The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1888-05-25

over the books and looking through
them.
What an odd creature you arel''
she exclaimed, suddenly turning to
Agnes" Here. you've got Mays pic.
ture next to Henry's in your Bible"
"That was hers. Henry gave it to
me q few days after we were married
with a request that / leave it just as
it was replied Agnes.
What did he give it to you for il
he wanted to keep it undisturbed? To
De aggravRtn1gy??i inquired Mamie. in
dignantly. "If aver / have ahusband.
you can bet your basic shekeI no,
other woman's picture will have a
place next his-request or no request.
What excuse did he have the cheek to
make for such a request, anyhow"
"He said he should always love me
next to-to-his first wife, and he
gave me the Bible because it was hers,
and | was the only person he felt will
ing should have it., exclaimed Agnes,
embarrassed.
Sand you didn't throw it at his
head?" inquired Mamie, wonderingly.
"Weil,I must say you are a-shall |
say asaint or impleton Mr.. Harlem"
she asked, turning to me.
"Both," | said, half impatiently.
Agnes submission annoyed noe.
81 don't see what makes Henry so
ridiculous about his first wife, "
Mamie said, after Agnes had quilted
the II can see that it hurts
Agnes to have him always making
out that Mag was superior to her; but
she wasn't by a long way. When they
were first married she did seem real
good, though no one could ever con-
vince mamma that her goodness was
sincere. She always declared she was
a ~hypocrite, but she and Henry got
along all right till old Dame Pigeon
trot-that's Mags mother-put in
her appearance. IR never forget
what a spectacle she was the first
time she came to see them. They
were over at our house and she came
there to see them. She was the hard
est looking specimen OF the human
race | ever laid my eyes on. She
wore a black dress sewn with
white thread, a pair of shoes that GER
tainly never had been BACKED, and
they were laced with wrapping-twIne
twisted and doubled. Her dress came
to her shoe-tops in front and reached
the floor behind her. . But her looks
were the best part of her. She was a
Jezebel, let me tell you.
Henry would have given anything
to have kept us from finding out
about her at home, but it was the
talk OF the neighborhood what a dis
agreeable old Woman she was, and Of
course it reached our ears. Henry
still held up for Mag, declaringshe was
not at all like the rest of her folks till
one day mamma gave him her opin.
ion, that it was possible, yet hardly
probable, that a dove could be reared
in q hawks nest. You see we had
heard about how the old lady was so
aggravating, and set Mag up to such
meanness that Henry had been oblig.
ed to ask his mother-in.la to leave;
she had refused to do so, he had in
sisted, and when he went outside to
work, Mag and her mother locked the
door on him and kept him out until
he agreed to maintain the old lady Ia
a house of her own. He not only had
to provide for her, but for all the rest
OF the family who made it q point to
stay either at his house or at old Mrs.
Pigeontrot's all the time.
Mamma died about a year before.
Mag, and ] lived with them part Of
the time, and / aust say / can't see
how Henry can forget the abuse he
suffered at that woman's hands.
She was the poorest cook and the
most slovenly housekeeper lever saw,
yet / have heard him brag about her
being perfect in both respects. Il Agnes
since I've been here. It's more than I
can do to hold my tongue, il aggrav-
ates me SO to hear him"
'It is natural" / replied Ito think
and speak only good Of the dead,
though / am ike yourself, ! cannot
see the justice In It. I presume the
tragic manner of her death affected
him greatly, and / have noticed in
such instances a tendency to endowI
the dead with only good and forget
all faults and f~ailings.V
He told you about her being
drowned. them" she inquired.
tsYes.n
81 presume be didn't tell you how it
came about. did he?H
HE said she was going to her moth.
er's on horseback. and when crossing
the bridge across a deep narrow creek
the bridge gave way"
"Oh, yes; that's all true. But her
own stGbkornness brought it about.
Becca was only three weeks old at the
time, and it had been raining all day;
so when Mag took a notion to 90 to
her mothers in the evening, Henry
didn't want to take the baby, nor
she either into the damp air. He
told her the bridge was rotten and
they would not dare cross it after
such a deluge as had been that day,
and they would have to 20 four miles
around to the other btidQe-too long
a journey for either herself or the
child on q stormy night. Well, she
flew into a rage when she found he
was not TO be ever-persuaded, and
raved and stormed and pronounced
all manner of i~mprecations upon the
taby for ever having come into the
world to bother her, and finally tell
ing me to mind it, went out doors.
soon ws heard the sound of q I
galloping horse and Henry ran out and
saw her riding away towards
kor .s4Nftara Ia fn1iowo1 - h~k 4