Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-08-26
SHE WEARS TROUSERS.
A WOMAN WHO HAS NOT HAD A
DRESS ON IN FIFTEEN YEARS.

Her Husband Compia med That Her
Clothes Cost Too Much, and She Re
solved Never to Wear a Skirt Again-It
Is No Jenness Miller h usiness with Her.
"Say, what kind of people are those
folks on the ranch about three miles
back?" asked dusty stra niger as he drove
into San Pablo.
"There are lots of ranches three miles
back, !" answered a resident.
"Well, rlI tell YOU whaJ happened to me
and maybe you'll know the place. l was
driving along about nile this side of
Pinole and | saw somebody in blue
jumper shovefing just ms ide the fence by
the roadside He didn't pay any attention
to me and landed shovelful of dirt right
In front of my horse The horse reared
back, and as soon as he got quiet / started
in to curse the shoveler. He didn't pay
any attention to that and got out to lick
him.
"Well, didn't do it. That fellow just
looked into my face, and if 1t wasn't a
woman I'll eat house and lot. She wore
trousers and jumper and mans hat,
and she was spading up the soil in great
shape; but her long hair was flying about
her head and her face was as placid as any
grandmother's you ever met.
''She wasn't prize beauty by any
means, but-well, you can fancy how a
fellow would feel after swearing and jump
ing out of a buggy to lick a woman"
'Oh, that was Mrs. kreieer She always
dresses that way" said the resident, Il
thought everybody in these parts knew
her.
SHE USED TO WEAR DRESSES
l. Al.
San Pablo road for over fif cen years, and
during that time she has never worn the
ordinary apparel of woman So accus-
toned have the people of that vicinity be
come To her and her strange dress that
they no longer notice it,
Still, Mrs Kreiger is no voman's rights
apostle, nor advocate of dress reform. 1t
is doubtful if she ever even heard of Mrs
Jenness Miller or Mrs. Blooner, and if you
mentioned Lady Habberton or the divided
skirt TO her she would not know what you
were talking about
Up to fifteen Years ago Mrs. Kreiger
wore skirts and dresses like any other of
her sex. Indeed, it appears that she had
more of them, and that they were of more
varied forms, textures and colors than are
usually possessed by farmers wives.
manner of dressing that she married Will
liam kreiger, a thrifty Germ an farmer and
a widower, and went to live with him on
| the ranch
For while there was absolute peace and
concord between them, but it did not last
Mrs. kreiger had just laid in her winters
supply of tea gowns, walking dresses and
dinner toilets not to mention some ducks
rvs h.a l. L..
gan to come in.
Crops had not been all they might have
been, potatoes had gone down an eighth of
| a cent a pound, and an epidemic of pip had
swept over the poultry yard
HER TERRIBLE vow.
kreiger did not mind paying SIC for a
poem of red silk, and a pea green demi-toi-
| let for Sl3 did not shake him, but when one
after another the accounts for yellow calico,
blue bingham and other tokens of vanity
and pride were rendered he began to grow
| gloomy and taciturn, to lose his appetite
and sleep uneasily. But it was not until
the returns from the milliners came in
that he complained. After, however, Civ
| ing the price of three spring chickens for a
| darling of bonnet. and hole sack Of
| turnips for a mere spot of u st raw hat, with
some ribbons and other fixings on it, he
| ventured to expostulate.
He told how the Mrs. Kre ger that had
| been had worn the same ca leo dress for
| Sundays two years, and how the same
| dress had served as second hest for n like
space, and then lasted at least "A like time
to work in, and that there was even then
| enough to make over for the little girl He
| pointed out how the paragon hat had been
wore tho same hat she had when he mar
| ried her during all the years Of their wed
| ded life, and had never breathrd "A demand
| for another.
| Mrs. Kreiger stood it meekly for a while
Then she blazed out and declared that
since he was SO stingy about it she would
not give him any more chance to complain
about her dresses. Then she made a
| dreadful VOW never to wear dresses again
| And she hasn't
| The bright hued garments were packed
away in two trunks. and they a re there vet
| The kreigers are well off now They
have fine ranch of eighty or one hundred
acres and money in bank. More who know
them say that Kreiger is worth at least
$4,000. Mrs. Kreiger during all these
years has kept house and helped on the
\ farm, in mems garments Her usual cos
tune is duck jumper and pair of her
| Wpfu OUT trousers.
| TRUE To HER RESOLVE
| She is not proud and works in the field
as we'll as her husband. Naturally she does
not go into society much. In fact she is
rather retiring She has few il any visit
ors, and never goes to town. When she
wants the butcher or any 9th trades
man to call for an order she hangs out a
flag on the road. This signal they all un-
| 40 n,,I nd lr,x- 4 Al L
| find what is wanted.
A reporter drove out to the Kreiger
ranch the other day. 1t is about mile
from Pinole, on the left side OF the road
| The farm house is back several hundred
| feet from the highway, an avenue bordered
| by poplars leading from the road to the
| door The house is little white cottage
The place is not particularly tidy and there
| appeared to be nothing living about It but
a vicious little yellow dog. Just inside the
doorway, however, strange figure was
| seated. 1t was Mrs. Kreiger
She appeared to be about A. years old
| and was engaged in some knitting or SINH
lar work She wore her customary jumper
| and a pair of trousers patched in various
places with pieces of grain bags
She was not disturbed at all by the visit.
but merely ran her hand through her
tousled hair and indicated that she did not
| speak English.
Whether she could not, or merely did not
| care to, she did not, and presently she went
about her homework without even a sec
| ond look at her visitor
The neighbors say they have frequently
expostulated with her for her o,itlandish
garb, but she only answered thai she had
made her vow and did not propose to break
| it.-San Francisco Examiner.