CHAPTER XXI.
THE NEW ENTERPRISE.
ONE bright and never-to-be-forgotten day, Nettie and Jerry stoodtogether in the "new" room and surveyed with intense satisfactionall its appointments. They were ready to begin business. On thatvery evening the room was to be "open to the public!" They looked ateach other as they repeated that large-sounding phrase, and laughedgleefully.
There had been a great deal to do to get ready. Hours and even dayshad been spent in planning. It astonished both these young people todiscover how many things there were to think of, and get ready for,and guard against, before one could go into business. There was a timewhen with each new day, new perplexities arose. During those days Jerryhad spent a good deal of his leisure in fishing; both because at theSmiths, and also at the Deckers, fish were highly prized, and alsobecause, as he confided to Nettie, "a fellow could somehow think agreat deal better when his fingers were at work, and when it was stilleverywhere about him."
There were times, however, when his solitude was disturbed. There hadbeen one day in particular when something happened about which he didnot tell Nettie. He was in his fishing suit, which though clean andwhole was not exactly the style of dress which a boy would wear to aparty, and he stood leaning against a rail fence, rod in hand, tryingto decide whether he should try his luck on that side, or jump acrossthe logs to a shadier spot; trying also to decide just how they couldmanage to get another lamp to stand on the reading table, when he heardvoices under the trees just back of him.
They were whispering in that sort of penetrating whisper that floatsso far in the open air, and which some, girls, particularly, do notseem to know can be heard a few feet away. Jerry could hear distinctly;in fact unless he stopped his ears with his hands he could not helphearing.
And the old rule, that listeners never hear any good of themselves,applied here.
"There's that Jerry who lives at the Smiths'," said whisperer numberone, "do look what a fright; I guess he has borrowed a pair of JobSmith's overalls! Isn't it a shame that such a nice-looking boy isdeserted in that way, and left to run with all sorts of people?"
"I heard that he wasn't deserted; that his father was only staying outWest, or down South, or somewhere for awhile."
"Oh! that's a likely story," said whisperer number one, her voiceunconsciously growing louder. "Just as if any father who was anybody,would leave a boy at Job Smith's for months, and never come near him.I think it is real mean; they say the Smiths keep him at work all thewhile, fishing; he about supports them, and the Deckers too, with fishand things."
At this point the amused listener nearly forgot himself and whistled.
"Oh well, that's as good a way as any to spend his time; he knowsenough to catch fish and do such things, and when he is old enough,I suppose he will learn a trade; but I must say I think he is anice-looking fellow."
"He would be, if he dressed decently. The boys like him real well; theysay he is smart; and I shouldn't wonder if he was; big eyes twinkle asthough he might be. If he wouldn't keep running with that Decker girlall the time, he might be noticed now and then."
At this point came up a third young miss who spoke louder. Jerryrecognized her voice at once as belonging to Lorena Barstow. "Girls,what are you doing here? Why, there is that Irish boy; I wonder if hewouldn't sell us some fish? They say he is very anxious to earn money;I should think he would be, to get himself some decent clothes. Ormaybe he wants to make his dear Nan a present."
Then followed a laugh which was quickly hushed, lest the victim mighthear. But the victim had heard, and looked more than amused; his eyesflashed with a new idea.
"Much obliged, Miss Lorena," he said softly, nodding his head. "If Idon't act on your hint, it will be because I am not so bright as yougive me credit for being."
Then the first whisperer took up the story:
"Say, girls, I heard that Ermina did really mean to invite him to hercandy pull, and the Decker girl too; she says they both belong to theSunday-school, and she is going to invite all the boys and girls ofthat age in the school, and her mother thinks it would not be nice toleave them out. You know the Farleys are real queer about some things."
Lorena Barstow flamed into a voice which was almost loud. "Then I saylet's just not speak a word to either of them the whole evening. ErminaFarley need not think that because she lives in a grand house, and herfather has so much money, she can rule us all. I for one, don't mean toassociate with a drunkard's daughter, and I won't be made to, by theFarleys or anybody else."
"Her father isn't a drunkard now. Why, don't you know he has joined thechurch? And last Wednesday night they say he was in prayer meeting."
"Oh, yes, and what does that amount to? My father says it won't lastsix weeks; he says drunkards are not to be trusted; they never reform.And what if he does? That doesn't make Nan Decker anything but a dowdy,not fit for us girls to go with; and as for that Irish boy! Why doesn'tErmina go down on Paddy Lane and invite the whole tribe of Irish ifshe is so fond of them?"
"Hush, Lora, Ermina will hear you."
Sure enough at that moment came Ermina, springing briskly over logs andunderbrush. "Have I kept you waiting?" she asked gayly. "The moss wasso lovely back there; I wanted to carry the whole of it home to mother.Why, girls, there is that boy who sits across from us in Sabbath-school.
"How do you do?" she said pleasantly, for at that moment Jerry turnedand came toward them, lifting his hat as politely as though it was inthe latest shape and style.
"Have you had good luck in fishing?"
"Very good for this side; the fish are not so plenty here generallyas they are further up. I heard you speaking of fish, Miss Barstow,and wondering whether I would not supply your people? I should be veryglad to do so, occasionally; I am a pretty successful fellow so far asfishing goes."
You should have seen the cheeks of the whisperers then! Ermina lookedat them, perplexed for a moment, then seeing they answered only withblushes and silence _she_ spoke: "Mamma would be very glad to getsome; she was saying yesterday she wished she knew some one of whom shecould get fish as soon as they were caught. Have you some to-day forsale?"
"Three beauties which I would like nothing better than to sell, for Iam in special need of the money just now."
"Very well," said Ermina promptly, "I am sure mamma will like them;could you carry them down now? I am on my way home and could show youwhere to go."
"Ermina Farley!" remonstrated Lorena Barstow in a low shocked tone, butErmina only said: "Good-by, girls, I shall expect you early on Thursdayevening," and walked briskly down the path toward the road, with Jerrybeside her, swinging his fish. If the girls could have seen his eyesjust then, they would have been sure that they twinkled.
They had a pleasant walk, and Ermina did actually invite him to hercandy-pull on Thursday evening; not only that, but she asked if hewould take an invitation from her to Nettie Decker. "She lives nextdoor to you, I think," said Ermina, "I would like very much to have hercome; I think she is so pleasant and unselfish. It is just a few boysand girls of our age, in the Sunday-school."
How glad Jerry was that she had invited them! He had been so afraidthat her courage would not be equal to it. Glad was he also to be ableto say, frankly, that both he and Nettie had an engagement for Thursdayevening; he would be sure to give Nettie the invitation, but he knewshe could not come. Of course she could not, he said to himself; "Isn'tthat our opening evening?" But all the same it was very nice in ErminaFarley to have invited them.
"Here is another lamp for the table," said Jerry gayly, as he rushedinto the new room an hour later and tossed down a shining silverdollar. He had exchanged the fish for it. Then he sat down and toldpart of their story to Nettie. About the whisperers, however, he keptsilent. What was the use in telling that?
But from them he had gotten another idea. "Look here, Nettie, someevening we'll have a candy-pull, early, with just a few to help, andsell it cheap to customers."
So now they stood together in the roo
m to see if there was anotherthing to be done before the opening. A row of shelves planed andfitted by Norm were ranged two thirds of the way up the room andon them were displayed tempting pans of ginger cookies, doughnuts,molasses cookies, and soft gingerbread. Sandwiches made of good bread,and nice slices of ham, were shut into the corner cupboard to keepfrom drying; there was also a plate of cheese which was a present fromMrs. Smith. She had sent it in with the explanation that it would be ablessing to her if that cheese could get eaten by somebody; she boughtit once, a purpose, as a treat for Job, and it seemed it wasn't thekind he liked, and none of the rest of them liked any kind, so thereit had stood on the shelf eying her for days. There was to be coffee;Nettie had planned for that. "Because," she explained, "they _all_drink beer; and things to eat, can never take the place of things todrink."
It had been a difficult matter to get the materials together forthis beginning. All the money which came in from the "little oldgrandmothers," as well as that which Jerry contributed, had been spentin flour, and sugar, and eggs and milk. Nettie was amazed and dismayedto find how much even soft gingerbread cost, when every pan of it hadto be counted in money. A good deal of arithmetic had been spent onthe question: How low can we possibly sell this, and not actually losemoney by it? Of course some allowance had to be made for waste. "We'llhave to name it waste," explained Nettie with an anxious face, "becauseit won't bring in any money; but of course not a scrap of it will bewasted; but what is left over and gets too dry to sell, we shall haveto eat."
Jerry shook his head. "We must sell it," he said with the air of afinancier. Then he went away thoughtfully to consult Mrs. Job, and cameback triumphant. She would take for a week at half price, all the stalecake they might have left. "That means gingercake," he explained, "shesays the cookies and things will keep for weeks, without getting tooold."
"Sure enough!" said radiant Nettie, "I did not think of that."
There were other things to think of; some of them greatly perplexedJerry; he had to catch many fish before they were thought out. Then hecame with his views to Nettie.
"See here, do you understand about this firm business; it must be youand me, you know?"
Nettie's bright face clouded. "Why, I thought," she said, speakingslowly, "I thought you said, or you meant--I mean I thought it was tohelp Norm; and that he would be a partner."
Jerry shook his head. "Can't do it," he said decidedly. "Look here,Nettie, we'll get into trouble right away if we take in a partner. Hebelieves in drinking beer, and smoking cigarettes, and doing things ofthat sort; now if he as a partner introduces anything of the kind, whatare we to do?"
"Sure enough!" the tone expressed conviction, but not relief. "Thenwhat are we to do, Jerry? I don't see how we are going to help Normany."
"I do; quite as well as though he was a partner. Norm is a good-naturedfellow; he likes to help people. I think he likes to do things forothers better than for himself. If we explain to him that we want to gointo this business, and that you can't wait on customers, because youare a girl, and it wouldn't be the thing, and I can't, because it isin your house, and I promised my father I would spend my evenings athome, and write a piece of a letter to him every evening; and ask himto come to the rescue and keep the room open, and sell the things forus, don't you believe he will be twice as likely to do it as though wemade him as young as ourselves, and tried to be his equals?"
Then Nettie's face was bright. "What a contriver you are!" she saidadmiringly. "I think that will do just splendidly."
She was right, it did. Norm might have curled his lip and said "pooh"to the scheme, had he been placed on an equality; for he was gettingto the age when to be considered young, or childish, is a crime in aboy's eyes. But to be appealed to as one who could help the "young fry"out of their dilemma, and at the same time provide himself with a verypleasant place to stay, and very congenial employment while he stayed,was quite to Norm's mind.
And as it was an affair of the children's, he made no suggestions aboutbeer or cigars; it is true he thought of them, but he thought at oncethat neither Nettie or Jerry would probably have anything to do withthem, and as he had no dignity to sustain, he decided to not evenmention the matter. These two planned really better than they knew inappealing to Norm for help. His curious pride would never have allowedhim to say to a boy, "We keep cakes and coffee for sale at our house;come in and try them." But it was entirely within the line of his ideasof respectability to say: "What do you think those two young ones overat our house have thought up next? They have opened an eating-house,cakes and things such as my sister can make, and coffee, dirt cheap.I've promised to run the thing for them in the evening awhile; Isuppose you'll patronize them?"
And the boys, who would have sneered at _his_ setting himself up inbusiness, answered: "What, the little chap who lives at Smith's? Andyour little sister! Ho! what a notion! I don't know but it is a brightone, though, as sure as you live. There isn't a spot in this town wherea fellow can get a decent bite unless he pays his week's wages for it;boys, let's go around and see what the little chaps are about."
The very first evening was a success.
Nettie had assured herself that she must not be disappointed if no onecame, at first.
"You see, it is a new thing," she explained to her mother, "of courseit will take them a little while to get acquainted with it; if nobodyat all comes to-night, I shall not be disappointed. Shall you, Jerry?"
"Why, yes," said Jerry, "I should; because I know of one boy who iscoming, and is going to have a ginger-snap and a glass of milk. Andthat is little Ted Locker who lives down the lane; they about starvethat boy. I shall like to see him get something good. He has threecents and I assured him he could get a brimming glass of milk and aginger-snap for that. He was as delighted as possible."
"Poor fellow!" said Nettie, "I mean to tell Norm to let him have twosnaps, wouldn't you?"
And Jerry agreed, not stopping to explain that he had furnished thethree cents with which Ted was to treat his poor little stomach. So thework began in benevolence.
Still Nettie was anxious, not to say nervous.
"You will have to eat soft gingerbread at your house, for breakfast,dinner and supper, I am afraid," she said to Jerry with a half laugh,as they stood looking at it. "I don't know why I made four tins of it;I seemed to get in a gale when I was making it."
"Never you fear," said Jerry, cheerily. "I'll be willing to eat suchgingerbread as that three times a day for a week. Between you and me,"lowering his voice, "Sarah Ann can't make very good gingerbread; whenwe get such a run of custom that we have none left over to sell, I wishyou'd teach her how."
I do not know that any member of the two households could be said to bemore interested in the new enterprise than Mr. Decker. He helped set upthe shelves, and he made a little corner shelf on purpose for the lamp,and he watched the entire preparations with an interest which warmedNettie's heart. I haven't said anything about Mr. Decker during thesedays, because I found it hard to say. You are acquainted with him as asour-faced, unreasonable, beer-drinking man; when suddenly he becamea man who said "Good morning" when he came into the room, and who satdown smooth shaven, and with quiet eyes and smile to his breakfast, andspoke gently to Susie when she tipped her cup of water over, and kissedlittle Sate when he lifted her to her seat, and waited for Mrs. Deckerto bring the coffee pot, then bowed his head and in clear tones asked ablessing on the food, how am I to describe him to you? The change wassomething which even Mrs. Decker who watched him every minute he was inthe house and thought of him all day long, could not get accustomed to.It astonished her so to think that she, Mrs. Decker, lived in a housewhere there was a prayer made every night and morning, and where eachevening after supper Nettie read a few verses in the Bible, and herfather prayed; that every time she passed her own mother's Bible whichhad been brought out of its hiding-place in an old trunk, she said,under her breath, "Thank the Lord." No, she did not understand it, themarvelous change which had come over her husband. She
had known him asa kind man; he had been that when she married him, and for a few monthsafterwards.
She had heard him speak pleasantly to Norm, and show him muchattention; he had done it before they were married, and for awhileafterwards; but there was a look in his face, and a sound in his voicenow, such as she had never seen nor heard before.
"It isn't Decker," she said in a burst of confidence to Nettie. "He isjust as good as he can be; and I don't know anything in the world heain't willing to do for me, or for any of us; and it is beautiful, thewhole of it; but it is all new. I used to think if the man I marriedcould only come back to me I should be perfectly happy; but I don'tknow this man at all; he seems to me sometimes most like an angel."
Probably you would have laughed at this. Joe Decker did not look in theleast like the picture you have in your mind of an angel; but perhapsif you had known him only a few weeks before, as Mrs. Decker did, andcould have seen the wonderful change in him which she saw, the contrastmight even have suggested angels.
Nettie understood it. She struggled with her timidity and her ignoranceof just what ought to be said; then she made her earnest reply:
"Mother, I'll tell you the difference. Father prays, and when peoplepray, you know, and mean it, as he does, they get to looking verydifferent."
But Mrs. Decker did not pray.