of material they had on hand.

My savings of the first quarter of the year began to dwindle, and
in those days I thought often with regret of my lost five thousand
dollars.

My wife, always the same bright, cheerful, loving woman, encouraged
me to keep up my spirits, and I did, for her sake as well as my
own.




CHAPTER VII

THE COMING OF THE STORK.



By the first of November I had exhausted all my savings, and from
then on knew that if my monthly earnings were insufficient to pay
my expenses, I should have to resort to borrowing money to tide me
over until better times.

A crisis was coming at home that demanded every effort of mine to
have matters there pleasant and comfortable. Under no circumstances
must my wife worry.

Thus I thought, but even yet I did not know the magnificent courage
of the woman.