The Secret of a Happy Home (1896) by Marion Harland
page 36 of 250 (14%)
page 36 of 250 (14%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
CHAPTER III. THE PARABLE OF THE RICH WOMAN AND THE FARMER'S WIFE. The rich woman was born and brought up in New York City; the farmer's wife in Indiana. They were as far apart in education and social station as if they had belonged to different races and had lived in different hemispheres. They were as near akin in circumstances and in suffering as if they had been twin sisters, and brought up under the same roof. The husband of one wrote "Honorable" before his name, and reckoned his dollars by the million. He was, moreover, a man of imposing deportment, bland in manner and ornate in language. As riches increased he set his heart upon them and upon the good things that riches buy. He had four children, and he erected ("built" was too small a word) a palatial house in a fashionable street. Each child had a suite of three rooms. Each apartment was elaborately decorated and furnished. The drawing-rooms were crowded with bric-a-brac and monuments of the upholsterer's ingenuity. It was a work of art and peril to dust them every day. He developed a taste for entertaining as time went on and honors thickened upon him, and he |
|