The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1867-02-07

| hSAOt RhA Wih PuALiS hAOlS ySl, bAAl bU'
ciety is different from what It is now,-
how much refined and sensitive woman
is bound to suffer from coarse and dis
gusting master, legally called her hus-
band, before she is entitled to break Of
a bad bargain she scarce. had a hand in
making. I've sat here, tonight, and
heard about men getting goods under
false pretencesi you've told some as.
tonishing big stories, gentlemen, about
rogues stealing horses and sleighs; and
I'm going to tell you about the mar
who stole a meeting house; but when
all is said, / guess it will be found that
more extraordinary thieving than all
that often goes on under our own eyes,
and nobody takes any notice of it.
There's such thing, gentlemen, as get.
ting hearts under false pretences. =
There's such thing as mans stealing
wife. .l,.-. .......
II speak with feeling on this subject,
for / had an opportunity Of seeing what
Mrs, Jedwort had to put up with from
a man no woman of her s amp could
do anything but detest. She was just
the prettiest, patientest oseature you
ever saw. She was even too patient
If ! had been tied to such a cub, / think
/ should have cultivated the beautiful
and benignant qualities of a wildcat
there would have been one good fight
and one of us would have been living,
and the other would have been dead,
and that would have been the end of it.
But Mrs. Jedwort bore and bore untold
miseries, and a large number of chill
dren. She had had nine of these, and
three were under the sod and six above
it when Jedwort ran off with the meet
ing-house in the way I am going on tc
tell you. There was Maria, the oldest
girl, a perfect picture of what her moth.
.er had been at nineteen. Then there
were the two boys, Dave and Dan, fine
young fellows, spite of their father,
Then came Lottie, and Susie, and then
Willie, little four-year-old. "a
sit was amazing to see what the
mother would do to keep her family
looking decent with the little means she
had. For Jedwort was the tightest
screw ever you saw. 1t was avarice that
had spoilt him, and came so near turn
ing him into beast. The boys used to
say he grew so bent, looking in the dirt
for pennies That was true of his mind,
if not of his body. He was poor man,
and a pretty respectable man, when he
married his wife; but he had no sooner
come into possession of a little property,
than he grew crazy for more. There
are a good many men in the world, that
nobody looks upon as monomaniacs,
who are crazy in just that sort of way.
They are all for laying up money, de-
priving themselves of comforts, and their
families of the advantages of society and
education, just to add few dollars to
their hoard every year; and SO they
keep on till they die and leave 1t to their
children, who would be much better of
if a little more had been invested in the
cultivation of their minds and manners,
and less in stocks and bonds. 4 gIT
ftJedwort was Just one of that class
of men, although perhaps he carried the
fault / speak of little to excess. A
dollar looked 50 big to him, and he held
it so close, that at last be couldn't see
much of anything else. BY degrees he
lost allregard for decency andihis neigh
bors' opinions His children went bare
foot, even after they got to be great
boys and girls, because be was too mean
to buy them shoes. 1t was pitiful to
see a nice, interesting girl, like Maria,
goabout looking as she did, while her
father was piling his money into the
bank. She wanted to go tosChool, and
learn music, and be somebody; but he
wouldn't keep arhired girl, and she was
obliged to stay at home and do house,
work; and she could no,more have got
a dollar out Of him to pay for clothes
and tuition, than you could squeeze sap
out of hoe handle. rol uouagti. NJ.
"The only way bis wife could ever
get anything new for the family was by
stealing butter from her own dairy, aud
selling it behind his back. tYou
needn't say anything to- Mr.. Jedwort
about this batch of butterj she would
hint to the storekeeper; but you may
hand the money to me, or q l will take
my pay in goods In this way new
gown, or a piece of cloth for the boys
coats, or something else the family need
ed, woGld be .smuggled into the house,
with fear and trembling lest old Jed
wort should make row and find where
the money came from. g uos 90
pThe house inside was kept neat as q
pin; but everything around it looked
terribly shiftlessa II was built original
ly in an ambitious style, and painted
white. 3 IL had four tall front pillars,
supporting the portion OF the roof that
came over the porch, lifting up the
eyebrows of the house, if Imay so ex-
press myself, and making it look as if it
| was going to sneeze. Half the blinds
were off their hinges, and the rest flap
ped in the wind. y The front doorstep
had rotted away. Tie porch had once
q good floor, but for years Jedwort had
been in the habit Of going toit whenev-
er he wanted q board for the pig-pen,
until not bit offioor was left. f5 'if
\ "But ] began to tell about Jedwort
leaning on the gate that morning. We
l had all noticed him; and as Dave and