HOW THE MONEY GOES.

(A temperance play.)

Scene I. (Mr. L. and his wife on the stage; Mr. L. dressed for his work, and about to go.)

Mrs. L. Albert, I wish you would give me seventy-five cents.

Mr. L. What do you want seventy-five cents for?

Mrs. L. I want to get some braid for my new dress.

Mr. L. I thought you had material enough on hand for that.

Mrs. L. So I thought I had; but it looks rather plain with no trimming at all. You know I was intending to trim it with that fringe; but it looks too gray, come to try it by the side of the dress.

Mr. L. Haven’t you something else that will do?

Mrs. L. No. But, then, braid is cheap; and I can make it look quite pretty with seventy-five cents.

Mr. L. Plague take these women’s fashions. Your endless trimmings and thing-a-ma-jigs cost more than the dress is worth. It is nothing but shell out money when a woman thinks of a new dress.

Mrs. L. I don’t have many new dresses. I do certainly try to be as economical as I can.

Mr. L. It is funny kind of economy, at all events. But if you must have it, I suppose you must.

(Takes out his purse, and counts out carefully seventy-five cents, and puts his purse away, angrily. He starts to go; but when at the door, he thinks he will take his umbrella, and goes back for it. Finds his wife in tears, which she tries hastily to conceal.)

Mr. L. Good gracious! Kate, I should like to know if you are crying at what I said about the dress.

Mrs. L. I was not crying at what you said, but you were so reluctant to grant the small favor! I was thinking how hard I have to work. I am tied to the house. I have many little things to perplex me. Then to think—

Mr. L. Pshaw! What do you want to be foolish for.

(Exit.)

(In the hall he was met by his little girl, Lizzie.)

Lizzie (holding both his hands). O, papa, give me fifteen cents.

Mr. L. What?

Lizzie. I want fifteen cents. Please give me fifteen cents.

Mr. L. What in the world do you want it for? Are they changing books again?

Lizzie. No. I want a hoop. It’s splendid rolling; and all the girls have one. Mr. Grant has some real nice ones to sell. Please, can’t I have one?

Mr. L. Nonsense! If you want a hoop, go and get one off some old barrel. I can’t afford to buy hoops for you to trundle about the streets. (Throws her off.)

Lizzie (in a pleading tone). Please, papa?

Mr. L. No, I told you!

(She bursts into tears, and he goes off muttering, “Cry, then, and cry it out.”)

Scene II. (Albert enters, his wife entering on the opposite side. She kisses him as a greeting.)

Mrs. L. I am glad you are home thus early. How has business gone to-day?

Mr. L. Well, I am happy to say.

Mrs. L. Are you very tired?

Mr. L. No; why?

Mrs. L. I want you to go to the sewing circle to-night.

Mr. L. I can’t go; I have an engagement.

Mrs. L. I am sorry. You never go with me now. You used to go a great deal.

(Just then Lizzie comes in crying, dragging an old hoop, and rubbing her eyes.)

Mr. L. What is the matter with you, darling?

Lizzie. The girls have been laughing at me, and making fun of my hoop. They say mine is ugly and homely.

Mr. L. Never mind; perhaps we’ll have a new one some time.

Lizzie. Mayn’t I have one now? Mr. Grant has one left—a real pretty one.

Mr. L. Not now, Lizzie; not now. I’ll think of it.

(Lizzie goes out crying, followed by her mother. A friend of Mr. L. enters.)

Friend. Hello, Albert! What’s up?

Mr. L. Nothing in particular. Take a chair.

Friend. How’s business?

Mr. L. Good.

Friend. Did you go to the club last night?

Mr. L. Don’t speak so loud!

Friend. Ha! wife don’t know—does she? Where does she think you go?

Mr. L. I don’t know. She never asks me, and I am glad of it. She asked me to go with her to-night, and I told her I was engaged.

Friend. Good! I shan’t ask you where, but take it for granted that it was with me. What do you say for a game of billiards?

Mr. L. Good! I’m in for that. (They rise to go.) Have a cigar, Tom?

Friend. Yes. (They go out.)

Scene III. (Two men in conversation as they come upon the stage.)

B. Billiards? No, I never play billiards.

A. Why not?

B. I don’t like its tendency.

A. It is only a healthy pastime. I am sure it has no evil tendency.

B. I cannot assert that the game in its most innocent form is, of itself, an evil, to be sure. But, although it has the advantage of calling forth skill and judgment, yet it is evil when it excites and stimulates beyond the bounds of healthy recreation.

A. That result can scarcely follow such a game.

B. You are wrong there. The result can follow in two ways. First, it can lead men away from their business. Secondly, it leads those to spend money who have none to spend. Look at that young man just passing. He looks like a mechanic; and I should judge from his appearance that he has a family. I see by his face that he is kind and generous, and wants to do as near right as he can. I have watched him in the billiard saloon time after time, and only last night I saw him pay one dollar and forty cents for two hours’ recreation. He did it cheerfully, too, and smiled at his loss. But how do you suppose it is at home? Suppose his wife had asked him for a dollar or two for some household ornament, or his child, if he has one, for a picture-book or toy, what do you suppose he would have answered? This is not conjecture; for you and I both know plenty of such cases.

A. Upon my word, B., you speak to the point; for I know that young man, and what you have said is true. I can furnish you with facts. We have a club for a literary paper in our village, and last year he was one of the subscribers. This year he was obliged to discontinue. His wife was very anxious to take it; but he said he could not afford the $1.25 for it. And his little Lizzie, ten years old, has coaxed her father for fifteen cents, for a hoop, in vain. My Nellie told me that.

B. Yes; and that two hours’ recreation last night, would have paid for both. It is well for wives and children that they do not know where all the money goes.