Weekly Trinity journal., 1875-12-04
HE HAD TO SEE A MAN.


thrusting their angry heads above the
horizon. 1t was nearly l O'Clock, and the
man of the house had not got home. The
dinner was drying on the table. The
woman of the house sat prim and stiff in
a chair fronting the door.
A. last the door opened, and the head
of the house with a hurried step and a
heated countenance came in. The instant |
he saw the hard, stiff face he dropped his
elasticity as if it had been a ton of lead.
Have-have you been waitin' ?" he
family cried.
Waitin' :" She looked at him rs if
each eye was a ten-inch augur. "Wait-
in'" she stonily repeated. "Where on
earth have you been until this late hour,
with dinner ready an hour ago, and the
flies enough to drive one mad ?''
"Well, had to see a man down town,
an"
"Had to see a man, did you? You
have got to see somebody eternally. 1t
don't make any difference how / may
slave over hot stove while you are on
the street gassin' with sc me loafer."
There was very black cloud on her face
as she snapped out this. There were
many, but hardly blacker clouds in the
far west.
"If you think I've got nothing more
to do than hang on your coat-tails with
l. ~ta1r II
can tell you that! You know just as
well as well as ] do that at II o'clock
your dinner is on the table. 1t has been
SO for fifteen years"
Well, my dear -"
"Don't my dear me won't stand it,"
she impetuou,ly shouted, "I've stood
this my dearing till | am just tired Of it."
And she closed her lips tightly and clnch
ed both hands spasmodicaly. Out over
the hills the fierce clouds rose in tumul-
tous bodies. Black and white, yellow
and gray urid and ominous.
"All you've got to do, you think, is to
say you had TO see man. See n man
yes, see man Oh you wretch Don't
you suppose I've got a spark Of feeling
about me? Do you think Pm stick ?"
She sank down in her chair again, and
clinched her hands tighter.
1t was growing darker and darker away
off in the West. The mighty upheavals
of dark browed clouds were dimming
the zenith. Sharp flashes of light shot
along the horizon, and the low growing
of the storm king sounded ominously
from the gathering darkness. But she
noticed not the one nor heard the other.
81 might as well be dead, and better,
suppose. An you wish 1 were. Don't
deny it don't add lying to your other
meanness. But ] will die yes, l will
die and when my cold body lies in the
coffin you will be sorry for this"
"Martha !" he exclaimed.
"Don't talk to me-" she passionately
added. Look at that pot-pie ; heavy
as lead. Look at those potatoes heavy
as stone. And yet you ask me to live.
| will die. | don't want to live. don't
want to stay on this earth, which has been
nothing to me but misery. Oh death,
where is thy sting? Oh grave, where
is thy victory? Look at this pot-pie.
Heavens, let me die and -"
1t was an awful fash. 1t seemed to
reach from horizon to horizon. 1t shot
athwart the heavens with terrific vehe-
mence and it lighted up every corner of
the Munson street residence with glare
that was binding. And then came the
thunder-the awful peal that had been
gathering in forces for an hour, only to
hurl them down to the earth with a roar
that appalled, the heart and made the soul
stand still with awe. 1t seemed as if the
very globe was shaken to the centre-as
if the heavens had been rent in twain.
The outraged wife turned as white as
sheet. She saw the dreadful flash and
heard the awful roar, and then, as she
realized that the doom of death was in
the very air about her, she sprang from
her chair, dashed into the bed room, and
sprang into the middle of feather bed.
Then her awe stricken husband pitched
into the pot-pie. But the cowed woman
could not rest. She drew the feather tick
about her and shouted without ceasing
for the mercy of heaven.
"Spare me spare me !" she yelled at
the top of her voice. Have mercy upon
nno op1 Iill nayor nouar o,,o;, x,ou,l
about the din"
Another flash, and another stunning
peal of thunder.
"Oh ooh-ooh Mercy mercy Oh!
I'm going to die" she screamed. Save
my life, save my life ! and Daniel can
meet all the men he pleases. Oh Lord,
keep off the lightning an I'll let the pot
pie get heavier than a stun, an III never
say word. Oh Lord, / don't care for
the potatoes ! Let 'em cool, it's nothing
to me. Only be good, only save me, and
I'll try TO be good wife. I'll be so patti
ent; III be so owing I'll -"
The last peal had sounded. A rift in
the clouds appeared, and through it flash
ed a spray Of the glad-assuring sunshine.
She sprang off from the bed and dashed
back to the dining room, where her hus-
band was helping himself to another pot
pie. But she was patient now. She felt
as If she had been snatched from the very
jaws Of death.
"Oh stuff your carcass, you old hog I"
she gasped.
TRYING THE EXPERIMENTAL De-
trolter had his hair cut the other day,