Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 February 1899 — A LITTLE STORY. [ARTICLE]

A LITTLE STORY.

But It Hia Big Meaning, Especially for Young Married Folks. “Hester!” exclaimed Aunt Susan, ceasing her rocking and knitting, and sitting upright, “do you know what your husband will do when you are dead?” “What do you mean ?” was the startled reply. “He will marry the sweetest-tem-pered girl he can find.” “Oh, auntie!” Hester began. “Don’t interrupt me until I have finished,” said Aunt Susan, leaning back and taking her knitting. “She may not be as good a housekeeper as ybu are—in fact, I think not; but she will be good-natured.” “Why, auntie—” “That isn’t all,” composedly continued Aunt Susan. “To-day your husband was half-way across the kitchen floor bringing you a couple of fresh-cut cucumbers from the garden, and all you did was to look on and say: ‘There, Will, just see your footmarks on my clean floor; I won’t have my floors dirtied.’ Some men would have thrown the cucumbers out of the window. To-day you screwed up your face when he kissed you, because his m ustache was damp, and said: ‘I never want you to kiss me again.’ When he empties anything, you tell him not to spill it. From morning until night your sharp voice is heard complaining and fault-finding. And last winter, when you were ill, you scolded him for allowing the taps in the kitchen to freeze, and took no notice when he said: T was so anxious about you that I did not think of the taps.’ ” “But, auntie—” “Hearken, child. The strongest and most intelligent of men all care more for a woman’s tenderness than Tor anything else in the world; and without this the cleverest and most perfect housekeeper is sure to lose her husband’s affections in time. There may be a few more men like Will—at gentle, as loving, as chivalrous, as for{[etful for self, and so satisfied with oving that their affections will die a long, struggling death; but in moat cases it takes but a few years of fretfulness and fault-finding to turn a husband’s love into irritated indifference.” “But, auntie—•” “Yes; well, you are not dead yet, and the sweet-natured woman has not been found; so you have time to become so serene and sweet that your husband can never imagine that there is a better-tempered woman in existence.”—London Tit-Bits.