The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1898-10-13
THE W0MAN'S WORK
By IRVING BAcHELLER.
MY LIFE had been full of work and

Vii Il
iv worry. On leaving college / had
planned to DO many things that l had
never done. | was to travel, / was to
read and study, was to wish and have
indeed what was | not to do and
what hadI done? Nothing but drudg-
cry that had prospered so as to beggar
me of my best hopes. The hurry and
hazard of business life had never given
me so much even as a day off. It.had
been hard on my wife, and from the
first | felt sorry for her. We had no
children and in our little fiat my wife
insisted that a servant would he no
help. 4 was detained at my Office fire.
quently until neither my wife nor my
dinner were at their best. l often ate
with suppressed emotion those days,
while my wife sat beside me in tears,
and | could never quite understand her
grieving when | had 10 fault to find
myself.
Early or late, | had no heart for
reading, or going after pleasure when
j got home.
Somehow the weight of the whole
day seemed to fall on me of "A sudden,
Il
orally lay on the sofa with my pipe
aud paper, while my wife put away the
dishes. That done, we talked Ian
guidly about the events of the day,
and were in bed by half after nine. |
loved books and bought them freely as
j prospered.
II may break my leg sometime" |
used to say, land then I'll have a
chance to read them"
My legs remained unbroken, how
ever, and carried me year after year
on steady round of toll. Other peo-
pie broke their legs now and then, as
/ read in the papers, and regarded
them with a kind of envy. Many of my
domestic pleasures were contingent on
that possibility of broken leg, / re-
member. 1t came to be a standing
Joke with us, and there WAS bit of
pathos in it, too.
We had been married about ten
years when l came home one summer +
evening with extraordinary news.
Hello, Pete" said THAT was the
name l called her at home-"Iye got
news"
at isn't a broken leg," l answered.
-'but it's the next thing to it-a yaea-
tion. No more business for awhile
anyway, Now, | hope Wen have a
little comfort together. ] want you to
join that reading club you spoke of
and go and see your friends-that' S
what l want. I'll look after the fiat
awhile myself. l can stand it for a
couple of weeks, anyhow"
We kept to the house that evening,
and laid plans for the near future.
Next morning my wife went to town.
She was to call on some of her friends
and leave her measure for new gown
and do Not of delayed shopping.
sat alone reading for a long time after
she went away. There was a deadly
stiffness in the fiat, but somehow l
couldn't keep my mind to the book.
had read ten chapters when i discoy-
cred myself cropping in the gloomy
labyrinths of an Egyptian tomb. How
i had got there was mystery to me.
i looked back through dozen pages,
but it was all new. l had gone as far
as the hundredth page with nothing
more in my mind than 1 had had 10
start with. | had been thinking over
the details of my business ever since
i opened the book. Suddenly a sharp
blast on the whistle of the dumb waiter
brought me to my feet. That noisy
vehicle came rumbling up, presently,
and ! took off lot of string beans and
peas and green corn and potatoes and
beefsteak and butter, and pair OF
ducks, and tossed them all into the re-
frigerator. Evidently my wife had
stopped on her way and left orders for
dinner. She had told me where l would
find everything needed for my lunch