The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1879-01-02

Heroes must be more than drsftw God 80
Floating on waveless tide.
". y. W1tnes..
MRS. WONDERS DREAM on NEW
YEARS EVE.
II WISH there wasn't 3 man or q
child on the face of the earth-there
now!' Johnny got sharp box on the
ear and Mittie was set down on chair
with jounce that almost shook the
little house to its foundations; then
having silenced the children, Mrs.
Wonder proceeded tc get supper for
the "man." They were the torment
of her life-these children and that
IMAM" The first thing in the morn
ing and the last at night she was hur-
rying and working and contriving Just
for them. No peace or comfort or rest
did she know nor they either, for
that matter. l. was New Years Eve,
and, as is natural with us all, she had
been reviewing her life for the past
twelve months-just as she had done
eacl New Years Eve for the last five
years, and, just as a great many of us
have been after such retrospect, she
was a good deal discouraged; discour.
agement seldom has the effect to make
us good-humored. and we always at
tempt to believe that the blame lies
with somebody beside ourselves, and
We often feel that if we could lift the
whole world up and set it down with a
jounce, that it would do us an amazing
amount of good. Just as Mrs. Wonder
felt when she gave utterance to the
pointed remark at the beginning of the
chapter and her feelings were depicted
on her ccuntenance as MIR. Wonder
opened the door and with an inquiring
look stepped into the room, as she
placed the last smoking dish upon the
tea-table.
There, wish you'd eat your sup
per and get to bed out of the Way
was the gentle invitation for the chill
dren to partake of the evening meal,
and they followed instructions hurried
ly and silently as they could. Mr.. Won
der, who had long ago become used
to the little diversions, got himself off
down town as soon as practicable, and
the unhappy, discouraged, overworked,
impatient and fretful wife and mother
was left alone for the balance of the
evening.
1t was two hours before she was able
to feel that her work was done tor the
night, and that she might sit down in a
chair to rest; for though men declare
and maintain that women, as house.
wives. don't have anything much" to
do, they are mistaken, nevertheless,
and women will dispute this point with
them till the crack of doom, and prob
ably at that important period neither
will have arrived any nearer the same
conclusion than they are now. MIR.
Wonder, as he meandered down town
at that identical hour, was wonderipy
what Hannah could find to do that
made her so cross and tired all the
time. Why couldn't her work be done
at six o'clock, as was his? And why
couldn't she sit down and read, even
ings, as he did? And Mrs. Wonder
might have told him, as she had told
him hundred times before, tina. there
were some buttons off Jonnny's coat
that must be put on when he wasn't
wearing it, and q rent in Mites apron
that must be sewed up before the child
wanted it in the morning, and stock
ings to darn and gloves to mend, and a
thousand little things just right for
women to do of evenings" as Grand
ma Parsons used to say. Mr.. Wonder,
however, was u very good sort of a
man, and tried to- make the best of
things, and nobody will maintain that
he was to blame if Nature hadn't given
him the sense and reason to fully I'M
derstand the circumstances of the case,
and so, as he sat in the club-room,
where he had been indirectly sent by
Mrs. Wonder, the latter sat by the fire
at home, alone, and soon fell into q
heavy slumber, and as she slept she
dreamed:
In her dream Mrs. Wonder seemed
to have been transported to q strange
, country, and her arrival and appear
ance was a matter of as much curios-
ity to the people she met as were they
to her. The most she could make OF
them was that they were human be-
ings, but the manner in which they
were clad left it an open question as to
which sex they belonged; her first i'm
preston was that they had arisen in
haste that day and each thrown an in.
verted cotfee-sack over the head after
first cutting hole for the eyes and
mouth.
She seemed to have spent q week
among this mysterious community,
going whittier she pleased and helping
herself to whatever she could find to
eat. She at last discovered that her
companions understood her position
far better than she understood it her.
self, and that they laughed among
themselves as they watched her inuuir.
ing countenance, and vouchsafed nc
commentaries upon the situation un
til she, unable to endure the suspense
and strangeness Uf the surroundings
at last broke forth with eager ques
tionings, after she had discovered, Il
her horror. the true state of the socie
ty into which she had been mysterious
~ thrown. A#
Where are your husbandsr' sh,
INQUIRED one day, finding herself sur
rounded by about dozen of thu
strange community, which, she hal
become satisfied, consisted of womer
only.
They Immediately broke forth int
the most unmistakable expressions o
scorn and ridicule, and at last. amid
the uproar, she managed to catch on,
Ineligible answer:
1--WE drove 'em off twenty wear
ago; them that wouldn't 20 witt
scoldin' got hot water, an br0omsticks
an mop handles, an rollin' pins, an
fat-irons an things; an" she added
shaking delicate fist vigorously
"we'd like to seq the man that dar
to step foot on this soil ag'in. tn
truth OF the matter was" she cor
tinued. as her companions quieted dow
80 that the audient for whose benetl