The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1897-02-04
rHR wIFRp STRATEGY
q A sbrewd Woman who Reads Newspapers
and Profits Thereby.

In one of the local business houses,
no matter what kind of store or what
number II bears, as this is no adver-
tisement, there Is a clerk who had been
n husband for about a year. and whose
home Is in Georgetown. About week
ago he came down to work two hours
late and looking as IL he had made
night of It, indeed, much to the sur
prise of the proprietor and the other
clerks, who have known him as a very
steady young man, as, in fact, he is.
But to the story OF 1t.
IL don't doubt it,; l don't doubt 1t, y
said he in explanation to his employer,
"and 1 don't care how bad l look.
feel a dozen times worse"
"But what happened?" asked the em-
ployer, 81 didn't know you were Of in
temperate habits"
II never have been, I'm sure, though,
of course, when l wanted drink | al
ways took it,"
"Then what's the matter now?
hope your marriage has not driven you
to drink"
The clerk looked helplessly at his
employer, almost appealingly.
That's mighty near It," he said,
turning paler at the thought. You
see, II was this way. l have always
told my wife, even before we we're mar
ried, that l never touched drop Of
anything stronger than coffee and had
never done so. had to do 1t because
she was so rabid on temperance that IL
hadn't she wouldn't have married me.
Well, we've never had shade of trou-
BILE on the subject, for II / wanted a
drink l took 1t downtown and never
got home soon enough afterward for
her to suspect anything.
Not long ago she read something
In one Of the confounded newspapers
to the effect that some women had
found out a way to catch her husband
II he were telling stories to her about
his drinking, and l smiled and kissed
her and told her that was very thank
full, and she ought to be, that her hus-
band was above suspicion and didn't
need to have a detective bounding him,
or something like that
"Then she kissed me and said she
hoped 1t would always be so, and told
her l knew 1t would be. never gave
the matter any further thought, and
last night as came out to come down
town on some business of her fathers
/ left her upstairs talking with her
mother, and she called me as l opened
the front door and told me to stop in
the dining room and turn the gas
down. / obeyed, and when / got in
there l noticed on the table q bottle
from the drug store, labeled whisky
II suppose it belonged to the cook or
somebody in the kitchen department
and had been left there by mistake,
and just for a flyer / thought would
take a nip of 1t to brace me up on my
trip down town, as l felt little kind
of clammy inside, anyway.
"a minute after the nip got down my
gullet l thought my everlasting doom
was sealed, and l set up a yell for the
women folks. They didn't come very
fast, but when they did get down they
didn't seem half as scared as l was, and
my wife didn't do thing but laugh at
me. That made me mad, living or
dead, and / began to grow calm out OF
spite. At the same time l didn't know
what the blamed bottle contained and
was still scared half out of my wits.
Then my wife took up the bottle and
looked carefully at the label.
Why, Charlie, said she, how did
1t ever happen? / thought you never
touched a drop of anything stronger
than coffee. That's why / had that
label put on the bottle.- Don't worry;
1t won't kill you
"And it didn't" sighed the clerk,
''but, oh, what a time | had for two
hours, and how I wrestled all night
and till late this morning with that
confounded nip took out of that infer
nal trap my wife set for me-" h
ington Star.