The House on the Hill
by RC DeWinter
Title
The House on the Hill
Artist
RC DeWinter
Medium
Painting - Digital Oils-paintography-photopainting
Description
Copyright 2014 RC deWinter ~ All Rights Reserved
The Miser's Tale
Not often I get a visitor,
but come in if you must.
Not a night to be wandering around
in the dark
but it won't be much warmer in here.
Don't believe in wasting fuel,
wasting money.
Better to put on a coat.
Best leave yours on.
See that sampler?
My mother embroidered it
when she was a girl.
That'd be nigh on
a hundred years ago or so,
and it's hung on that wall
since I put her in the ground
thirty years back.
Before that it hung in her bedroom.
It's a treasure from my childhood.
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
Words to live by, and I do.
Always have.
My father was a wastrel.
Impulsive, improvident,
prone to taking risks
and throwing good money after bad.
My mother made me promise
never to be a man like that, and I did.
Rags to riches over and over again
the whole time I was growing up.
It was a relief when he got careless
one night and a streetcar
put at the end to all that.
After that it was just me and Mother,
and we liked it that way.
Good thing he left us
during one of the high times
and we were able to keep this house.
I was already working
down at the bank by that time
and saving every penny
except for what we needed to get by.
We always had good plain food
and serviceable clothes.
Never saw the need
for much more than that and a dry bed.
Oh, we knew, Mother and I,
what they said down in the village
about us.
Bunch of fools they were,
living as if there'd never be
any old age, any need for a nest egg.
Mother nagged me once in a while
to go find some woman to marry
so there'd be somebody here
to take care of the house
when she was gone and I was alone.
I thought about it,
but never could find anybody
who thought the way we did.
The women I met
were interested in nothing but folderol -
fancy clothes, nice new cars -
spend, spend, spend.
Grasshoppers, all of them.
Got no regrets passing that up.
It was worth spending the money
I needed to spend
to have a woman come in
and take care of the things
I had no interest in
and didn't have time for.
I don't know why I'm bothering you
with all this.
Maybe because it's been awhile
since I've had anybody to hear
what it was really like in the old days,
and like the unfortunate wedding guest
you've been mesmerized
by my glittering eye -
ever read Coleridge?
Hmph, thought not.
Well, never mind.
People today don't know literature.
Going so soon?
Oh, you've got one of those gadgets.
Damnfool waste of money for the most part,
but I guess at a time like this
knowing the tow truck is here
makes sense.
Time for me to be getting to bed anyway.
What's that?
Yes, I know I can't take it with me.
But you can't take any
of that other stuff with you either.
Small difference to me
between dying in my bed
with my bankbook
or dying in my bed
with somebody holding my hand.
Neither one of them's coming with me.
I sleep sound at night
knowing no matter what happens I've got enough
to keep this roof over my head until I go.
Don't feel sorry for me.
I've lived by my principles
and I'm proud of that.
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
You might keep that in mind, young man.
~ copyright 2014 RC deWinter
A view of the historic Beaux-Arts Wadsworth Mansion at Long Hill in Middletown, Connecticut, illuminated by the full moon in early autumn.
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Thanks to the group hosts for their encouragement and support.
Uploaded
September 22nd, 2014
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Viewed 1,502 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 03/10/2024 at 12:11 AM
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Comments (34)
Jenny Revitz Soper
BRAVO! This amazing art has earned a FEATURE on the homepage of the FAA Group No Place Like Home, 11/11/2016! You are invited to post it in the Features Discussion thread for posterity and any other thread that fits!
Bob Lentz
Congratulations! on this unique image’s being Featured in “The Artistic Aperture” group, and also Liked, Favorited, and Facebooked.
John Krakora
Beautiful work--Love the light. Your description is out of this world!! Great job, Gina!!