Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1871-10-12
Miscellany.
HON MOTHER DID IT."

M1SCCllsluys
"HvW MOTHER DID IT."
rY J Il HADERMANN.
The yesr lS39-that is, the year ir
which | was born-is OF no manner o
imp ,rteuce to myself or anybody else
The wear lSl0-that il, the year in whict
began to iace (charlie and got married
that year)-is Of considerable im Ortance
to myself aud 10 somebody Sc The two
decades forming the interim ietweer
those wears constitute my Dark Age, in
which | lecthel an meAsl,:a AMI whoop
ing -cn,1yheu, and vent to sch ol, a"d wo
nv hair in two long pig tails, and loved
molasses can " and regarded school
room rs purEAtory, ) ballroom as heaven
when I snng sni dane I'd and grew as the
bird. and grasshopr rcrs AMI flowers sing
and d sDce and grow, because they having
nothing else to do.
Then camu my G lden Age. That
means, then cine Charlie iutO my life,
when | ftl; for tho first time that there
was music in the birds voices aud per
fume III the Il tl,wrrs-that there was light
in the heavens above and on the earth be-
nea tn, for God WAS in heaven and Charlie
was ON earth-when l, whO had all along
been hardly more than human grasshop-
per, iecane the happiest OF happy women
80 much happier, | thought, than &C.
served. For whp was l, and what great
thing had ever done, that should be
crowned with such Il crown Of glory as
Charlie' why should !, ins gnificant I, be
so best among women as to be taken to
wife by Charlie?
~ tc
rather resent the fact that Charlie was
prosaicslly we'll off: his circumstances
were distressingly easy. 1t would have
been so much nicer, so deliclously ro-
mantle. if there had been an oppor unity
afforded mo to show how ready, nay,
esger, I was to sacrifice friend', home
and country for his Gear sake But
Charlie didn't want me to sacrifice my
friends; nor did it require any great
amount of hcroism to exchange my
modestly comfortable me his decid-
edlv luxurious ooe; and as for country,
nothing on earth could b we Induced
Charlie to leave his own country, much
less his own pari: h, much less his own
planta ion. So we We're married without
any talk Of sac itice on either side, AMI
moved quietly enough from fathers small
plantation to Charles larse one.
fectness of my happiness; there was SO
little hope Of my ever having an opportu-
nifty W mir those mag laDi'nOns traits of
Ch srncter upOn the pOasesslOA of which l
60 plumed mvseif. | felt sure that could
meet the most adverse circumstances with
the most smiling patience, but circum-
stances nb>tinately r. fused to be adverse
was inwardly conscious that the most
trying emergency could not shake my
heroic but purely fcmi inc fortiude; but,
alas my forttude was likely to rust while
waiting FIR the emergency. Injury and
wrong should be met with sublime dig.
nifty. sut the most wildly speculative i'm
aginatioa could not look upon Charles
placidly handsome face and convert him
into possible ,yrant.
To tell how the longed-f opportunity
to exercise my powers of endurance, and
my dignity, and all the rest of it, did
finally come about, and to tell how bore
the test, Is the object of this paper.
For the first six months of our married
happy-selhshly happy, too. We re-
sented neighbor's visit as On act of bar
barous invasion, and the necessity of re-
turning such visits was acknowledged
with Il sublimity Of resignation worthy of
pictorial repres ntation in th%t exquisite
psrl,r manual, Foxs Book Of Martyrs. II
Charlie lett the house for an hour or two
I loosed upon his enforced absence as
cruel dispensation of Providence, which
did not bear with "fOItitude and sublime
dignity" but pouted over like the ridicu-
lous baby was. Bare conjngal civility
required that on leaving the house Charlie
should kiss me three times, and on re-
turning six times; anything short of that
should have considered premonitory
symptom Of approaching separation If
Charlie had ever been 80 savage as to call
me plain "Lulie," should have felt he
was sick and tired of me, and was repent.
ins Of having married me in
stead of that specialized bas-bleu,
Miss Minerva Henshaw, who read BUCKLE
and talked dictionary. I believe was in
tox'ca'td with my own happiness, and
was little nOnsen,iCul because I was 81
happy.
Fortunately for the comfort of both
Charlie and myself, his domestic cabinet
consisted of marvelously w, II. trained se,
of servants, who were simply perfect-as
perfect in their way as Charlie was in his,
They had been trained by Charles
mother, who i,nd been the head of affairs
in his house up to the time of her death
an event which had occurred some dozc.
years before my first meeting with
Charlie. Everybody said she had been a
celebrated houstk -cper, and Charles de-
votion to her had be,n n the talk of the
countryside. Tber;, were people malic.
iou4 enough to say that if Charlie's mother
had never died he would never have mar
ried but take the liberty Of resenting
such an assertion az personal insult; f0r
although don't doubt the dear old lady
was perfect j"wel in her way, yet, look
ing at the portrait Of her which hangs
over our parlor mantelpiece, see the face
OF h'rd detcrm ned-looking woman
with cold gray eyes and r,gidly set moth,
in a funny-looking blacH dress, neither
high necked nor ow-necked, having
staErh7 white ruffle round the edge, in
vlv'n whit" contrast to The yellow skin {;
Ss Gl.n prlSzAy, iron-gray curls peeping out
ierr,,w i"'i ,n'ef :. SApthat is fearfuly and Won
fed border radi Tim i'm Il hue e;ro,. ruf
ference Of several iec,, wbiia 'u it,
two black and white gauz" my r;hhn l.o
strings lie in rigid exactncss ''~,r nvnr
her two rigidly exact should.ra
Looking on this portrait, do not th4uk
anybody tor saying that it was only be-
ca;'c iteatA chose that shining mark that
l had fouLd favor in Cha. lies eyes
We had been ncarried. suppose, about
six mon;hs, when, sitting one eveninr
over cozy wood fire in eur coy l.ttle
par,nr, i',st under the work rf art | h W..
deecri bed at su II l"n2th, Charlie commit.
TED "is f1rst matrimonial solec;sm He
yaWheo, actually papo I-an open mouthed.
undeniabln yawn!
GlAncing up at him from nv wark
(Which consisted f the inevitable worked
slippers without which no woman cousid.
er' her wifchood absolutely ass ried). I
caught HIM | ) the act. Are YOU tired
Char!e" l asked in accents of wifelv
anxi ty. ''
iir;'ll Poor fellow! he ought to have
hove been, for he had ridden all over the
plantation that day, had written two bust.
ness l1t!cra, aAd smoked there's no telling