Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document hasbeen preserved.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. Fora complete list, please see the end of this document.
MAW'S VACATION
THE STORY OF A HUMAN BEING
in the
YELLOWSTONE
by
EMERSON HOUGH
AUTHOR OF: The Sagebrusher, Hearts Desire, The Covered Wagon,
Curly of the Range, etc.
ILLUSTRATED
SAINT PAUL
J. E. HAYNES, Publisher
1921
COPYRIGHT 1920
THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
COPYRIGHT 1921
EMERSON HOUGH
“Maw”
Times has changed, says Maw to herself, says she. Things ain't like what[1]they used to be. Time was when I worked from sunup to sundown, and wedidn't have no daylight-saving contraptions on the old clock, neither.The girls was too little then, and I done all the work myself—cooking,sweeping, washing and ironing, suchlike. I never got to church Sundaysbecause I had to stay home and get the Sunday dinner. Like enough they'dbring the preacher home to dinner. You got to watch chicken—it won'tcook itself. Weekdays was one like another, and except for shovelingsnow and carrying more coal I never knew when summer quit and wintercome. There was no movies them days—a theater might come twice awinter, or sometimes a temperance lecturer that showed a picture of theinside of a drunkard's stomach, all redlike and awful. We didn't have[2]much other entertainment. Of course we had church sociables now andthen, or a surprise party on someone. Either way, the fun no more thanpaid for the extra cooking. I never seen nothing or went nowhere, and ifwhen I was down town after the groceries I'd 'a' stepped into the drugstore and bought me a lemonade—and they didn't have no nut sundaesthen—they'd of had me up before the church for frivolous conduct.
Of course Paw kicks about the crops and prices, but I've been livingwith Paw forty years, and I dunno as I can remember a time when hedidn't kick. He kicks now on the wages he pays these city boys that comeout to farm; says they're no good at all. But somehow or other, thingsgets raised. I notice the last few years we somehow have had moreclothes and things, and more money in the bank. When Paw bought theautomobile he didn't ask the minister if it was right, and he didn'thave to ask the bank for a consent, neither. Cynthy's back from[3]college, and it's all paid for somehow. Jimmy's in a mail-order storein Chicago. I've got a girl to help me that calls herself a maid, whichis all right enough, though we used to call Judge Harmsworth's help agirl and let it go at that, law me! My other girls, Hattie and Roweny,are big enough to help a lot, and Paw reasons with them considerableabout it. I've always been so used to work that I think I can do itbetter myself. I always like to do for my children.
But Paw, ever since I married him, has been one of those energetics.They call him an aggressive business man. Some of them call him adominant man, because of his whiskers