The Arizona sentinel., 1875-09-25

Mrs. Brown and her gossip, Mrs. White, were cOnversing about husbands and the secrets of Free masonry. MT. Brown Was a Free mason; and the fact of not being able to share the secrets of the the Order with him made Mrs.
 Brown very unhappy. She was pouring out her grief to Mrs.
 White, and saying for the thous- andth time, II wonder what they
 do in the ge-rOOm" "l have no doubt but it's dreadful" re-
 piled Mrs. White, "but if my hus-
 band was Mason, Pll bet I'd find out what they did" But how? They dare not tell" "Ah but I'd make him tell" "How! oh, how?" asked Mrs. Brown, anxiOuSly. "Hush! Pll tell you;
 but don't breathe it for the world.
 because it's a dead secret" "No
 no; I won t." "Well, do you
 know that tickling persons ear
 when they are asleep will make them talk?" "NO. Will they, though?" "Yes. Now you wait
 till Brown comes home from the lodge next time, and have a broom
 straw in the bed with you. When
 he gets asleep, you tickle his ear
 with it gently, and he will begin
 to talk about what he has been doing at the ledge, and in this
 way you can get the whole of the
 business out of him." Gracious me! You don't say so, Mrs. White?" "To be sure l do. l always get my husbands secrets out in that way" "Pll do it."
 And you'll tell me about it, won't you?" Certainly. But you must never say anything about it." "Oh, of course not. 1
 am very close mOuthed," replied
 Mrs. White earnestly. So 1t was agreed upon, and they separated.
 But unfortunately MT. White had overheard the conspiracy, and lost no time in informing MT. Brown, who laughed heartily over 1t. A few minutes afterwards Brown
 attended a meeting of his lodge, and his wife Was ali anxiety re-
 garding it. On retiring, she arm ed herself with spray from her
 broom and wakefully waited for her lord and master to return. At last she had almost broken down
 the vail of secrecy which had
 troubled her so long, and her heart beat wildly when she heard him open the front door and come ill. Of course she preferred to be asleep, and did not see the cOmical smile on her husbands face as he turned up the gas and began dis rObing himself for bed. But he said nothing, and in few mo- ments he WAS comfortably tucked in and giving out premonitory indications of approaching sleep. Then Mrs. Brown opened her eyes cautiously, and convinced herself that he had gone to that land from wEich sleepy husbands neV- CT return until sometime next day. Cautiously she reached un- der the pillow, and took the broom straw from its hiding place. Tben she reached over carefully and began to tickle her husbands ear, and he was all the while doing his best to keep from exploding with laughter. Finally he began to talk a little, and her ears were keenly alive to every syllable. "Yes, he must die," said he, "he betrayed our secrets to his wife. I've got to kill him-the lot fell on me-" Mrs. Brown screamed and leaped from the bed, while her husband, unable to control himself, gave vent to his laugh ter and disturbed the neighbOrs for the next ten minutes. But they never came to any under. standing about the strange affair. She never asked him what he was laughing at, and he never in quired what made her jump out of bed 50 quickly. Mrs. Brown and Mrs. White don't speak now. She thinks Mrs. White played a joke on her, and she seemstO have lost much of her anxiety regard ing the secrets of FreemasOnry.