“A wife helps a man more than any one else,” he says to-day. And adds, with his whimsical twinkle, “she criticizes him more.”
CHAPTER VIII
MAKING A FARM EFFICIENT
The young couple went first to the Fords’ place, where the big roomy house easily spared rooms for them, and Margaret and her father gave them a hearty welcome. Clara, having brought her belongings from her old home, put on her big work-apron and helped Margaret in the kitchen and dairy.
Henry was out in the fields early, working hard to get the crops planted. Driving the plowshare deep into the rich, black loam, holding it steady while the furrow rolled back under his feet, he whistled to himself.
He was contented. The farm work was well in hand; his forty would bring in an ample income from the first year; in the house his rosy little wife was busy making the best butter in the whole neighborhood. He revolved in his mind vague plans for making a better plow than the one he was handling; he remembered noticing in his latest English magazine an article covering the very principle he would use.
In the evening, after the last of the chores was done, he settled himself at the table in the sitting-room, moved the big lamp nearer and opened the magazine. But Clara was busy correcting the plans for the new house; she must have the lamp light, too. Henry moved the lamp back.
“Would you have the kitchen here, or here? This way I could have windows on three sides, but the other way I’d have a larger pantry,” said Clara, stopping to chew her pencil.
“Fix it exactly to suit yourself. It’s your house, and I’ll build it just as you say,” Henry replied, turning a page.
“But I want your advice—and I can’t see how to get this back porch in without making the bedrooms too small,” Clara complained. “I want this house just so—and if I put the chimney where I want it to come in the kitchen, it will be in the wrong end of the sitting-room, best I can do. Oh, let those horrid papers alone, and help me out!”
Henry let the horrid papers alone and bent his head over the problems of porch and pantry and fireplace.