Weekly hawk-eye and telegraph. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1855-1857, 1855-07-04
Mr.. SMITH LOUNGES ON THE SOFA,
AND MRS. SMITH LECTURES HIM
EnR TT

There is n touch Of practical good sense
about the following that will be appreciated
by thousands. We find it in that excellent
and sensible paper the Marysville Tribune |
81 declare, MIR. Smith this is too bad =
Here you are stretched out on the sofa,
mussing it up, and my nice carpet is MI soil
cd by the tramp of your coarse boots.
shall be ashamed to bring any one into the
parlor again---and have taken SO much
pains to keep everything nice! l do think,
Mr.. Smith, you are the most thoughtless,
careless man ever did see-you don't aprcnr
to care how things look, nor how much
trouble you give me. Ill had no more care
than you have we would soon have nice
looking house-it would not be long till our
new house and furniture would be Just rs
bad as the old,' said John Smiths wife to
him, as she saw him in the parlor taking q
nap on the sofa.
Mr.. Smith rose up slowly, and answered,
"Iwas tired and sleepy, Mary, and the wealth
err so hot. and this roomsso quiet and cool,
and the sofa looked 80 inviting, that could
not resist the temptation to snooze q little
thought when We were building new house,
and furnishing it thus, that VIC were doing it
because the old house, and furniture were not
so comfortable as desirable and that and.
my own dear Mary, would indulge ourselves
in little quiet leisure in these nice rooms,
and. if I'VE choose, in loungiug on the sofas,
and rocking in these cushioned arm chairs,
away from the noise af the family, and the
smell Of the cooking stove. did not dream
of displeasing you, and thought is would
give you pleasure to see me enjoying nap
on the sofa, this warm afternoon. Inotice
when Merchant Swell, or Col. Bigman, and
their families are here, you appear delighted
to have sofas, aid cushioned arm chairs for
them to sit in, or lounge upon. thought
the house and tho sofas were to use-that We
were seeking our own pleasure when We paid
large sum of money for them; bu. sup.
pose | was mistaken, and that the house and
furniture are for strangers, and that he ere
to sit in the old chairs in thu kitchen, and if
want to take nap, or rest little when IA
tigued, am to lie down on slab in the
od-house; and you, if you want to rest,
can 60 to the children's trundle- bed, in the
little close bedroom, where the flies can
have no chance at you"
The irony of MIR. Smiths reply only pro-
voked his wife, and seeing himself threaten
with repetition of Mrs. SIS 81 eech, with un-
pleasant additions and variations, and know
ing that he would get tired of gaining victories
over Ter in argument, before she would think
of getting tired of defeat, h. took himself
out, and left Mrs. Smith to fix up and dust
out, and lock him out of his own house, and
took seat on an old chair in the kitchen,
which Mrs. Smith snid was good enough to
use every day-in the kitchen, where no one
sees it.
Poor, mistaken Mrs. Smith, thought l.
And yet, most women are like her. They
want q ine house, and when they get it they
want an out house built to live in, and they
confine their families to few small rooms,
poorly furnished, while the main building,
wei! furnished, is never seen by the family
only when visitors come. Both house and
furniture are too grand for use. The carpet
is too fine for their husbands to walk on
the mirrors are too fine for him too look in
to-the furniture is ali too fine for him to see
or use. just so it goes-we dress, we wo-
men, mean, and am sorry that many men
are as foolish are, to please others, or rather
to excite their remarks-we build houses, and
furnish them for those outside of the family,
and live rs poorly when we are rich as we did
when we were poor; as poorly in the new
house rs in the old.
1t is fatal day to enjoyment when fam
lily gets house and furniture too fine for
use, and yet most women have an ambition
to have it so. Better would it be if they
were conten!ed with such house and such
furniture as is suited to every day use-the
house large enough to accommodate ones
friends, and tho furniture such as all use
whe at home.
Rose RANDOM.