The Van Buren press., 1874-02-10
Bsdgel Of Sclssorings,
TAKING IN TIE CLOTHES.
An Agonizlng Domestic Experience
How a Man Helps his Wife
From the Danbury Ncvs.l

What a frishtful sensation that is whei
you have just got home OF a cold Mon
day night and pulled your boots oil, t
be told that the weeks washing is out ol
the line and must be brought in. Now
to do this of dewy eve in summer, witt
the delicate perfume of flowers filling thS
cir, and brass band on the next street
is not exactly hardship; bu, to do it in
the dead of winter, with Il chilling breeze
blowing aud the clothes as stid as roll.
lug pin, is something no man can con-
template withoa; quaking We don't
quite understand how it is that man in.
variably gets his boots of before the
dread summons comes, but the rest OF ii
is plain enough There is a sort of re
| bellious feeling in his heart which
prompts him to try to entangle his wife
in an argument, and failing in this he
snatches up the basket and goes out in
the yard with it, rappng it against the
sides Of the door with as much yigor as
if it we're not purely accidental, If the
fond wife Is any way attentive she can
hear his vel! known voice consigning
various objects to eternal suffering, long
after he has disappeared. There is no
levity in line of frozen clothes, Every
article is as frigid AZ the Cardiff Giant,
and the man who wrenohes the Pin oil
and then holds the basket in expcc' alton
OF seeing the piece drop oil the line ofits
vn accord is too pure and simple for
this world. But our man isn't Of that
nature He catcnes hold of the garment
with his chilled hand and seeks to pull it
of, but it doesn't come. Then ho yanks
it upward and then downward and then
sideways; and when il comes OF it main
tains the shape it has beea all the after
noon working into, which permits itj1st
as readily to enter the basket as 10 be
showed through the key hole Of a yalise.
The flrst articles double up with bis
hands, and there is n faint semblancc OF
carelulness in packing them away; but
after that he smashes them away into the
basket without any ceremony and ere wds
them down with his foot lie uses the
same care in taking down fine cambric
handkerchief that he does in capturing
sheet, and makes two handkerchiels Of
every one. When ho gets far from tae
basket he allows the articles to multiply
in his arms, SO to save steps; and when
he gets his arms full Of the awkward and
miserable things, whose sharp, icy cor
ner job him in the neck and face, he
comes to an article that refuses TO give
way on one end. He pulls and shakes
desperately a. it, bowling and screaming
in his rage, nntil he Inadvertently steps
on the dragging cna of a sheet, and then
he comes down int on the frozen snow,
but bounds up again, grating his teeth,
and hastily depositiug the bundle in the
basket, darts back to the refractory mem.
Der, and, taking hold of it, dercely tugs
alit. while he fairly jumps mp and down
in tho extremity of his anger and cold
Then it comes unexpectedly, and With il
part OF the next article, and ho goes
over agan--this time on bis back and
with violence. With the clothes gather.
ell, he takes the basket up in his !iyid
hands, thus bringing the top articles
against his already frozen chin, and, thus
tortured propels his lifeless limbs into
the house She stands ready to tell him
to close the door, and is thoughtfnl
enough to ask him il It's cold work Bat
il he's q wise man he will make no an-
swer. II he is wise man he will silent
lv plant himself in front OF the stove, and
framing his frozen features into impla
cable frown, will preserve taat exterior
without the faivlest modification until
bedtime,