The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-11-07
HE WON HIS BET.

L Ii Dob you 30 can sweep every room
IN the house and wash the breakfast dishes,
too, in an hour and half You women
dawdle SO about your work and make so
much of unimportant things. It's all non
sense to spend half a bay sweeping this
house, and it oughtnt to tire one to death
either
"Oh, yes, that is about as much as a
man knows about Woman's work. I
would like to give you little lesson on
the subject, however, SO I'll take your bet.
I'll give you the So if you'll do the work
in the time you proposed. OF course you
can't do it, but you'll see how it is your
/ self when you try it. +"
This little conversation between Mr..
Golf and his wife took place while they
fingered over a late breakfast one Sunday
morning recently. It had been hot week
and old S%l seemed to have gathered him
self for a final effort that morning. Mrs.
/ Colts systematic methods had been some
what interfered with by unexpected COM
pany, and Friday had actually gone by
without the usual weekly renovation,
much to her disgust, for like most orderly
housewives she had cute little pro-
| gra1nme to which she rigidly adhered.
Even though tired muscles quivered with
pain and oYerwrOught nerves protested
against such relentless system, she would
drag through the part laid out for each
day, instead of taking good rest, and
then doubling the work the next day when
| she felt equal to the exertion.
| Mrs. Golf didn't keep help, partly be-
cause she wanted her three children to
learn to work, and partly because being a
strong healthy woman, it would interfere
with her household economics to do so.
There was a little more discussion on
| the subject, and then each one started out
to give the other d beautiful lesson. 1t
! isn't often that two persons plan to get
| such widely divergent illustrations from
/ the same little performance. She was Just
! to keep out of the way until he was
| through and let him do things his own
way and tell him when the time was up
wouldn't she have jolly good joke on
him, though, for he never could accom-
! plish it.
! He decided to do the sweeping first so
! the kitchen might cool off trife and
armed with bosom and dustpan he mount
| ed to tie upper rooms. A small space was
| swept first and chairs, tables, etc, showed
together and covered with nice, clean
sheet to keep the dust off, while bric-a-
brac OF various kinds was tunbled on to
the beds with a charming disregard of i'm
maculate counterpanes and dainty pillow
covers. It was inspiring to see how the
carpet succumbed to each vigorous stroke
Of his broom, which sent the dust curling
in marvellous eddies high up to the ceiling,
while his face grew more apoplectic in ap-
pearance as the work progressed But he
went on, and in an incredibly short time
he had swept the entire eight rooms and
was ready to begin on the dishes.
Mrs Golf heard the dishes rattle She
remembered her promise to keep out of the
way. But her woman's curiosity was
! strong-she must take peep at John in
all the majesty CT his new vocation. She
/ managed TO possess her soul in patience
until 5 minutes of the specified time, and
then she yentured into the kitchen. The
| cleaning piles O. china were white and
clean, but the waterl No need to inquire
what constituted the breakfast menu; one
! glance was sufficient. Bits of steak float
Cd around on tiny RATS of toasted bread,
| eggshells played tag with melon rinds and
grapes careenod complacently around the
| swirling mass as he rescued a few belated
silver spoons from its shadowy depths.
"Ch, John, exclaimed the Mortified
woman, ''you never soraped the plates.
''Well I should say notl What S the use
of fOOling away SO much time? I rinsed
them in hot water. You coul6n' get them
any cleaner yourself. 1 tell you women
waste too much time on trides. While you
are getting ready to do 4 thing man
| would have plunged into it and had it
DONE
The dignity of this remark was some
what impaired by his ludicrous appear
anco. Big white aprons arc not usually
very becoming to men, and combined with
1Ir. Colts ample proportions and the huge
| polka dots of coal smoke, with the towel
| which had served as q sweeping cap still
perched On his head, he was anything but
an impressive figure. Nothing daunted,
however, he continued his little lecture.
81 tell you, - said he, women don t know
how to economize time. They don't know
how to simplify and systematic. Perhaps
the now woman with all her fine theories
will learn to bring some of the order and
method Of office work into the homes and
that the morning hours muslin be devot-
ed to neighborS and newspapers and''-
He didn't finish his homiIy-his wife
was convulsed with laughter, two of his
friends had sneaked in the back way Just
in time for the finish, and although he had
won his bet with five minutes to spare ht
privately admitted to them that if he got
caught in such a trap again his name was
Dennis. He said he would rather make
estimates against a big printing house or
a ? cent margin, correct the Office boy
first proof, or even try to collect a bill fol-
posters and programmes from travelling
concert company than go through such al
experience again.
1t required a good deal of hard work OF
! the part of Mrs. Golf to bring order out O
the chaos CT dust which he had created
and which he stoutly insisted it was M
part of his province to remove. And i
made her very sad to find delicate vas
shattered and the nose OF of favorit'
statuette but take it all in all she consid
ers the experiment a grand success TO
since that time John has grown remarka
bly, reticent OIL the subject OF improved
methods and rapid results, and she realize
that an unwoDted consideration has grown
out of that little Sunday morning episode
Exchange
The SorrowfuI Jester.
A serious and sorrowing writer has beer
| lnr,nrti1,c- ts4rn dncaInnca Of h11rrncr, ,