piazza laid, and the steps built, they got down to the furniture, which
was also to be home-made. Thyrsis was gratified beyond telling by these
tables and dressing-stands and shelves and book-cases, which he could
build of hemlock boards in an hour or two, and which cost only thirty or
forty cents apiece. He would labor with Corydon to induce her to share
this joy; but alas, he would only succeed in losing his own joy, without
increasing hers. On many occasions he attempted such things as this;
it was only after long years that he came to realize that Corydon’s
temperament was the one fixed fact in the universe with which he had to
deal.
Two hundred and twenty-five dollars was the total cost of this
establishment when completed. And while the carpenter was putting the
finishing touches, Thyrsis was using up thirty dollars more of lumber in
constructing himself a “study” in the woods near by. Eight by ten this
cabin was to be; it was to have a door and a window, and a little piazza
in front, upon which the inhabitant might sit in fair weather. Also
Thyrsis built for it a table and a bookcase; and as he had now eighty
square feet instead of forty-nine, there was room for a cot and a chair,
and a coal-stove fourteen inches in diameter. As fate would have it,
there was some black paint left over; and to Corydon’s horror it
was announced that this would be used on the study. However, Thyrsis
insisted that it was _his_ study; and besides, there was some red paint
left, with which he might decorate the window and the door-frame, and
stripe the edges of the roof and the corners. Surely that would be
festivity enough for the most exacting of Greek temperaments!
Then came the rapturous experience of moving into these new mansions.
The joy of having shelves to put things on, and hooks to hang things
from. Of being able to take books and manuscripts out of their trunks,
and not pile them under their beds. Of carrying over their belongings,
and having everything fit into the place that had been made for it!
Thyrsis purchased an old stove, and also a kitchen-range from a
neighbor; he sank a barrel in the spring, and walled it round with
cement; he built a stand in the kitchen, and set up a sink and a little
pump.
This was the time of year when there were held at various places in the
country what the neighbors called “vandews”. He and Corydon found it
diverting to get the scarecrow nag and the one-horse shay, and drive
to some farm-house, where one might see the history of a family for the
last fifty years spread out upon the lawn. They would stand round in the
cold and snow while the auctioneer disposed of the horses and cows and
hay and machinery, waiting until he came to the household objects upon
which they had set their eye. So they would invest in some stove-pipe,
and a couple of ghastly chromos (for the sake of the frames), and some
odds and ends of crockery, and a spade, and some old rope to make a
swing for the baby. They would get these things for five or ten cents
each, and get in addition all the excitements of the bargain-hunt.
Once they had a real adventure--they came upon a wonderful old
“grandfather’s clock”, about six feet high; and Corydon exclaimed in
rapture, “Oh Thyrsis I’d be happy for the rest of my life if we could
have that clock!” On such terms it appeared to Thyrsis that the clock
might be worth making a sacrifice for, and he got up the courage to
declare that he would offer as high as five dollars for it. And so they
stood, trembling with excitement, and waiting.
“Don’t lose it, even if it’s as high as six dollars!” whispered Corydon;
but alas, the first bid for the clock was twenty-five dollars. They
stood staring with dismay, until the treasure was sold to a dealer from
the city for the incredible sum of eighty-seven dollars; and then they
drove home, quite awe-stricken by this sudden intrusion from the world
of luxury outside their ken.