Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1880-10-28

comfortable dinner, but after dinner moth
ing was done to make him happy, He
could either put on his slippers and sit
aown before the grste-hre 10 read, or be
could Talk with his wife, who was q
bright sitectonete, and cheerful little wo-
msu, but such occupations as these could
not have auy possible charm for a man of
intellect aud tsste. Mr., Hiegnbottom
deeply bewaied his londness tor rum and
concert saloons, but he appealed TO all un.
prtludictd men to copceie that he was
really blameless, at my home was only
made attractive TO me, gentlemen, he
WAS IN the habit OF saying to the MEM
oers At leading temperance society who
periodically called on him TO URGE him to
reform ~ would gladly spend all my
evenings 81 home, but as IL is, am liter.
ally driven &C. seek comfort elsewhere,
though | am = man emlnently fitted TO
etJ1y toe pleasures II home lite" so
struck were several temperance men with
lbe fvce ~ Mr. igginbO.toms emarks
That not long sgo th,y slled ON his wife
and begged her 10 make an effort 10 save
her unhappy husband by making ais
home attractive.
Mrs Higginbottom consented to make
The desired effort snd rs = first step, visit
eli her husbands tsvorre concert saloon
under the protection Of "a disguise and a
detective officer. When she had learned
wi at were tho attractions which most
pow rtully appealed 10 Mr.. Higginbot.
TOMS mind, she proceeded 10 reproduce
shem rs far as practicable in her own
n, use, sac had the parlor carpet taken
up sud the bare floor nicely sprinkled
with beer ana the stumps ot cigsrs. She
removed the pictures from the walls, and
hung IN their places cheap aud gaudy
chromos representing impossible young
women in undesirable costumes. Two
! dirty wooden tables and supply Of
| wooden chars from The kitchen compile.
| ted the furniture OF the room, aud it be.
| gan TO assume reslly attractive appear.
| anCe
| Before the hour Of her husbands return
| from his business, Mrs. iliggnbotiom
| hired amsn 80 play on an ACCORDION and
| another Ia torture a violin, besides three
! professional trunkMds OF great indocency
| OF appearance and conduct and notori-
| Gus burglar, kindly furnished for the &C.
ossion 10y The Ponce Captain OF the Pre-
| ciuct There were In the kitchen two
! Irish gltls who we're decidedly ugly, but
| who were clean, decent, and modest girls.
! These two che Instructed IN the art of
! serving heer and spirits aud dressed them
| IA cosiUmes That were extremely vulgar,
though they could not be- said 10 DC i'm.
proper Having thus arranged all things,
she met her husband at the door and es.
corltd him to the dining room, where no
ale his dilner, UNCONSCIOUS OF the trans.
tormsn0n that had been wrought In his
front pstl1r.
After dinner, Mr.. Iligginholtom III his
| cigar and remarked that he must 20 out
Tor an hour or two Ia SET friend His
wife, with sweet smile, told him that no
ueed not go out for she had finally dis.
covered how TO make home attractive to
him, so g.ying, she showed him into tho
phrlor and led him TO a seat al one of tho
dirty tables. The fiddler and the accor.
deonplayLr immediately struck up. tho
drunkards, At a sign from Mrs. Hlggin.
bottom, began 10 swear and wrangle, aud
the burglar sidled up to Mr.. Higginbot.
tom and invii,d him to take drink.
The two lrish girls brought beer and
spilled ii on Mr.. Higginbottom's tables
they called him Dear" and asked him to
open bottle OF wiu"," and Mrs liiggin.
bottom, apologizing for the fac, that they
were undoniaby decent girls, assured her
husband that nevertheless she was conf
| WIN 'hhN nAN HhA iluhllf ithibtu hbW W
make home attractive, that she hoped to
spend many jolly evenings with him, aud
would like hot whisky without any fur.
ther delay.
Mr. Higglnboltom was at first com
pletely dsz d, but IN a few moments he
recovered his reason. Ha ordered tho
girls TO 90 into The kitchen and stay
there, and he pitched the drunkards out
of The front door and ordered the must.
Clans and burglar TO follow them Then
he informed hrs wife that nc had been an
idiot OF the very largest SIC, and that II
she would restore the parlor 10 IFS former
| condition ne would stay at home sad
make no further complaint Of It's want of
gttrsctgeDosp.
Mrs Higginbotoms plan cannot very
well be tollowed by other women, but 1t
was certainly brilliant success Mr.
| HigGinbOtOm has ceased to sneud his
evenings away from home, and he has IN.
| formed hia tenn rerance friends that the
! real reason Why he formerly froquented
| diereputabe places was the fact that he
WAS fool ana scoundrel. The temper
snce people are, Of course, glad that he
! has reformed but they still maintain that
/ men become dissolule and drunken solely
| because their homes are not made at.
| Uaclive.
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