I stayed
a fortnight in the town. Most of my spare time I spent at the bar. In
my leisure moments I dirtied my clothes so that they might be washed at
the laundry.
"As the result of my investigations I discovered that, so far as the two
businesses themselves were concerned, there was not a pin to choose
between them. It became merely a question of which particular trade
would best suit the Hacketts.
"I reflected. The keeper of a bar was exposed to much temptation. A
weak-minded man, mingling continually in the company of topers, might
possibly end by giving way to drink. Now, Josiah was an exceptionally
weak-minded man. It had also to be borne in mind that he had a shrewish
wife, and that her whole family had come to live with him. Clearly, to
place Josiah in a position of easy access to unlimited liquor would be
madness.
"About a laundry, on the other hand, there was something soothing. The
working of a laundry needed many hands. Hannah's relatives might be used
up in a laundry, and made to earn their own living. Hannah might expend
her energy in flat-ironing, and Josiah could turn the mangle. The idea
conjured up quite a pleasant domestic picture. I recommended the
laundry.
"On the following Monday, Josiah wrote to say that he had bought the
laundry.
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