The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1857-02-12
Gbrilling storm.
THE FRETFUL HOUSEWIFE,
WHO Is TO BLAME.
Written for the Ohio Farmer, by Mrs. FRANCES D
GAGE.

hAOEs
THAT Mrs. Jenkins is an awful piec,
| don't see how Jenkins stands it; 200
easy soul; he let's her scold away, an
never seems to mind it at all; don't eve
seem to hear. Well, | reckon that's tn
c best thing he can do; but | tell you, nov
|, If l had such woman, Id find som
way to shut her up, and if couldn
{ would set fire to the house, and run ava
] by the light of it; for a scold, neye
would live with. Let's see, you com
pretty nigh marrying Lydia yourself
dldn'tyou? 1t seems TO me there used t.
be scuh talk?
Yes, I'll own up; we were engaged
as the young folks say-but things di1n'
prosper with me, and the wedding wa
put off, and we got into little squabble
like; l believe was to blame, and W.
agreed to part company; and | marreC
Agnes, and Lydia turned about and mar
ried Joe."
This was said with deep sigh, as il
there was some struggling in the speak,
er's heart, that was not uttered.
i reckon you thank your stars for the
delIverance,' said the other speaker. i
don't know, said the first, slowly. 'Ly-
dia was one Of the keenest, smartest Girls
In the country then, and nobody ever
thought of her turning out scold; she
was as merry as a bird, and her wild song,
as she tripped along with her milk pail in
the morning, had no twang of the terma-
giant in it. used to think she was one
of the neatest and sweetest tempered of
her sex. But she is nightly changed
And the man of forty sighed again, as he
Whitfield the bit ofpine sbingle to point.
There is no telling what woman will
be at forty, by the sign of eighteen, is not
that SO, Mrs. Tyler!' This was addressed
to a good looking, benevolent woman,
who had joined the two former on the
porchnwhere they were chatting away
the Nv i hour after their days work.
hHays, replied the lady address
ed, 'For a woman at eighteen may be
moulded into an angel or demon, by the
surroundings of her after life some
times
I'VE were talking of Mrs. Jenkins
she frets his life out of him.
Better say he frets hers out of her.
replied the lady, with spirit.
Never was there pleasanter girl than
Lydia when she married Joe Jenkinsj ac-
tive, energetic, orderly, ambitious and
afectionate. She was calculated to make
a home as happy as woman could. She
was refined and delicate; Joe was coarse
and rough; she was a pink of neatness he
a sloven; she loved the beautiful, he could
not tell the difference between rose and
burdock; she orderly and systematic,
he was completely the reverse, she was
warm and gentle as May morning, he
as cold and repulsive as an icicle in No
vember. So they commenced life; she
worked hard, early and late to get along;
he loltered aud lay in bed, made excuses,
put off, procrastinated, let things 60
wrong, and by his neglect and careless
ness, doubled all her cares. know lust
how it began; for | lived with her five
years, she never meant to be a scold, new
er; came by degrees Come Mr.. Jenk-
ms she would say, cant you split me
little wood, my sads Is almost ready for
the oven, 9--HeE pretty soon-where S
The axe lEwhose had. that axe! l wish
.he ugly thildren--' Why, Mr. jenkins,
1on't speak So well, it's enough to
Try the patience of Job-never can find
when l want it,
You should put it in its place then,
yourself, when you use it,
4 did. left it at the wood pile
No you did not you left it down by the
'arn, where you was mending the bars
'Humph! SO | did, And off Joe s
would go after the axe, find the pigs in
he corn for want of care in the fences,
'ut off after the pigs full run, drive them
ut half-mile from the house, meet .
elghbor, get upon the fence and talk an t
lour, forgetting all about the wood. In &
he mean time Lydia would run for the |
xe, chop her own wood, and manage G
omehow to have the bread all right, for a
othing is ever wrong in her department, d
nd Joe would not see nor know that he d
ad in the slightest transgressed The {
ouSe leaked down rain for five years up e
n her head, and she could not induce him c
mend the roof. The crops were new b
r planted, nor gathered in season. The Il
noes were left till half he did raise was G
by unruly cattle. The ciStern e,
ould leak by the year together, a mans
bor halt day would repair it. But he
ould go to town and stay three days in .
week, and not get back till midnight
she made a little garden the gates were D
# off the hinges and it was destroyed.
g often lay abed in the morning till call
tine third or fourth time to breakfast.
hile she MIXED the COW wi h babe in
n arms, carried in her wood and run
the garden for what was needed. He
ways kept a large family and little help.
was but a child then. He never put .
ything in place, left everything where
used it, never cleaned his feet, or took ,
e least pains to save her labor, and in. a
'ad of helping her to govern the boys of