Omaha daily bee., 1897-04-03
WEARY OF HIS HUMoR.
Mrs. Van Derstatlts Objections to Her
Husknnd's Merriment.

urss NhE 10 HeI
Husbands Merriment.
The American people appreciate humol
more highly than any other people on earth
In the most serious business transaction.
flavor of humor is likely to crop out. in al
| unexpected way, at any period of the negotia
tions. So well known is this fact, observe.
the Washington Post, that little joke in
serted in a Sedate conversation is not taker
amiss but is accepted as a fitting excursion
from the domain of the practical to the
realm of fancy. 1t has been often asserted
that women have not the humorous faculty
well developed but there are exceptions
Many women enjoy a joke as fully as dc
the opposite sex, and their keen delight in
a good joke is as spontaneous and natural
as that of the most appreciative male.
Mrs Van Derstadt of Paterson, ~ j., ie
one OF the women who enjoy a Joke. Her
husband has contracted habit of impr!son-
ing her in large bureau drawer. He bored
holes in the back of the bureau to permit
the passage of air, and when his rollickin:
mood came on he would place his wife in
the large bureau drawer and lock it. When
the mood was lasting he would keep her in
the drawer as long as five hours on a stretch.
The frequency of these humorous manifesto
tions became annoying to Mrs. Van Der
stadt. She entered into the spirit of the
Joke with great enthusiasm at first, and en-
1oyed the Imprisonment, or at any rate tol-
a bureau drawer is the limit of space and
she finally concluded that the joke was being
carried too far.
One hour or two hours was funny enough
but when the time was extended to five
hours, and the occasions encroached on each
other, the occupancy of the bureau drawer
became something in the nature of a steady
job. Mrs. Van Derstadt had her spouse up
before justice and related her experiences.
she SAID she was not of quarrelsome nature
and was disposed to look with leniency upon
her husbands humorous proclivities, but
she liked to call on her friends now and
then, and when she was shut up in the
bureau drawer for five hours at time, with
only brief intermissions between the acts
her social obligations were unfulflled and
her field of usefulness narrowed to an in
fnitesimal area. She did not want Mr.. Van
Derstadt punished. All she wanted was a
slight restraint of his exuberance. He
solemnly promised to discontinue his cabinet
performance and was allowed by the
magistrate to go.
Another slander is thus disposed of and
woman advanced one more notch. AS an
appreciator of humor Mrs. Van Derstadt
takes front rank. She encouraged the dis
play of humor on the part of her husband
by cheerful acquieScence in his bureau
scheme and snuggled into the drawer with
out word of protest. 1t was only when the
occasions of imprisonment multiplied and
progressed IN geometrical ratio that she
objected, and then, not because the fun of
performance had lost it's attraction, but be-
cause Of the encroachment on her time. She
had to receive callers and return calls and
attend to many other domestic duties, and,
though 1t was possible to receive calls while
confined in the bureau drawer, it was i'm
possible to return them under such condi-
tions. Had there been any way OF over
coming the latter difficulty 1t is probable
that Mrs. Van Derstadt would have con-
tinued to submit to the bureau drawer i'm
prisonment indefinitely. But, falling to over
come this difficulty, she had to resort to
repressing Mr.. Van Derstadts excessive
humor. It's all right now and Jest can find
expression in other channels.