Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-02-06
TWO PRACTICAL WIVES.
Exemp1ifieations of the Ruling Passion
Strong in Death.


Strong in Death.
A story Is a story, whether it Re true or
not, says the Boston Courier, and if one
were obliged to vouch for the truth of all
that one relates the art of storytelling
would fade away and disappear from the
face of the earth. The editor does not in
the least vouch for the truth of the follow
ing bit of anecdote. He can simply say
that it was told him by a very charming
and canny old lady, who protested to know
it ''of her own knowledge. The phrase is
somewhat ambiguous. but it is the one she
used, and the reader may take it to mean
anything he pleases.
Mrs. w. was thrifty and practical soul,
and she came of a family which through all
the country side was renowned as being
near. = N other words she came of a
race of people who were the reverse of gem
erouS, and in herself she was, it may be
added, the flower of their qualities. She
had an excellent husband but he was
stricken down with typhoid pneumonia,
and one morning the physician in charge
announced to the weeping wife that he
could live only few hours at most. In her
way Mrs. W. was fond of her husband,
and she was greatly affected by the YER
dict which announced her approaching
separation from him. The scene between
her and her husband was affecting In the
extreme, and the nurse, who was present
in the background, was moved TO tears by
the agonized fever of Mrs. W. grief.
George, the weeping wife said at
last, what clothes do you want to have on
when-when-"
Tears choked her utterance. and her hus-
band feebly murmured that it did not
matter to him any more how he was ar
rayed.
Then you won't mind, dearest" she
said between her sobs, IF we put on your
old pants? The new ones haven't been
worn but once, and we can send them
back to the tailor, and no one will notice
what sort of pants you have on in the
cof-cof- coffin
Dear George was too far gone either to
care what trouseus were used for the
arraying of his remains for the tomb or
to appreciate the perfection of his wife
economy; he simply moaned and gave up
the ghost, leaving his wife free to practice
any economical device which should occur
to her frugal mind in the arrangements
which followed in doleful sequence.
The story, such as it is, reminds one an
other, such as that's, to the effect that
the husband of frugal wife was dying,
and she was sobbing by his bedside, when
suddenly she checked the flow of tears to
say:
"Will you please excuse me just mo-
ment, dearest Tom? ! smell something
burning in the Kitchen
Which, in its turn may not be true, but
which, being told in company on one oc-
casion, provoked the apparently sincere
comment from one of the ladies present:
well, what was she to do, stay there
and let it burn?''
The soldiers mutiny at Rio Janeiro, De-
cember Is, proves to have been the result
of too much liquor rather than of a deeply
planned conspiracy. The ID and 9th regi-
ments of artillery, stationed lin the outskirts
of the city finding that most of their officers
were absent on social Grand made a
holiday of it and finally tore down the flags
of the republic. About 100 men were
killed and wounded In the fight to quill
heads court-martial and shot on the spot.
The serious part of the affair was the ar
rest of several men prominent in public
like an attempt of the provincial govern
ment to turn revolt into an excuse to
down sundry enemies of the republic. The
regiment which revolted were the heroes
of the revolution that dethroned Dom
Pedro. The soldiers are negroes of the
lowest classes, and this increases the perils
of a provisional government largely de-
pendent upon the army for support. The
natural and healthy sentiment favoring a
republic is substantially withheld from the
government, which for some unaccountable
reason elects to postpone the general
elections nearly year.