speedily recovered her complacency and
volubility. "I've always heard," she said, with her little cackling
laugh, "that men would be extravergant, especially in some things.
There are some things they're fidgety about and will have just so.
Well, well, who has a better right than a well-to-do, fore-handed man?
Woman is to complement the man, and it should be her aim to study the
great--the great--shall we say reason, for her being? Which is
adaptation," and she uttered the word with feeling, assured that
Holcroft could not fail of being impressed by it. The poor man was
bolting such food as had been prepared in his haste to get away.
"Yes," continued the widow, "adaptation is woman's mission and--"
"Really, Mrs. Mumpson, your and Jane's mission this morning will be to
get as much butter as possible out of the cream and milk on hand. I'll
set the old dog on the wheel, and start the churn within half an hour,"
and he rose with the thought, "I'd rather finish my breakfast on milk
and coffee by and by than stand this." And he said, "Please let the
coffee be until I come in to show you about taking out and working the
butter."
The scenes in the dairy need not be dwelt upon. He saw that Jane might
be taught, and that she would probably try to do all that her strength
permitted. It was perfectly clear that Mrs. Mumpson was not only
ignorant of the duties which he had employed her to perform, but that
she was also too preoccupied with her talk and notions of gentility
ever to learn. He was already satisfied that in inducing him to engage
her, Lemuel Weeks had played him a trick, but there seemed no other
resource than to fulfill his agreement. With Mrs. Mumpson in the
house, there might be less difficulty in securing and keeping a hired
girl who, with Jane, might do the essential work. But the future
looked so unpromising that even the strong coffee could not sustain his
spirits. The hopefulness of the early morning departed, leaving
nothing but dreary uncertainty.
Mrs. Mumpson was bent upon accompanying him to town and engaging the
girl herself. "There would be great propriety in my doing so," she
argued at dinner, "and propriety is something that adorns all the human
race. There would be no danger of my getting any of the peculiar
females such as you have been afflicted with. As I am to superintend
her labors, she will look up to me with respect and humility if she
learns from the first to recognize in me a superior on whom she will be
dependent for her daily bread. No shiftless hussy would impose upon
ME. I would bring home--how sweet the word sounds!--a model of
industry and patient endurance. She would be deferential, she would
know her place, too. Everything would go like clockwork in our home.
I'll put on my things at once and--"
"Excuse me, Mrs. Mumpson. It would not be right to leave Jane here
alone. Moreover, I'd rather engage my own help."
"But my dear Mr. Holcroft, you don't realize--men never do
realize--that you will have a long, lonely ride with a female of
unknown--unknown antercedents. It will be scarcely respecterble, and
respecterbility should be man and woman's chief aim. Jane is not a
timid child, and in an emergency like this, even if she was, she would
gladly sacrifice herself to sustain the proprieties of life. Now that
your life has begun under new and better auspices, I feel that I ought
to plead with you not to cloud your brightening prospects by a
thoughtless unregard of what society looks upon as proper. The eyes of
the community will now be upon us--"
"You must excuse me, Mrs. Mumpson. All I ask of the community is to
keep their eyes on their own business, while I attend to mine in my own
way. The probabilities are that the girl will come out on the stage
Monday," and he rose from the dinner table and hastily made his
preparations for departure. He was soon driving rapidly away, having a
sort of nervous apprehension lest Jane, or the widow, should suddenly
appear on the seat beside him. A basket of eggs and some inferior
butter, with the burnt-out stove, were in his wagon and his bank book
was in his pocket. It was with sinking heart that he thought of making
further inroads on his small accumulations.
Before he was out of sight Mrs. Mumpson betook herself to the rocking
chair and began to expatiate on the blindness and obduracy of men in
general and of Mr. Holcroft in particular. "They are all much alike,"
she complained, "and are strangely neglectful of the proprieties of
life. My dear, deceased husband, your father, was becoming gradually
senserble of my value in guiding him in this respect, and indeed, I may
add in all respects, when, in the very prime of his expanding manhood,
he was laid low. Of course, my happiness was buried then and my heart
can never throb again, but I have a mission in the world--I feel
it--and here is a desolate home bereft of female influence and
consolation and hitherto painfully devoid of respecterbility.
"I once called on the late Mrs. Holcroft, and--I must say it--I went
away depressed by a sense of her lack of ability to develop in her
husband those qualities which would make him an ornament to society.
She was a silent woman, she lacked mind and ideas. She had seen little
of the world and knew not what was swaying people. Therefore, her
husband, having nothing else to think of, became absorbed in the
accumulation of dollars. Not that I object to dollars--they have their
proper place,--but minds should be fixed on all things. We should take
a deep personal interest in our fellow beings, and thus we grow broad.
As I was saying, Mr. Holcroft was not developed by his late spouse. He
needs awakening, arousing, stimulating, drawing out, and such I feel to
be my mission. I must be patient; I cannot expect the habits of years
to pass away under a different kind of female influence, at once."
Jane had been stolidly washing and putting away dishes during this
partial address to herself and partial soliloquy, but now remarked,
"You and me will pass away in a week if you go on as you've begun. I
can see it comin'. Then, where'll we go to?"
"Your words, Jane, only show that you are an ignorant, short-sighted
child. Do you suppose that a woman of my years and experience would
make no better provision for the future than a man's changeful mind--a
warped and undeveloped mind, at that? No; I have an agreement with Mr.
Holcroft. I shall be a member of his household for three months at
least, and long before that he will begin to see everything in a new
light. It will gradually dawn upon him that he has been defrauded of
proper female influence and society. Now, he is crude, he thinks only
of work and accumulating; but when the work is done by a menial
female's hands and his mind is more at rest, there will begin to steal
in upon him the cravings of his mind. He will see that material things
are not all in all."
"P'raps he will. I don't half know that you're talkin' about. 'Fi's
you, I'd learn to work and do things as he wants 'em. That's what I'm
going to do. Shall I go now and make up his bed and tidy his room?"
"I think I will accompany you, Jane, and see that your task is properly
performed."
"Of course you want to see everythin' in the room, just as I do."
"As housekeeper, I should see everything that is under my care. That
is the right way to look at the matter."
"Well, come and look then."
"You are becoming strangely disrespectful, Jane."
"Can't help it," replied the girl, "I'm gettin' mad. We've been
elbowed around long's I can remember, at least I've been, and now we're
in a place where we've a right to be, and you do nothin' but talk,
talk, talk, when he hates talk. Now you'll go up in his room and
you'll see everythin' in it, so you could tell it all off tomorrow.
Why, can't you see he hates talk and wants somethin' done?"
"Jane," said Mrs. Mumpson, in her most severe and dignified manner,
"you are not only disrespectful to your parent, but you're a time
server. What Mr. Holcroft wants is a very secondary matter; what is
BEST for him is the chief consideration. But I have touched on things
far above your comprehension. Come, you can make up the bed, and I
shall inspect as becomes my station."