Trials and Confessions of a Housekeeper | Page 3

and this cup and saucer."
To this proposition the man gave an instant and decided negative, and
seemed half offended by my offer. He threw the coat, which was in his
hands again, upon a chair, and stooping down took his basket on his
arm. I was deceived by his manner, and began to think that I had
proposed rather a hard bargain; so I said--
"You can have the coat for the vases, if you care to make the exchange;
if not, why no harm is done."
For the space of nearly half a minute, the old man stood in apparent
irresolution, then he replied, as he set down his basket and took out the
pair of vases--
"I don't care; you shall have them."

I took the vases and he took the coat. A moment or two more, and I
heard the street door close behind the dealer in china ware, with a very
decided jar.
"Ain't they beautiful, aunty?" said I to my old aunt Rachel, who had
been a silent witness of the scene I have just described; and I held the
pair of vases before her eyes.
"Why yes, they are rather pretty, Jane," replied aunt Rachel, a little
coldly, as I thought.
"Rather pretty! They are beautiful," said I warmly. "See there!" And I
placed them on the dining room mantle. "How much they will improve
our parlors."
"Not half so much as that old coat you as good as gave away would
have improved the feelings as well as the looks of poor Mr. Bryan, who
lives across the street," was the unexpected and rebuking answer of
aunt Rachel.
The words smote on my feelings. Mr. Bryan was a poor, but honest and
industrious young man, upon whose daily labor a wife and five children
were dependent. He went meanly clad, because he could not earn
enough, in addition to what his family required, to buy comfortable
clothing for himself. I saw, in an instant, what the true disposition of
the coat should have been. The china vases would a little improve the
appearance of my parlors; but how many pleasant feelings and hours
and days of comfort, would the old coat have given to Mr. Bryan. I said
no more. Aunt Rachel went on with her knitting, and I took the vases
down into the parlors and placed them on the mantles--one in each
room. But they looked small, and seemed quite solitary. So I put one on
each end of a single mantle. This did better; still, I was disappointed in
the appearance they made, and a good deal displeased with myself. I
felt that I had made a bad bargain--that is, one from which I should
obtain no real pleasure.
For a while I sat opposite the mantle-piece, looking at the vases--but,
not admiringly; then I left the parlor, and went about my household

duties, but, with a pressure on my feelings. I was far, very far from
being satisfied with myself.
About an hour afterwards my husband came home. I did not take him
into the parlor to show him my little purchase, for, I had no heart to do
so. As we sat at the tea table, he said, addressing me--
"You know that old coat of mine that is up in the clothes-press?"
I nodded my head in assent, but did not venture to speak.
"I've been thinking to-day," added my husband, "that it would be just
the thing for Mr. Bryan, who lives opposite. It's rather too much worn
for me, but will look quite decent on him, compared with the clothes he
now wears. Don't you think it is a good thought? We will, of course,
make him a present of the garment."
My eyes drooped to the table, and I felt the blood crimsoning my face.
For a moment or two I remained silent, and then answered--
"I'm sorry you didn't think of this before; but it's too late now."
"Too late! Why?" enquired my husband.
"I sold the coat this afternoon," was my reply.
"Sold it!"
"Yes. A man came along with some handsome china ornaments, and I
sold the coat for a pair of vases to set on our mantle-pieces."
There was an instant change in my husband's face. He disapproved of
what I had done; and, though he uttered no condemning words, his
countenance gave too clear an index to his feelings.
"The coat would have done poor Mr. (sic) Byran a great deal more
good than the vases will ever do Jane," spoke up aunt Rachel, with less
regard for my feelings than was manifested by my husband. "I don't
think," she continued, "that any body ought to sell old clothes for either

money or nicknackeries to put on the mantle-pieces. Let them