Stevens County tribune. (Morris, Minn.) 1877-1880, 1879-02-13

conversation with his wife, Tn she
lclimbed, walked tiptoe across the garnet
floor, got down en- her knees, and put he I
ear as close to the knot-hole as she could
get it. She even shut her eyes, lest son c
OF the good things should escape by that
way. rs
For awhile she did not understand
anything clearly. Now she heard Mrs
Capers laugh; then Mr.. Capers stopped a
a minute and laughed too. This served
to excite her the more, and she pressed
her head so close against the rough par
titiOn that when she came to go away she
carried off splinters In plenty in her hal'.
Finally she heard something with dis
tinctness.i Mr.. Capers was telling his wife,
who appeared to be in great glee, OF a
man who had been saying hard things to
his wife. Said he in the course of his
remarks: w.. s# U
"Mr. Jones gott to abusing his wife, at
last. He declared his wife should not go
out visiting, and threatened to shut her up
if she dared disobey him.. As for going
to those evening meetings, he declared
he meant to put stop to it; he had
enough oft. 1t did not do her any sort
of good, and made great deal of trouble
and expense to him. He should put an
end to it at any and every hazard.
Mrs. jenkins. started up in blank sur
prise. "NOw want to know" said she
to herself, ''If our minister says that of
Mr.. Jones9"
Without waiting to hear any more,
Mrs. Jenkins folded her arms tightly
bout her. and started down the stairs
The next thing she did was to throw on
her "things" and start off at high speed
for her friends, Mrs. Tsutog. ~ 81 =
| Nov I want to know said the latter.
as Mrs. Jenkins came through the back
entrance, "do tell if that's you9 Sit down,
do. What's the word this afternoons
Heard anything very new latelyG"
"OA, we'll, no. do'no either; p'raps it
may be new to you, though"
"Why, what is it9" said she. II dare
say it's. I'm not in the way of hearin'
anything till everybody else has picked
it up all clean. What is it now"
'EOh we'll, nothin' really worth men
tionin. But then you may as well know
as me. It's nothin,' th:ugh, that care
to have go from me' you know don't
wish to be mixed up in this scrape."
mo, your name shan't be mentioned.
But what Is it, Mrs. Jenkinsy What is it?
Do pray tell me suddin', for am dyin'
to know"
ats no great affair after all, though.
Still it's something. But this is all there
is to it,-Mr. Jones has got to abusin' his
wife most dreadfully; and he declares
that it she thinks of goin out visitin',
he'll surely shut her up where she can't
get out SO soon" #E &
"Of all the things in the world -
Eyes, and more'n that; he's even gone
and forbid her goin' to evenin' meetings.
What do you think O. such man as
that2' r. .re ~ -.. .ss-. j.. r..-.e#e
81 think he's monster"
"And so do I. But that amt quite all,
He Jaws her all the time, abuses her,
threatens her, and keeps her in mortal
fear of her life. Only to think of it,
How did you hear aboutit? wonder
| hear about it, I'd like to know?'
"Well, I'd as lief tell you rs not, Mrs.
Tautog, but then you must promise not
to tell anybody else about it."
"Oh, to be sure not. What should l
be gaddin' around the neighborhood for,
tellin' hard stories about respectable folks.
Who did tell you, thought"
"Nobody told me exactly, but hap
pen to know it come, in the first place,
from the minister"
"You don't say SOP ...--<H.
Mrs. Jenkins nodded in silence.
"Wel, l do declare now! Who'd eve1
. | &b1,7r.h% aT.F 81
But I've seemed to take notice back along
that his wife was good deal down hearted
and sort O. melancholy like. And that
must be the reason, / know,-that ex-
/ plains it ALL"
"Yes," said Mrs. Jenkins, that's it."
The latter did not stay very long after
unbosoming herself of her heavy secret,
when off posted Mrs. Tautog. armed and
/ equipped for the brave business she had
in hand. The first house she dropped
into was Mrs. Mallory's.
-"Mrs Mallory" said she, almost as soon
as she was seated, shave you heard the
news?"
why no." answered the astonished la
dy. "What is it, prav?' t%~Uf
And forthwith Mrs. Tautog related all
that Mrs Jenkins had been kind enough
to tell her, and good deal more, saying
nothing about the embellishments she
laid on in the coulse of her story.
Mrs. Mallory was astonihsed, ofcourse
and, as soon as her visitor had withdrawn,
she dons her bonnet and shawl and whips
across to Mrs. Drinks. There the story
was repeated with variations and consid
cradle additions. Then Mrs. Brink took
it up; and then Mrs. Murry got interested
in it, and then Mrs. Filpot, and so on, till
every body had got hold of it and had
talked it up, and had passed judgement
upon the man who was guilty of such
malpractice upon his family. If it had
stopped right there, perhaps it would
have answered but ii. didn't. It spreads
like circle in the water till in the end
Mrs. Jones heard of it. and heard OF
course, that the author of the story was
the minister's own self.
The next thing to be done was for Mr.
Jones and his family to leave Mr.. Caper's
church and go somewhere else. The
clergyman was a good deal troubled
about it, and his wife went over to see il
she could discover the cause. Mrs. Jones
received her with good deal of coldnes.
and seemed hardly civil Unable to en-
dure it any longer, Mrs. Capers asked
the aggrieved lady, frankly, what The
f trouble was. Mrs. Jones, as frankly
: told her; that was well, for now the lat
ter knew exactly what the matter wa,
e and what il was necessary to do. s
Going home and imparting the intelli
>, gence to her husband, he manifested
e quite as much establishment as she. Fl,
cot ond fhou0hf IL oyor a l;ttlo xii ::