Daily Los Angeles herald., 1883-09-23
A Married Mans Reverie
BY JOHN oNnAs.


What blockhead my brother
Tom is, not to mnrryl Or. rather,
I perhaps, I should say, what a
bloekhead not to marry some
twenty five years ago, for / sup
pose he'd hardly get any decent
sort. Qf a body to take him, as old
as hsis now Poor fellowl what
a forlorn. desolate kind Of life
he leads; no wife 10 take cure Vi
him--no children to love him
no domestic enjoyment--notllfng
snug and comfortable in his ar
rangements at hone--nice socia-
bic dinners pleasant faces at
breakfast. By the way, what is
the reason my breakfast does not
come up2 I've been waiting for
it this half hour. Oh, I forgot;
my wife sent the cook to market
to get some trash or other for
Dicks cold. She coddles that
boy to death, But. after all, /
ought not to find fault with Tom
for not getting wife, for he has
lent me a good deal Of money
that came quito convenient. and
| suppose my young ones will
have aIl he worth when he dies,
poor fellow. They'll want it, I'm
afraid for although my business
does very well, this housekeeping
eats up the profits, with such a
large family as mine
Let me see; how many mouths
have / to feed every day? There's
my wife and her two sisters
that's three; and the four boys
seven; and Lucy and Sarah, and
Jane, and Louisa, four more.
eleven; thea there's the ceQk and
the housemaid, and the boy
fourteen. and the woman that
comes every day to wash and do
odd jobs about the house-fif-
teen; then there's the nursery
maid sixteen; surely there must
be another--Im sure I made
seventeen when / was reckoning
up last Sunday morning at
church: there must he another
somewhere; let me see again,
wife, wifes sisters, boys, girls
oh it's myself. Faith, / have so
many to think OF and provide for
that I forget myself half the time
Yes, that makes it seventeen.
Seventeen people to feed every
day is no jokel and somehow or
other they all have the most furi-
Gus appetites; but then. bless their
hearts, it's a pleasure to see them
eat. What a havoc they do make
with buckwheat cakes OF a
moruj to be surel
Mo- poor Tom knows nothing
OF alI this. There he lives all
alop6 by himself in boarding
housG, with nobody near him
that cares brass farthing
whether he lives or dies. No
aiiectionate wife to nurse him
and sscoddle him up when he's
eick; no little prattlers about him
10 keep him in good humor-nc
dkwning inteIlects, whose devel'
0pnent be can amuse himself
with watching day after day
nobody to study his wishes, and
keep all his comforts ready. Con-
found it, hasn't that woman go
back from the market yet? I feel
remarkable hungry. / don't
mind the boys being coddled aud
messed If rny wife likes il, but
there no Ike in having the
breakfast kept back for an hour
Their school bills are coming 10
too; / remember before I wa.
married / used to think what /,
delight it would be to educat,
the young rogues myself; but /,
man with q large famlly has M
time for that sort Of amusemen
I wonder how old my Young Ton
isl let me see, when does hi
birthday come? next month, Al
I'm a Christian; then he will b,
fourteen. Boys OF fourteen co n
slider themselves all but me b
nowadays, and Tom is quite D
that mind, / see. Nothing viii
suit his exquisite feet but Well
ington boots at thirty shillings
pair; and his mother has beef
throwing out hints for me as t,
the propriety of getting a watcl
for him-gold, of course. Silvel
was quite good enough for m,
when was half score year
older than he is, but times ar
awfully changedsince my younge
days.
Then, / believe in my soul h
has learned to play billiards; an,
three or four times lately. whe,