CHAPTER V
The New Wage Envelope
The baby had been fretful all that hot summer day. Every time he was passed over to the eldest little girl, he cried. So Mrs. Lewis had to keep him herself. All the twenty pounds of him rested heavily on her slender left arm while she went about the kitchen getting supper. With one hand she managed now and then to stir the potatoes "warming over" in the pan on the stove. She put the pinch of tea in the pot and set it steeping. And she fried the ham. She set on the table a loaf of bread, still warm from the day's baking and called to the eldest little girl to bring the butter. "Aren't we going to have the apple sauce too?" the child asked. "Oh, yes, bring it," the mother had answered pettishly. "I'm that tired I don't care how quickly you eat everything up."
You see she had been going around like this with the heavy baby all day while she baked, and there were the three meals to cook. And she had done some of the ironing and there was the kitchen floor that had to be "washed down." And the second little girl's dress had to be finished for Sunday. And Jimmie, aged nine, whose food was always disagreeing with him, was in bed with one of his sick
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