"
"I won't do nothing skimpy, however," said Jonas.
"I'm sure you won't," she answered, "but in the matter of monuments 'tis a
very good rule to wait till the grave be ready to carry 'em; and by that
time the bereaved party have generally settled down to take a sensible
view of the situation."
He nodded, and from that evening he began to see what a fine headpiece
Milly had got to her. In fact she was a very entertaining woman and as
time went on and his childer grew to love her, Jonas was a lot puzzled at
the thoughts that began to move in his brain. He turned to work, which is
a very present help in trouble, and he did overtime and laboured something
tremendous at his bench. In fact, if he'd belonged to a Trades Union,
Jonas would have heard of it to his discredit, for there's nothing the
unions dread more than a man who loves work and does all he knows for the
pride of it plus the extra money. But Jonas was on his own and independent
to all but his conscience--and his master didn't see no sin in paying him
what he was worth.
He'd always been a saver, and his wife had helped him in that respect, but
now his money was no more than dust in the corners of his mind, for there
weren't no eye to brighten when he told of a bit more put by and no tongue
to applaud and tell him what a model sort of man he was. He found,
however, as he came to know Milly Bassett better, that though his good
fortune and prosperity was nothing to her, yet she could praise him for
it.
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