Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1892-02-08
PilIOW-ShanlS.

1 am quiet, patient, easy-temper-
ed man; and [ am willing to endure
almost any discomfort or provocation
! want these facts distinctly under
stood, for they are facts, as anyone
who knows me will admit.
Becky says my patience is only an
other name for Incidence; that [ will
put up with almost anything rather
than have any trouble about it. 1t
may be SO; I am ten years older than
Becky, and she has energy enough
for haIf-a-d dozen, so [ feel as if any
display of that virtue on my part
would be superfuous.
I gave Becky her own way when I
cOurted her, and she took it after we
were married. She did exactly as
she pleased while the girls-our three
daughters-were little, and she did
the same, as far as they would let her,
after they were grown up. They are
married and gone now, and we cele-
DRAFTED our silver wedding, Becky and
i, two years ago last spring, upon the
same day that our youngest girl was
married. We have settled down,
now, for a quiet, comfortable old age,
or, at least, have; [ don't feel so
sure about Becky.
We live in a sung little house of our
own, on an income which, if small, is
SUffi cient for our wants, for mine are
few, and Becky is a wonderful mana
ger.
There are a great many points that
Becky and I don't agree upon, and
as she is such a remarkably energetic
person we could never have lived
happily together if 1 had not long ago
hit upon a happy compromise. A
self-respect forbids me to sacrifice
my opinion to hers; as a matter of
principle I have always been firm in
asserting that my way was the right
way; insist upon thinking as I please
bat I let Becky do as she pleases, and
thus we are both contented.
The arrangement is, perhaps, a
fairer one than, at a casual glance, it
might seem to be. The fact is, in the
every day matters, which Becky I'M
,derstands as well as I do, | very much
prefer that she should monopolize the
management and responsibility
things that | detest and she enjoys;
SO she takes all the trouble and does
all the work, and I sustain a proper
marital authority by criticising it af-
ter it is done; and upon any point
upon which, in the beginning, I have
advanced an opinion adverse to
Becky's, I sustain that adverse opin
ion in any event, upon principle, as
said.
don't think Becky always has the
best of the bargain, for she is SO con
stituted that she cannot altogether
enjoy even her own way, unless she
can make everybody admit that her
way is the best.
Becky likes to argue, too; L do not;
but Becky knows very we'll that to 81
Ience me is not to convince me, and
II lis a curious fact that she will eX-
pend more words and more arguments
upon me, who makes no attempt
whatever to refute her, than she would
upon either Rose or Emma, our old
est girls, who are exactly like their
mother in their love for the last word.
Lena, our youngest, who is five
years younger than Emma, is a
thorough Shoemaker her mother says,
and think myself she is more like
me than our other children are; she
Is quiet and INDECENT, but she is the
only one who ever got the upper hand
of Becky.
So long as Lena was at home
Becky's will was not always law, and
as Lena and 1 generally thought about
alike on most subjects, did use to
enjoy difference of opinion between
Lena and her mother, because Lena
invariably came off conquerer. But
Lena is married and rules in her own
home now, and Becky does as she
pleaseS in ours.
feared that the reader would hard
ly appreciate the little family episode