Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1886-09-07
A HAPPY FAMILY.
Quarrel TO Decide WHO'S at the
Head.

An interesting Sunday school was es-
tablished at the residence of Charles
Pierce, in one OF the lower wards OF this
city, on the last Sabbath, when the i'm
portant question of who was to be the
head OF the family, was taken up and dis
cussed in its many different phases.
1t seems that Elder Pierce was anxious
to attend the big Tabernacle in the after
noon, and desiring to be on time, he had
asked his beloved wife to prepare dinner
earlier than usual. The woman readily
consented, and it was not long before
her lord was out OF the house and wan
dering far away. Whittier he went no
one knows.
| AS the day wore on the dinner was pre-
pared, and at the stated time it was put
on the table ready for the arrival OF his
lordship. The time passed. He did not
come. Ten minutes, half an hour, and
finally an hour had gone, and yet no hus-
band had come Mrs. p. was distracted.
She had kept her part OF the contract to
a and her villianous husband had failed
to keep his.
At last, after long wait, Mr.. Pierce
came creeping into the house, with a
e-forgive-me look on his face. His
wife saw this, and it only increased her
ire. She asked him why he had stayed
away so long, and no sooner had he
answered than she reminded him in 4
very forcible manner that he was deviat-
ing from the truth.
To be called liar, and that by his own
wife, was too much for the high spirited
gentleman, so it was not long before he
had clapped her fair cheeks between h is
palms in so vigorous q manner that the
deluded woman took the affectionate
spat Tor abuse, and Immediately con-
structed, from the stalwart form of her
beloved one, right line parallel to the
plane of the floor. This construction of
his meaning and his form did not suit the
mathematical mind of the husband, so
he proceeded to exchange places with his
wife. But she was too big for him; she
again assumed the perpen dicular, and
once more gave him the parallel. By
another quick change the wife was on
the floor and the husband standing over
her.
At this point their tete-a-tete was spoiled
by the entrance of the daughter, who
took in the situation and long breath,
and telling her father that she thought
he was id son of gun, she lifted
her mother to her feet. The injured
father then made for the daughter who
had thus implied that his parentage was
not as good as hers and, but for the
timely arrival OF neighbor, it is likely
that he would have forced the maiden to
take back the ''son of gum and call it
quits. The timely arrival of the neigh
Dor, however, was timely, and with it
the war was at an end.
Pierce had been licked, but he was not
going to lose every point, so he left the
house. When he was gone the wife sud-
denly remembered that he was the
cashier of the banking firm OF Pierce and
wife. She knew she must stop him be-
fore he had determined the number of
railroad ties between here and Canada
AS dernier resort she called tine police,
and by some mischance the police called
Pierce.
The matter came up in the Police Court
to-day. Pierce was arraigned on the
charge of wife-beating, and pleaded not
guilty. He based his defense on the
ground of self-defense, and had no trouble
in showing that he had merely saved his
life by his actions. However, it was
shown that Pierce was drunk at the time,
and the Judge therefore decided to accept
$3.50 from him. Mrs. P. offered to pay
it provided he would give her a note for
the amount, but he insisted that she
didn't want note from him, and hud-
ding up close to her he gave her nudge
or two with his elbow, and she was Won
The amount was planked down and the
pair went offtogether, she feeling that he,
and he feeling that she, was the proper
person to guide the fortunes of that great
institution-their family circle.