The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-10-24
TRYING THE "ROSE ACT"
But Josiah Aliens Wife Found It
Wouldn't Work.

wv QlOu y "Or6s
It wuz a calm, fair morn. The su,
streamed meier and golden into The
buttery winder where l wuz a-standin
engaged in the avocation that had &C
cupied my mind and my arms for the
last three hours. In fact, my avocatior
had been so ar jous and continuous thai
they ached hard all three on 'em. My
mind and my two arms. AS l SAID
previous and heretofore, the mornin
wuz a fair one. / had noticed and ad
mired it rs l shook my tablecloth often
the back stoop. How the hand of mater
had been a-pattin' and a-pettin' the
trees in the distant woods. and sort O
smoothin' 'em out, as we do children's
hair when they have got hard job in
front of 'eni and have got to go out in
the cold-and she, old Nom Mater, be.
in' right In the midst of her fall color
in, and her hands all full of the gor-
geous dye-stuff, she had left the marks
of her finger tips on the green verdure
and they shone with red and yeller
streaks. (Metafor)
meller blue haze a-hangin', as if Nom
Mater, same as wimmen will when
they are hard to work with their fall
cleanin', had dropped curtain of lu-
minous blue mist between US and the
fur-off horizon, and no KNOWN what
she WIZ a-doin' behind that screen,
a-paintin' the hilltops most likely. The
ho1r
bowed often bed of balm. And I
s'pose mebby it wuz the fine atmos-
phere which made Josiah Allen in such
wonderful good spirits that mornin' 1t
WIZ rare and invigorating, like fra
grant old wine, and ! s'pose he had
drinked it in and it had stimulated
him.
Anyway he had acted real presump-
tious and highlarious all the mornin'.
and inclined to be high-headed. l had
noticed it to the breakfast table and
afterward.
/ myself as 1 said prior and hereto
fore, had been to work SO hard that
could not enjoy the rich beauty of the
day only by cursory glimpses from the
buttery winder and over the top of the
shaking tablecloth. | had been en-
gagged in the hard and toilsome occupa-
ton of churnin'. 1t WIZ big one and
the cream wuz thick, the dasher, re-
Volvin' one, wuZ hard indeed to move,
and TO keep on a-movin' 1t for over two
hours by the clock had called for a out
lay for all my strength and all my
patience and Christian fortitude.
Josiah would have helped me churn.
he said he would have been glad to
have done it all himself, but unfortu-
nately, the old harness wuz broke and
he had to be out in the barn Almost all
the mornin' mendin' it and a-soften'
Its rough sides with coatin' of lard
and lampblaclz. 1t is n dreadful curious
coincidence. but it most always happens
80 that old harness always breaks
down churnin' day, and, of course, he
couldn't drive with a martingill broke
into, or a tug that wuzn't all right.
Josiah had promised to carry the but
ter to Jonesville that day to meet the
buyer from Loontown. and that buyer
had promised him as much as three and
a half cents pound in advance of the
common price on account of the eX-
IRENE worth of my butter. Yes: my
butter is sought after, although | am.
fur from bein the one to say II myself,
or even to hint at it. Yet it is great
truth, well known all over Jonesvillc,
and as fur out as Loontown and Zoar,
that l make good, uncommon good but
fer.
Wall, had got the butter ali churned,
and | s'pose Josiah had heard, out to
the barn, that the dasher had ceased its
heavy motion, and | s'pose he had got
through with the harness at the same
time for he come in jest as ! wuz a
wortin' it over and a-sprinlllin' the salt
nown into its sweet golden depths IN
the white butter bowl. And he come
In and sot down in the kitchen Jest as
and DARN as he wuz when
he went out and more too.
Wall. while l was a-worlIiu' in the
MALT with my wooden ladle, Josiah took
q old paper that l had brung down
from the attick that mornin' to put
pinto my buttery shelves, and ever and
a
me, as is the way, s'pose, of all male
in their good-natured hours
of ease. And. all at once. he cried out
in glad, joyous axents, as if unbeknown
10 himself:
Here, Samantha, is sunthin' that is
worth readin'. Here is eloquence and
hard horse sense l feel that l love
The man that wrote that love him
dearly"
"What is it?'' sez l, speakin' ont of /
The buttery
SEE he: 1t is what lot of big men |
,ay about wimmen. but this one beats |
all" SEE he: Just listen to it,
So ( Strengthened up my weary frame. |
20 rest my aching back. and leaned my |
.ired-out arms against the side of the /
big butter bowl and listened.
"'If | were woman | would not do |
my thing important / would emulate
he rose and its wisdom. l would /
harm and be silent
IF were a woman I would be just
woman and nothing more, for there
n lies woman's greatest charm. Man
vas made TO work for woman, woman
O charm him in his hours of ease.
Sez Josiah, in loud. triumphant
.xents: "Do you hear that, Samantha?
DO YOU hear that?"
Yes" seq /, II read them illusions