Iowa County democrat. [volume], December 21, 1877, Image 1

About Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938

Image provided by: Wisconsin Historical Society

                
lowa County Democrat.
J
VOL. XII.
.1 MAWKX'S SOM;.
Scribner's Magazine.
I muv him through the window—
The new moon was in sisjhl
Come stenltm: down the aiirden.
One balmy summer nii;ht.
tie tapped upon the w indow :
"Oho me a kiss," lie said ;
And straightway I was hidden,
I.ike a little mouse, in bed.
One eye above the bed clothes
Was—oh, so fast asleep!
Bat the other beneath— twas Im kv
lie was not there to peep!
lie called again, as eager
As the slag for cooling brooks.
Or the hre that in the lilies
Kor golden honey looks'
The silence of my chamber—
it almost made'me start
Kor nothing there betrayed me
But the heating of my heart!
He knocked and railed, and called me.
And his voice so clear and sweet.
It pulled away the bed-clothes
And stood me on my feet!
It drew mo to the window ;
"He must be gone,” I thought;
I raised the window softly.
And peeping out was caught!
Was caught and showered with Us-es.
How many did he gel •
As many as'my blushes.
Kor I am blushing yet'
ISOHOHY HI T JOHN.
“ Somebody is coming," said I. as the
clack of the shutting gate fell on my
cars, and I looked at Maggy’s soiled, un
tidy dross, and tumbled hair.
Maggy started and glanced hastily
from tin' window : then sat down again
in ti careless way. remarking as she
did so :
“ It’s nobody hut John.”
Nobody but John 1 Aral who do you
think that nobody was? Only her hus
band.
Nobody but Joint.
A few moments afterward John Fair
burn came into the room where we
wore sitting and gave me one of his
frank, cordial greetings. I had known
him for many years, and long before
his marriage. 1 bad noticed that he
gave an annoyed glance at bis wife, but
did not speak to her. The meaning of
his annoyance and indifference was
plain to me ; for John had conic of a
neat and tidy family. His mother's
house-keeping bad always been nolal.de.
She was poor ; but as “ time and water
arc to be had for nothing,'’- this was
one of her sayings—she always man
aged to have things about clean and
orderly.
Maggie Lee had a pretty face, bright
eyes, and charming little ways that
wore very taking 'with the young men,
and so was quite a belle before she got
out of her teens. She had a knack of
fixing her ribbons, or tying her scarf,
or arranging her hair, shawl, or dress
in a way to give grace and charm to
her person. None but her most inti
mate friends know of her untidyness
that pervaded room and person when
at homo and away from common ob
servation.
Poor John Fairhurn was taken in
when he married Maggy Lee. lie
thought that he was getting the tidiest,
neatest, sweetest and most orderly girl
in town, but discovered too soon that be
wits united to a careless slattern. She
would dress for other people’s eyes, be
cause she bad a natural love of admira
tion ; but at home and for her husband
she put on her old duds, .and went look
ing often “ like the old scratch,'’ as the
saying is.
On the particular occasion of which
lam speaking—it was after she and
John had been married over a year—
her appearance was almost disgusting.
Bite ditl not have on even a morning
dress ; only a faded and tumbled chintz
stick above a skirt —no collar—slippers
down on the heels, and dirty stock
ings. Her hair looked like a hurrah’s
nest, if anybody knows what that is—l
don’t; but I suppose it is the perfection
of disorder. No one could love such a
looking creature. That was simply im
possible.
“ Nobody but John !" I looked tit
the bright, handsome young man and
wondered. He ate his dinner almost
in silence, anti then went hack to ids
work. I had never seen him look so
moody.
“What's come over John 1" I asked,
as he went out.
“Oh, 1 don't know," his wife an
swered. “ Something wrong tit the
shop, I suppose. He's* had trouble
with one of the men. He is foreman,
you know."
“Arc you sure it's only that?" i
asked, looking seriously.
“ That, or something about his work.
There’s nothing else to worry him.”
1 was silent for a while debating with
myself whethar good or harm would
conic of a little j Haiti talk with John’s
wife. She was rather quick tempered. 1
knew, and easy to take offense. At last
[ ventured to remark
“ May he thing- arc not ju-t to bi
lking til home.”
“At home 1" Maggy turned on me
with it flash of surprise in her face.
■ What do yon mean?"
“ Men like beauty, taste and ncatm-s,-
ia their wives as well as in their sweet
hearts,” I ■-aid.
The crimson mounted to her hair.
At the same moment 1 saw her glam e
at the looking-glass, that hung op posit <
to heron the wall. She -at very still.
MINERAL POINT. WIS., FRIDAY, DECEMBER •>!, 1877.
yot with :i startled look in her eyes, until
the Ikish faded, and her faee became al
most pale.
“Maggy," said 1, rising and drawing
my arm around her. " conic upstairs,
1 have something very serious to say
to yon."
\Vc walked up from the little dining
room and up to her chamber in silence.
1 then said :
" Maggy, I want to tell about a dear
friend of mine who made shipwreck of
happiness and life. It is a sad story,
but 1 am sure it will interest yon deep
ly. She was my cousin ; and her name
was—"
Maggy bent forward, and listened at
tentively. “What?” she asked, as 1
hesitated on the name.
“Helen.”
" Not Helen White, who married John
Harding, and was afterward deserted by
her husband?'’
“ Yes ; my poor, dear cousin Helen.
It is of her 1 am going to tell you."
“ I never knew why her husband
went off as he did." saiil Maggy. “Some
said he was to blame and some put all
the fault on her. How was it?"
“ Roth were to blame, but she most,"
1 replied. “John Harding, like your
husband, was one of the neatest and
most orderly of men. Anything un
tidy in his home or in the person of his
wife, annoyed and often put him out of
humor; but he did not, as he should
have done, speak plainly to his wife and
let her set' exactly how he felt, and in
what he should like a change. If he
had done so, Helen would have tried
as every good wife should to conform
herself more to his taste and wishes.
Hut he was a silent, moody sort of a
man when things did not go just to suit
him; and, instead of speaking out plain
ly, brooded over Helen's faults, and
worrit'd himself into ill-humor. And
w hat was worse than all, grew at length
indifferent to his home and wife, and
sought pleasanter surroundings and
more attractive company abroad.
“ Kvery man thus estranged fit an his
home is in danger, and Harding was no
exception to the rule. Temptation lay
about his feet, and that commonest
temptation of all, the elegantly tilted up
billiard and drinking saloon.
“ They had been married just about
as long as you and John have been
when the sad catastrophe of their lives
took place. 1 had called to spend the
day with Helen, and found her in her
usual condition of untidyness and dis
order. When her husband came home
at dinner time, I noticed with painful
concern that he had been drinking
not very freely, but just enough to show
itself in captious ill-humor. Helen had
not dressed for dinner, but presented
herself at the table without even a clean
collar, and with an old faded shawl
drawn about her shoulders. She looked
anything but attractive.
“ I saw her husband’s eyes glapee J
toward her across the table with an ex- j
pression that chilled me. It was a hard, i
angry, determined expression. He was \
scarcely civil to me, and snapped his I
wife sharply two or three times during !
the meal. At the close, he left the table .
without a word, and went upstairs.
“‘What’s the matter with John?' 1
asked.
“ ‘ Hear alone knows ! ’ replied Helen.
‘He’s been acting queer for a good
while. 1 can't imagine what’s come
over him.'
“ ‘ Does he eome home in this way
often?’ 1 asked.
“ ‘ Yes, he’s moody and disagreeable
most of the time. I'm getting dread
fully worried about it.’
“ As we talked we heard John moving
about with heavy footfalls in the rooms
above. Presently he came down, and
stood for a little while in the ball at the
foot of the stairs as if in hesitation.
Then he went to the street door, passed
out. and shut it hard after him.
“ Helen caught her breath with a start
and turned a little pale.
■What’s the matter?’’ 1 asked, see
ing the strangeness of her look.
“‘I don’t know,' she replied in a
choking voice, laying her hand at the
same time on her breast, ‘ but I feel as
if something dreadful were going to
happen.’
“She got up from the table, and I
drew my arm around her. I too felt a
a sudden depression of spirits. We
went slowly up to her chamber, w here
we spent the afternoon; and 1 took up
on myself the office of a friend, and talk
ed seriously to my cousin about her)
neglect of personal neatness, hinting'
that her husband s estrangement from l
his home, and altered manner toward- j
herself, might all spring from this cause,
•She was a little angry at me at first, but j
I pressed the subject home with a ten
der seriotisn* -• that did the work of
conviction; and as evening drew on.she j
dn ed with caVe and neatness, with a
fn sh ribbon tied in he hair, and color i
a litth raised hy mental excitement.'
she looki i charming and lovable. I
waited with interest to see the impres
sion she would make on her husband.
He could not help being charmed hack !
into the lover. 1 was sure. Hut he did
not come home to tea. We waited for
him a whole hour afb-r the usual time, i
and then we -at down at the table alone:
but neither of us could do more than
si;, a little tea.
■ I went home soon after, withapn
sure of concern at my heart for which
, 1 could not account. All night 1 dream
ed uncomfortable dreams. In tho
! morning. soon after breakfast. 1 ran
1 over to see Union. I fomul tior in hoi
1 room, sitting in her night dross
tho picture of despair.
‘“What is it?” t asked eagerly.
•What has happened?’ She lookod
jat mo hoavily, hko ono not yot re-
I oovorod from tho shook of a stunning
Mow.
“‘Hoar oottsin. what is the matter?’
I askod.
“ 1 now saw by a motion other hand,
: that is hold, tightly olntohod, a j iooo of
paper. She roai’hod it to mo. It was
a lottor, and road :
“‘ Wo oannot live happily togothor,
II ohm. You aro not what 1 believed my
solf getting whon wo wore marriod not
tho sweet, lovoly, lovahlo girl that
oharmod my fanoy, and won mo from
all others. Alas for n< both that it is
sol There has boon a shipwreck of
two lives. Farewell 1 I shall never re
turn.’
“ And this was all, hut it broke the
heart of my poor cousin. To this day,
though nearly throe years have passed,
she has never heard from her husband, i
“ 1 saw her list week in tho country
home to which she had been taken h\
her friends, a wreck both in mind and
body. She whs sitting in an upper J
room. ,om the window of which could
he seen a beautiful landscape. She was l
neatly attired, and a locket, containing
her husband's picture, hung at the i
throat. Her head was dropped, and her
eyes on tin* lloor when I entered but
she raised her eyes quickly, and with a
kind of start. I saw a momentary
i eager llush in her face, dying out
quickly and leaving it inexpressibly sad.
‘“1 thought it was John.’she said
mournfully. ‘ Why don’t he come?”
1 had to stop here, for Maggy broke |
out suddenly into a w ild lit of sobbing j
and eiying which lasted for nearly a '
minute,
“ What ails yon dear?" 1 asked as
she began to boa little composed.
"Oh! you have frightened me so. If
.lohnshould
She out short the sentence; but her
frightened face left me in nodoubt as to
what was in her thoughts.
She arose and walked about the room
m an uncertain way for some moments
and then set down again, drawing in
her breath hoav ily.
"If young wives," 1 remarked—be
lieving that in her present stale the
truth was (he best thing to say, "would
take half the pains in making them
selves personally attractive to their
husbands, that they did to charm their
lovers, more of them would lind the
lover continued in the husband. Is a
man less admirer of womanly grace
and beauty after he becomes a husband
than he was before?"
"llnslil hush!" she said in a chok
ing voice. “ 1 see it all ! 1 comprehend
it all.” And she glanced down at her
self. "1 look hateful and disgusting."
Aftor a plain earnest talk with Maggie
1 went home. 1 give her own words as
to what happened afterwards;
“ 1 was watching all the afternoon,
.lohn has acted worse at dinner time;
and w hat you had told me about poor
Helen set my fears in motion and
worrie Ime half to death. Long be
fore tin' time he usually came home, I
dressed myself with care, selecting the
things I heard him admire. As I looked
at myself in the glass, 1 saw that I was
attractive; 1 felt as I had never fell be
fore, that there was a power in dress
that no wtnnan can disregard without
loss of influence, no matter what her
position or sphere of life.
Supper time came. I had made,
something (hat I knew John liked, and
was waiting for him with a nervous
eagerness it was impossible to repress.
Hut the hour passed and hi- well known
tread along the little garden walk did
not reach my anxious ears. Five, ten,
twenty minutes beyond his hour for re
turning. and still I was alone. Oh! I
shiver as I recall the wild fears that be
gan to crowd upon me. 1 was standing
at tin 1 window, behind the curtain,
waiting and watching. All at once J
saw him a little distance from the
house, Out not in the direction from
which he usually came. He was walk- 1
ing slowly, and with eyes upon the j
ground. His whole manner was that of
one depressed or suffering. I dropped
the curtain, and went back into our
little hrenk'a-t room to see that supper
was qiekly on the table. John came in, j
and went up stairs, as he usually did, to
change his coat before tea. In a few
minutes I rang the lea hell, and then
seated myself at the table to wait for
him. He was longer than usual in ,
making himself ready, and’then I heard
him coming down slowly and heavily,
as if there was no spirit in him.
"My heart heat strongly. Hut I
tried to look bright and smiling. There
was, oh 1 so dreary a look on John’s ;
face as I first saw it in tie door, He‘
stood still just a moment with his eyes i
fixed on me; then the dreary look faded
out; a flash of light passed over it, and i
he stepped forward quickly,and coming
over to where ! sal, stooped down and ,
kissed me. Nevei Indore was bis kiss
so sweet to my lips.
" I have found my little wife once
more,” he said, softly and tenderly, and
with a quiver in las voice. 1 laid my
head upon his bosom. and looking up
into hi* faee, answered Vml you shall
never loose her again."
And 1 think he will not. The sweet
ness of that hour, and the lessons it
taught, can never he forgotten hy friend
Maggy.
For The Ladles,
Brigham Young’s widows are to bring
out a hoook. It will he called “That
Husband of Ours,"
About tln> least satisfactory wedding
ring a woman can receive is ti have
her husband wring her ears.
It costs the w omen of America $8,000,-
000 per year to keep their faces paint
ed. and tht'u (hey want good clothes be
sides. *
Oirlswho are not handsome hate
those who are, while those who are
handsome hate one another. Which
class has the best of it ?
" Why do you choose to live a single
life?" asked a fashionable idler of an
estimable young lady. “ Because," she
replied , “ 1 am not able to support a
husband.”
Queen Victoria's crow n is composed
of brilliant diamonds, 1,”7 8 rose
diamonds and I 17 table diamonds, one
large ruby, 17 sapphires, II emeralds,
1 small rubies and ““7 pearls, all set in
silver and gold.
Take a young man of average indus
ti'. os habits and you w ill find that he
understands w hen the hour of twelve or
six o'clock comes to the half second,
hut put the same individual of an even
ing alone, in a pleasantly heated front
parlor with a pretty girl, and he won't
have the least idea it's nearly two A. M ,
until ho hears the dairy man next door
milking the pump.
The wedding dnas of Maria de la*
Mercedes, future Queen of Spain, has
already been ordered, and the feminine
portion of the world will doubtless call
it beautiful. It is to he of while satin,
entirely covered with Aleueon point,
lace on which will hn worked the arms
of all tin l realms into which Spain was
formerly divided. This recalls the
dress < f Queen \dolaide, of Kngland.
which was a pretty piece of imagiua
lion it was embroidered with dowers
the initials of which formed her name.
All women play cards alike. Watch
a woman at a game of whist, and you’ll
gel a pretty correct idea of how all yvo
men play whist: “ l.a me, Henry, is it
my play ? Hot me sec second hand
low- that’s the lirsl linn round for that
suit, ain't it? well. I'll play no, 1 hard
ly think I will now you stop looking
at my hand did you see anything?
of course I'm going to play hut 1 must
have lime to thiiiK- what's trumps
spades I thought 'twas clubs -well,
1 ll—no yes well there 1" Then she
will clap an ace on her partner’s king,
and insist upon keeping the trick for
fear she will he cheated out of it in the
I'nml count.
Incident of Their Honeymoon.
An amusing incident occurred on
hoard the “ Holden State” recently, on
its way to Albany, when a slight lire
caused considerable commotion among
the passengers. The story is a good
one, and we give it publicity, as it de
monstrates the true nature of many in
dividuals who, claiming to ho men, dis
prove (heir right to the title at critical
moments hy losing their wits and for
getting all else save their own personal
safety.
It seems that there was a newly mar
ried eoupio on hoard of the steamer,
who, hy a public exhibition of their
fondness and affection for each other,
even before the boat left the landing,
gave the people to understand that they
had just launched in the matrimonial
hark, and wore seeking together the
pleasant haven of connubial Miss. They
both gloried in the fact. Soon after the
accident occurred the lovers disap
peared from tint deck. In tin; cabin,
where the lady passengers had been sent
for the purpose of fastening life pre
servers about their bodies, the couple
who had hut a few minutes before at
tracted so much attention were discov
ered. The bridegroom had secured a
life-saving apparatus and strapped it
about his own shoulders, and his wife
was clinging to him in the agony of
despair.
“ Hon't desert me now Charlie, the
first day we are married,” she piteously
exclaimed; “ let me go with you !”
Did Charles gallantly remain by the
side of Ids affectionate spouse and face
the supposed danger like a man? Oh,
no, not he! With eyes protruding
from their sockets in extreme fright,
and with a face which could not have
portrayed greati r four laid its possessor
been condemned to he burned nt the
stake, Charles stepped, or rather
wrested himself away from the con
tidiw embrace of his bride, and leaving
her To her fate, rushed on deck and be
took hirn.-clf to a canal Mail which had
drawn alongside the steamer. Several
gentlemen, observing the heroic action
of the bridegroom, volunteered to idiot
the deserted lady to her liege lord.
This was done, and as no affecting signs
of recognition wa re note ed between
the couple, it h believed the wife had
her faith in the noble oualitie of heri
husband somewhat shaken hy (he oc-!
cum in c.
Humor.
An Illinois fanner boy, who h;is tried
it, says. " It is hurt! work to ride a pin,
its mane is so short."
Now >s the time for the inventors of
snow-plows to seek out railroad men
and talk thorn to death.
In one souse Koutuoky i> celebrated
tor its short horns, hut in auothor she
isn't.
" Ihity before pleasure," as the cus
tomhouse ollioer said when he lighted
upon some smuggled tobacco,
V philosopher who w ent to a ehureh
where the oeople eatue in late said it
was the fashion there for nobody to no
till everybody not there.
" Mamma," said little four-year old,
after waiting patiently for her* mother
to be at leisure, "will you be uubusv
soon?”
One thousand dollar counterfeit bills
are onee more in circulation. He sure
you do not put any in the contribution
boves,
\ Kentucky innkeeper oilers to en
tertain eloping couples at half price
lie can afford to, provided the two have
been made one.
Some soured bachelor says "Heaven
in its mereiful providence gave no beard
to woman because he well knew they
could not hold their tongues loiigenougfi
to be sha\ ed "
\\ hen is the best time to pick apples; "
This is a very simple ipiestion. The
best time for such work is when the
tanner is not looking and there is no
big dog in the orch ml.
The worst thing that any haler of
mankind can wish to an enemy, is to
hope that he'll go to ehureh some very
cold and windy Sunday, without a,
pocket handkerchief.
A seh oolboy. asked todeliuethe word
matrimony, said he did'nt exactly know
its meaning, but he knew his father
was tired of it.
Hie Chicago .lorunal know s a thing
or two. It says: " When a man imag
ines that he is a prophet and a philoso
pher, he lakes to long hair and a dirty
overcoat."
Young ladies in Home, N. Y., will
1 M>titiou (Vmgreas (w paaa an enabling
act, to enable tin l old folk* to go to bed
at nim* o’clock Sunday evening.
At a Sunday-school, a teacher asked
la little hoy if lie knew what tin' expres
sion "sowing hues" meant, “ (fourth
I do," said lie, |ailling a part of liin
(rowaori around in front; "there in a
tare my mil Mewed up; I lured it sliding
down hill.’’
" What did you get !" naked a wife of
her Imahand, on Ida return home
from a. hunting exenraion of aeverul
(laya’ duration. " I got hack !" he sen
tentioualv replied.
A maiden lady anid to her little*
nephew,: “ Now, Johnny, you go to bed
early, and iilwaya do so. and you will lie
may-cheeked and handaome when you
grow up." Johnny thought over Una a
few minutes, anil then observed: “Well,
aunty, you niual have ant up a good
deal when you were young.”
An English mimical Journal aay a that
fifteen per cent, of the inmalea of Inna
tie asylums urn muaieiaim and singers,
hut it neglects to state how many of the
remaining eighty-fivo per cent, were
driven mad by the practicing of the
former.
(’onveraalion between an inquiring
at ranger and a steamboat pilot: "That
ia Illiielc Mountain?" “ Yea, air; high
est mountain above Lake (leorge,"
“ Any story or legend eonneeted with
that mountain !’’ " Lola of ’em. Two
lovers went up that mountain once and
never came back again." “Indeed?
Why, what became of them?” " Went
down on (he other aide !"
Within (he next few days if any aeei
dent befalls a man, and lie is found to
have a auspicious smelling matin in hia
pocket, give him the benefit of a doubt,
lie may have been commissioned from
home to " buy a little cooking brandy ’’
for < ’hriatmas.
• i
WnoKviat has habitually attended
circuses in this country remembers the
Conrad brothers, acrobatic clowns, and
their comical performance, in which
one pretended to be dead, wlfile the
other tumbled him about. They re
cently went to (iermany. 77m L/rndim
Era conlaiiiH the following;" < inn evening
the elder Conrad fell to the ground al
ter a pretended blow, and was turned
and returned ns usual. His arms and
legs were jerked, be was struck ‘and
kicked and dragged, but preserved a
steady impassibility. Suddenly an ex
pression of distress could be noticed
through tiie grotesquely painted linea
ment- of bis brother, who hastily
dropped on hi t knees and placed his
hand upon the heart of the inanimate
(down, exclaiming, ‘ My poor brother is
dead!’ At this the audience laughed.
‘ (lentlcinen,’said the distressed man,
with tears in his voice, ‘ J assure yon he
is really dead.’ Then, taking hi: ten
derly in his arms, he bore him bom the
arena The crowd appeared struck
with the natural manner in which the
bereft clown expressed grief, and ap
plauded him vigorously as he departed.
There were loud encores for both, hut
neither presented himself, Death had
been more thoroughly simulated than
ever before.
NO. 10.