St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1859-03-31
band-therefore calling for no reward
or commendation whatever.

laughing face through an adjoining
doorway, little beyond which she
had been an amused spectator Of the
foregoing scene. Al Mrs. Prim-
bic ! if you only knew what | know
how bad yon would feel, to be sure =
Feel bad ~ cried Mrs. Primblc
beginning to feel bad already, if hcl
countcnanCe might be taken as an in
dcz of her feelings and at the same
time Mr. Jones began to pcrpctratC
divers earnest telcgrapllic signals to-
wards his wife, as wishing to prevent
her from saying something that might
be disa@rccable for him to hear.
No, no." cried the latter, in a
laughing, mockinS voicc-"you need
not want me to hush up, Jones I'm
determined to let Mrs. Primble know
how cXquisitcly herself and friends
have been taken in by outside appear
ances. Ha ha wouldn't miss the.
treat of telling the joke for the world. .
Mr.. Jones now grabbed the pitcher
and suddenly left the room and Mrs.
Primb!c looking, no matter what was
the real state of her feelings, very bad
indeed, said For goodness sake !,
tell me what you mean How have
we been taken in by outside appear
anccs ?"
Oh, you shall hear, Mrs. Primblc :;
and I'll wager anything that you will
acknowledge yourself that you have
been as prcttily and completely de-
cclved as was well possible for you to
be. You gave Jones that pitcher for
being such an ailectionatc, loving.
good husband, as to fetch all the wa.
ter from the spring for me, as opposed
to those who have left that toilsomc
task for their wives
Yes, that is what I did, and the
reasons why did so are correctly
told. Wells it not true that he has
done so ?"
"Yrs."
Well?"
"Oh, Mrs. Primblc but if you on
'y had any idea of the price ! had to
pay for his having SO acted, dear
dear how bad you would feel ="
And off she burst into another fit Of
laughter, which sounded like anything
than the music it really was to the
ears of Mrs. Primblc.
price :" calculated the latter,
"Price You have had TO pay for him do
ing nothing but what was his boundcn
duty to do ~
Precisely, my dear Mrs Primblc.
But I'll let you into the mysterious Sc
cret Of Jones apparent goodness. Did
you ever take notice that he never
goes out but his boots has got as beau
tiInl a polish on them as it would be
possible for brush and backing to
give them that, i'll fact, hc never
appeared ont of doors during the last
eleven months at least, in muddy
pair ?"
Yes, have often remarked the
circumstance, and took it as a sure
sign Of his being of an Industrious.
clcanly disposition, along with his
other good qualitics.'
Do You think il a woman's task
to clean a mans boots ~
DO | think it 4 woman's task to
clean mans boots Gracious me,
no My soul if my old man dared
to ask me to clean Il pair for him, un-
less he was sick or crippled, Id bat
'cm about his hcad.'
Thought so,7 rcjoincd Mrs. Jones,
with Il quiet smile Of the most acute
inward enjoyment "Now listen. In
less-iess, mind you-than a month
after our marriage, Mr.. Jones began
to grumblc about fetching the water.
He said he was too tired Of a night.
and that he could not spare time in
the morning without cncroaching on
the hours set apart for his daily bust
ness. He said no one else carried wa
ter tor their wives, and that it was
ridiculous for him to do So and be
looked upon and laughed at as the
hen-pcckcd husband Of the village ::
and finally point blank averred that he
would not go for another bucket full
Now you know, Mrs Primblc, that am
perhaps, the least strongly constitu-
ted Of any woman in the whole neigh
borhood and felt convinced that if
| had to toll up that hill with all that
water we should require, scme seri-
ous injury to my health would I'M
doubtedly be the consequence. In
vain that | stated this to Jones. He
was afraid, | suppose, Of being con-
sidered of less manly spirit than the
rest, and so would not pay any heed
to my cXpostulations, or alter the reso-
luton he had formed. Happily, |
thought of his boots and Knowing
that his partiality to a clean pair was
only equalled by his repugnance to
cleaning them, | offered to polish them
once day upon condition that he
would"
And you have cleaned his boots
every day for the last eleven months?'
Every day, except Sundays and
| have had to clean two pair on Sat
urdays instead"
"Oh :" calculated Mrs. Primble fer
vcntly, as She threw up her hands and
the whites of her eyes simultaneous
ly, and dartcd from the house, men
tally eXclaiming, as she hurriedly sped
on to tell the narrowing tale to the
rest of the ladies, who with herself
had been so completely taken in
" Clean that lazy lubber's boots My
soul how should like to give him a
good cow-hiding, and then help to
duck him in the river -
The story somehow leaked out, and
reached the ears of the done-brown
ladies husbands and the way they
afterwards threw out taunting allu-
sions to that silver pitcher, and begged
to know who cleaned the boots of Mat
attcctionatc husband, was something
curious. As for their wives, they
were forced to acknowledge that they
had been taken in by outside appear
anccs, and that Mr.. Jones was not, all
things considered, quite such a model
Of a husband, after all.