Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-05-02
JOHN STEPHENS PERICARDIUM.

sical and capricious notions and appetites
the better. Let our saffron colored tea
guzzlers lay the thing TO heart.
JOHN STEPHENS PERICARDIUM
''Now, am going to tell you just
what my husband said to me this
morning, Doctor, word for word,
and the invalid, Mrs. Stephens, lay
back on the. sofa pillow, the very
picture of misery. The family ply
sician, who was called on an average
to the Stephens mansion, three hun
dred and sixty times a year, drew a
chair close to the couch, and waited
quietly for his patient to open her
book of complaints.
''Last night, you see, Doctor, l had
an i'll turn, and he wanted to come
for you; but when l got so he dared
to leave me, he concluded we'd bet
ter let you sleep"
"Much obliged to him." said the
Doctor-sarcastic emphasis on the
personal pronoun. 'Last night was
the first undisturbed nights rest l
have enjoyed for week"
Mrs. Stephens continued;
''This spell is the same as I had
the last time you were sent for, Doc
tor"
GA slight nervous attack" broke
in the physician, nothing more"
"Wen, it don't make any differ
ence what you call it, it was mighty
hard to bear; but let me tell you
what my husband said first, Doctor,
before we go into the symptoms.
When he was going down to break
fast, he says tome, 'Kate, what shall
l send you up?"
Says l 81 don't want anything in
the world but a good, strong cup of
tea. Tell Bridget to send it up in
the little teapot" l saw, Doctor,
that he did not move after l said
this, so l turned and looked up at
him, and such a picture of rage and
disgust Inever saw in my life. FL
nally says he "Tea tea tea It's
nothing but tea from morning till
night. Kate" says he, "you are the
color of a Chinaman, now. Why
don't you order good piece of beef
stake, and a slice of brown bread and
a cup of chocolate? That would be a
sensible breakfast"
"But, john" says 1, "you forget
that am sick and have no appetite"
l was all ready to cry, but was de-
termined that he should not have
the satisfaction of seeing the tears
fall.
"Forget," says he, "forget! I wish
to heaven could forget! It's moth
ing but grunt and groan from one
years end to another. l have lost
all patience with you," says he.
"When we lived in part of house,
and you did your own house-work,
you were as well and happy as any
body, and no man ever had a pleas
anter little home than John Ste
phens; but what have Inow to love,
or to come back tor" And this, Doe
tor, is what he ended up with
''Kate," says he, ''you are nothing
more nor less than drunkard, and
in the sight of God, more culpable
than most of the men who stagger
the streets; because the ma
iority OF, those poor devils have some
sort of an excuse for their conduct,
and you haven't the slightest. You
have luxurious home, a husband
doing his level best to make you
under the light
Of the sun to please you, and yet you
will persist in swilling tea" Yes,
Doctor, swilling was the word he
used-boo hoo hoo Oh, dear me!
to think should ever have lived to
have heard such dreadful language
out of my husbands mouth; and
then he says-"and making me as
miserable a wretch as walks the
earth"
pretty plain talk" interrupted
tne doctor, with a shrug of his
broad shoulders.
oh, yes" sobbed the victim, "and
so awfully coarse and unkind IF M
had had a spell and died there bofora
his very face, 1 don't believe he
would have cared a snap of his fin
ger; | tell you, DR.. Ellis. there il
such thing as mans getting hard
ened."
"Evidently," replied the physician,
with iaconismabsolutely painful.
"Bnt my husband has nothing in
the world to trouble him but lust
my poor health; and ag sure 1 can
not help that" This remark was
more in answer to her companions
tone and manner, than the one single
word that had accidentally escaped
his lips, and this the doctor felt.
WApybUdY would think bv the