The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-10-20

Win UeluS u OWO6H, en- y
Aunt Judy was surprised at her own
audacity. Edna, from her perch over
head, could hear every word.
"pm sorry" said John, humbly.
"And would you ask her pardon
And would you promise on your bended
knees, before Edna Rutherford, that
you would never dare to taunt the wife
of your bosom, who gave up everything
in life worth living for, and accepted as
paltry compensation your own
pigmy and impudent self-would you
sOear that you'd fit yourself for some
useful occupation, and adapt yourself to
life's circumstances, as a sensible man
ought, if l should introduce you to
Edna Smith 2''
John looked at Aunt Judy in COM
plete bewilderment.
"You don't speak," said the old lady,
earnestly.
"PH never kneel to any woman"
said John, sullenly.
"It isn't a month since he knelt at
my feet to beg for the privilege of kiss
ing my hand !" cried Edna, soto Uoce.
"Very well, then. Good-morning :"
replied Aunt Judy, as she adjusted her
spinning wheel and sat down beside her
distaff.
"But I'm not gone, yet; neither am /
going till / find my wife 90 answered
John.
Hey diddle-diddle,
The cats in the fiddle,
The COW jumped over the moon,"
Sang Aunt Judy, keeping time with her
foot on the treadle, while the wheel
purred a brisk accompaniment to
Mother Goose.
"Say! Aunt Judy" cried John,
desperately.
" Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard
To get her poor dog a bone"
'T'n Mother Hubbard you, if you
don't talk to me ~ interrupted the
angry Benedict.
"Sir ?"
81 demand civil treatment, ma'am.
You're harboring my lawful wife
against my expressed wishes; and, if
you don't show me her hiding-place,
| Pll try what virtue there is in law"
Aunt Judy chuckled, and Edna came
near fainting. John Smith strutted up
and down the room, inflated with i'm
aginary Importance.
Aunt Judy kept on with her spinning
and did not seem to hear.
"Come, old woman, none O. your non
sense I don't want any trouble, but ]
assure you that you'll have it if this
things kept up. a pretty spectacle
you'll cut, figuring in the courts as ont
who parted husband and wife !"
Aunt Judy seemed suddenly to havt
regained consciousness. Pausing il
both work and ditty, she rose in he
chair, and, confronting the irate hus
band of her charge, exclaimed, coldly
"Young man, you're cracking on to,
much steam-quite too much. You
seem to forget that did not meet EJn
at all during your courtship or afte
your marriage. How l could hav
parted you is, therefore, a myster,
which 1 should be pleased to have yol
make clear. do not believe at all il
separations between husband and wife
! believe, rather, that if men an
women take upon themselves the mar
riage VOWS, they should at all times b
ready to sacrifice their personal comfor
for each others benefit. But, in orde
that these sacrifices be beneficial, the
must be mutual, sir. I am an old lady
and an old-fashiOned one. / have see
+ much of life, and known much of il
sorrows. And now, let Aunt Judy Civ
e you little advice. Are you too angr
to listen? Tell me, for 1 will not allo,
2 you to sauce me. No man ever did bu
4 one, and he got enough of it, and so di
. l, too, for that matter. No man eve
, dares to taunt a woman, or expect
e to taunt her with impunity, except sh
t is bound to him by marriage law tha
: gives him all the advantage in every
. thing but divorce court; and the ma
D who taunts a woman under such eli
cumstances is a very chivalrous maj
John Smith-a very chivalrous man.
d "What would you have me. to d.
Aunt Judy ?" asked John, falteringl,
q "Now you're talking sensibly ~ an
r the old lady offered him chair.
:. John dropped into the profered SCI
p and fidgeted uneasily.
s "Td have you go to Edna and in a
humility make what amends you ca
for the great wrong you have infiictt
upon her. You have wronged her
y more ways than one. You lured h.
e from her parental home, where luxul
'f and freedom were her portion, and toe
her, without any adequate provision f
her needs, to share your lot in povert
Then, when financial troubles cam
ID which you might have foreseen if yC
E" had not been an idiot, you called her
e. burden, and assumed the air of
!! martyr, as though you, and you onI