Rudder Grange | Page 5

better than the woman
whom we had engaged to scrub and clean the house. Something akin to
despair must have seized upon her, for Euphemia declared that the
floors looked dirtier than on the occasion of her first visit, when we
rented the boat.
But that didn't discourage us. We felt sure that we should get it clean in
time.
Early in the afternoon our furniture arrived, together with the other
things we had bought, and the men who brought them over from the
steamboat landing had the brightest, merriest faces I ever noticed
among that class of people. Euphemia said it was an excellent omen to
have such cheerful fellows come to us on the very first day of our
housekeeping.
Then we went to work. I put up the stove, which was not much trouble,
as there was a place all ready in the deck for the stove- pipe to be run
through. Euphemia was somewhat surprised at the absence of a
chimney, but I assured her that boats were very seldom built with
chimneys. My dear little wife bustled about and arranged the pots and
kettles on nails that I drove into the kitchen walls. Then she made the
bed in the bed-room and I hung up a looking-glass and a few little
pictures that we had brought in our trunks.
Before four o'clock our house was in order. Then we began to be very
hungry.

"My dear," said Euphemia, "we ought to have thought to bring
something to cook."
"That is very true," said I, "but I think perhaps we had better walk up to
Ginx's and get our supper to-night. You see we are so tired and
hungry."
"What!" cried Euphemia, "go to a hotel the very first day? I think it
would be dreadful! Why, I have been looking forward to this first meal
with the greatest delight. You can go up to the little store by the hotel
and buy some things and I will cook them, and we will have our first
dear little meal here all alone by ourselves, at our own table and in our
own house."
So this was determined upon and, after a hasty counting of the fund I
had reserved for moving and kindred expenses, and which had been
sorely depleted during the day, I set out, and in about an hour returned
with my first marketing.
I made a fire, using a lot of chips and blocks the carpenter had left, and
Euphemia cooked the supper, and we ate it from our little table, with
two large towels for a table-cloth.
It was the most delightful meal I ever ate!
And, when we had finished, Euphemia washed the dishes (the
thoughtful creature had put some water on the stove to heat for the
purpose, while we were at supper) and then we went on deck, or on the
piazza, as Euphemia thought we had better call it, and there we had our
smoke. I say WE, for Euphemia always helps me to smoke by sitting
by me, and she seems to enjoy it as much as I do.
And when the shades of evening began to gather around us, I hauled in
the gang-plank (just like a delightful old draw-bridge, Euphemia said,
although I hope for the sake of our ancestors that draw- bridges were
easier to haul in) and went to bed.
It is lucky we were tired and wanted to go to bed early, for we had

forgotten all about lamps or candles.
For the next week we were two busy and happy people. I rose about
half-past five and made the fire,--we found so much wood on the shore,
that I thought I should not have to add fuel to my expenses,--and
Euphemia cooked the breakfast. I then went to a well belonging to a
cottage near by where we had arranged for water-privileges, and filled
two buckets with delicious water and carried them home for
Euphemia's use through the day. Then I hurried off to catch the train,
for, as there was a station near Ginx's, I ceased to patronize the
steamboat, the hours of which were not convenient. After a day of work
and pleasurable anticipation at the office, I hastened back to my home,
generally laden with a basket of provisions and various household
necessities. Milk was brought to us daily from the above-mentioned
cottage by a little toddler who seemed just able to carry the small tin
bucket which held a lacteal pint. If the urchin had been the child of rich
parents, as Euphemia sometimes observed, he would have been in his
nurse's arms--but being poor, he was scarcely weaned before he began
to carry milk around to other people.
After I reached home came supper and the delightful evening