Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-10-02

You see, therefore, that man is judged
| through his works and not through faith
alOne.-I'rdnsl0ted from the German.
Washing Day.
THERE is no important difference in
Monday among those families who do
| their own washing The way of observ-
ing it is very similar. The first thing is
to get the man up an hour earlier than
usual to get down the boiler We don't
understand why a boiler is kept on the
top shelf where nobody but himself can
reach it. But perhaps it is not intended
we should understand it. Having got
down the boiler and taken his place at
the table, and pronounced grace with Il
benevolent aspect, he is called into the
kitchen again to lift the boiler up on the
stove. He finds it full of water and
weighing about three-quarters of a ton,
but he sinks his teeth into his lips, lays
his eyes out on his cheek, initiates those
cheeks, and accOmplishes the task After
breakfast, which is eaten hastily, and
from a table that is garnished with a bar
Of soap, a package of starch, and a blue
ing bag, he is sent down cellar after the
tubs, washboard bench, etc. he puts
both tubs together and the wasboard in
side with a view to avoid coming down
stairs again, although he has been years
giving practical demonstrations that those
things can't be carried at one time But
he grasps the inside of the tubs with one
arm and takes the washbench under the
other, and starts for the stairs No one
who has not tried it can begin to under
stand the amount of circumspection re-
quired to engineer wash-tub and a wash
bench up the same stairway at the same
me. He knows it, but there is an indy
ing hope in his breast that there is a way
to accomplish it and he starts. Before
| reaching the stairs the tubs slide around
, and the board slips out. He thinks at
first that he will put his heel on it and
split it in two, but changes his mind,
sets down the things, and replaces the
board. Then he starts again, and when
he has got as far up the stairway as he
can go without proceeding sideways, he
turns the tubs to the front, but as his hold
to them has been gradually yielding all
the while, he finds they are 50 low that
they strike the stair, and in an effort to
| raise them the bench gives, and to save
| that he loses in part his hold on the tubs,
and before he can recover it the board
| slips out and goes back into the cellar,
| two steps at jump. He turns round and
| looks over the tubs down at the board,
which he eyes with an intensity there ap-
| pears to be no call for, and again attempts
| the ascent. He gets the bench started
ahead, hut the end catches in the top step,
and having exhausted his endurance and
reach in getting it that far, finds himself
completely powcrless to lift it over the
obstruction. It has grown very warm in
the last minute, and his breath comes
very short and quick, and it seems as if
the arm which holds the tubs will very
soon drop off at the shoulder and leave
him cripple for life, and at this juno
ture the outside tub loosens and COM
mences to slip and threaten trouble He
presses his arm all the tigher to the inside
tub, and tries to get his knee up against
the outside one, but is too late. There is
| a squirm or two and then it is over. The
| outside tub is down with the washboard,
| having accomplished the trip with noise
| that is almost deafening The other tub
follows at once, being urged thereto by a
kick that nearly throws him from his
feet, and then getting the door open he
shoves the bench into the kitchen and clear
across the room, to the apparent jeopardy
of the legs Of the entire family. After
that he gets UP the other hings-making
no remark to any body, but looking around
| on every one in manner calculated to
reflect the greatest amount of discredit.
Then he puts on his coat, rubs his arms,
and starts down street, and gets out on the
walk, when he is called back to bring up
some wood. If that wood was in the
shape of burial casket it is extremely
doubtful if he could have looked more
solemn in taking it upstairs. At noon he
| comes home to dinner and finds only one
leaf up, the table-cloth in the wash, and
| that his wife has cut the bread after cut
ting the soap. What comments he con-
templates making on this state of affairs
are never made. He is sent out in the
yard armed with the clothes-line. and an
| injunction to not drop it in the dirt, and
in the seclusion of the space devoted to
the back yard, he vents the spleen that has
been gathering within him, and whips that
clothes-line around with sardonic JOY
After that he comes in with his teeth to-
| gether, and lifts two tubs full of water to
the floor, and then goes into the bedroom
| and puts on a pair of dry pants, and
grimly eats his dinner. 1t may occur to
him that there is no difference in this
Monday from any that has preceded it,
but he can't help but wonder what kind
of misery that is which comes up every
| time so fresh and formidable as to appear
entirely new.-Danbury Neos.
THE Cincinnati Gazette says: "The
writer of this saw a man yesterday who
came to this city in 1910 with his father
from Pennsylvania in two-horse wagon.
They drove up Main street, and when
they got up a little above where the new
post-otfice is to be located, man came
along and asked him if he owned that
team When told he did, he offered his
father seven acres of land in a square
block coming up to Main street The old
gentleman took a look around, and said
he wouldn't sell mis- team for the whole
town. Drive on, boys The team at that
time was probably worth between seventy