She had oilcloth on her kitchen to save the floor, and oilcloth
mats to save the oilcloth; yet Jerry's boots had to be taken off
in the shed, and he was required to walk through in his stocking feet.
She blackened her stove three times a day, washed her dishes in the woodhouse,
in order to keep her sink clean, and kept one pair of blinds open
in the sitting-room, but spread newspapers over the carpet wherever
the sun shone in.
It was the desire of Jerry's heart to give up the
fatigues and exposures of stage-driving, and "keep store,"
but Mrs. Todd deemed it much better for him to be in the open
air than dealing out rum and molasses to a roystering crew.
This being her view of the case, it is unnecessary to state
that he went on driving the stage.
"Do you wear a flannel shirt, Jerry?" asked Pel Frost once.
"I don' know," he replied, "ask Mis' Todd; she keeps the books."
"Women-folks" (he used to say to a casual passenger), "like all
other animiles, has to be trained up before they're real good comp'ny.
You have to begin with 'em early, and begin as you mean to hold out.
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