Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1865-03-16
Stlttt Storp.
BROTHER TOMS WIFE.
BY 7. s. ARTHUR.

eff you do marry that girl brother Tom,
I'll have nothing to do with her, won't
visit her, nor call her sister, nor speak to
her !"
And Lizzie Lawton put on an outraged
and indignant air as it was possible for
her to assume.
'What is the objection ?' asked Tom, in
his cool way, fixing his large calm eyes upon
the pretty face Of his sister, as she sat un-
easily swaying half round and back again on
the piano stool.
objection The young lady's cherry
lip curlcd. "Who is she? What is she?''
"a sweet tempered, right thoughted,
true hearted young woman, who will make
me a good little wife. Are you not an
swered, sister mine ?"
"a sewing girl - said Lizzie, contempt
uously.
What our mother was, as have been
told, before her marriage" answered broth
er Tom. "And, if my eyes have not de-
ceived me, she has been sewing woman
ever since, or at least ever since, my recol-
lection of her.
That's another thing" said the sister,
Mother was superior to her class, and has
risen above it.
Suppose | answer your objection to
Harriet and say that she is superior to her
class, and will rise above it? What then :?
My father made good matrimonial ven
turc, and may do the same"
But why, brother Tom, urged the sis
ter, don't you choose wife from among
those on your own level ?'
wv hat do you mean by those on your
own level? Let us understand each other. 5"
From among those who move in our own
circle. From the educated refined and ac-
comphshed."
Such as the Misses Walton, for in
stance"
Yes, or the Misses Eden
''Whose fathers support them in idlencss,
and expect the Young men who marry them
to do the same. Now Lizzie, the fact of
the business is / like Mary Eden very well,
and once came SO near falling in love with
her, that | was really frightened, did not
90 near her pretty face again in six months
after l felt the first movement Of the tender
passion.
"Dear Mary Oh, Tom! why not marry
her! could love her as my own sister -
Cant afford it, pretty, I'm poor young
man, and have only my ents and industry
to help me forward IN the world. Mary
can do anything herself, and would expect
me to put her in an establishment but little
less costly than the one her father owns"
VII, Dul lUlI ullclc III NC nD utCtSSluN lDI
going to housekeeping at first. And then
you know that her father swell off in the
world, and he II give her a house and furnish
it no doubt when she is married"
Tom shook his head.
Mary Eden father may or may not be
rich, he replied. my own private opin-
ion is that he is living up to, if not littee
beyond his income And as to the house
and furniture which Mary's husband is Il
going to get, that is very fine to feed upon |
The brick and mortar is another affair."
80, but Mr. Eden is rich, Tom"
''The rich men of to-day are poor men to-
morrow, Lizzie. | wouldn't give the snap
of finger for rich father-inlaw as a de-
pendence. mean to trust in myself, an
honest purpose and clear conscience. And
as for wife, want woman with life,
honest purpose, industry and independence
in her, not great bundle of silks, laces,
bonnets, and curl-papers, with a pretty little
where inside of the crinoline circumvalla-
ton. And then, again, Lizzie, am some
thing of an independent young man, won
derfully given to the work of taking care of
myself l happen to be at the bottom of
the ladder, and if ever get to the top oft
my own strength will cary me there. Now
wife on my back, instead Of on the rounds
of the ladder, keeping step with me up
words, would be dead weight, and keep
me at or near the foot forever, No, no,
pretty, | cannot afford one of your finished
boarding -schoolmisses for wife-the luxury
is too expensive for me. So am going to
marry girl who knows something Of real
lite-a true, good, patient, enduring, self
denying, sweet darling little body, who is
not ashamed to earn her living with her
needle. And can tell you what. Dolly, L
only wish you were more like Harriet Park
er; there would be forty chances in favor of
your marrying a man of sense to those you
have now. Don't you know that a new
society has been formed among young men,
and that some Of the very best catches
among them have signed a pledge not to |
marry any girl who is not willing to COM
mence matrimonial life with two rooms and |
kitchen, and who doesn't know how to
bake, cook and sew, and to wash and iron,
into the bargain? am the President
You II cry some other word when you
get on the old maid list, and see your place
filled in the home of some man, that is
man, by a woman that was not ashamed OF
useful employment when she was girl
can tell you what, my dainty little sister,
there's reform at work, and men worth
having are beginning to choose between no
marriage or marriage with girls OF palmer
notions and more useful accomplishments
than are possessed by the butterflies who
lounge ON sofas all day knitting zephyr or
reading novels. So make up your mind to
reform or old-maidism.
'Andno as in all probability you under
stand that am in earnest about marrying
Harriet Parker, hope you will reconsider
your hasty resolution about not speaking to
your sister-in-law. The loss, let me tell
you, will be ON your own SIDE
Brother Tom understood his own posi-
tion perfectly. He was not man to stoop
below himself in marrying. He could not
unite himself with one who was ignorant