“Yes, he graduated very high at college, and is widely respected by his fellow ministers, but he has no aptitude for business.”
“You have, mother. If you had been a man, you would have done better than he. Without your good management we should have been a good deal worse off than we are. It is the only thing that has kept our heads above water.”
“I am glad you think so, Grant. I have done the best I could, but no management will pay bills without money.”
It was quite true that the minister's wife was a woman of excellent practical sense, who had known how to make his small salary go very far. In this respect she differed widely from her learned husband, who in matters of business was scarcely more than a child. But, as she intimated with truth, there was something better than management, and that was ready cash.
“To support a family on six hundred dollars a year is very hard, Grant, when there are three children,” resumed his mother.
“I can't understand why a man like father can't command a better salary,” said Grant. “There's Rev. Mr. Stentor, in Waverley, gets fifteen hundred dollars salary, and I am sure he can't compare with father in ability.”
“True, Grant, but your father is modest, and not given to blowing his own trumpet, while Mr. Stentor, from all I can hear, has a very high opinion of himself.”
“He has a loud voice, and thrashes round in his pulpit, as if he were a—prophet,” said Grant, not quite knowing how to finish his sentence.
“Your father never was a man to push himself forward. He is very modest.”
“I suppose that is not the only bill that we owe,” said Grant.