Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-01-30

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formed with all
due rites, and there had been much
feasting, and everybody agreed that
it had been a delightful wedding. The
festivities concluded, the bridegroom
conducted his friends and relatives to
the door, and then negligentiy forgot
to shut it before returning to his wife.
Dear cousin" he said to her as
soon as he discovered his mistake,
edo run and shut the street door"
'What! ] shut the street door? I,
beautiful and young, dressed in satin,
and wearing all these precious stones
am [ to so and shut the street door?"
"Well, and pray would you have me
shut the street door? /, bride
groom, clothed in silk, wearing this
magnificent shawl and carrying dag
ger set with diamonds? Is it fit, 1
ask you, that should shut the street
door,"
''You are both crazy and lazy" said
the young wife, ''to think that l
should shut the street door. You are
the proper person to do it-and you
must" she added, stamping her little
foot to add emphasis to what she
thought was wifely authority.
'And you are lazy and disobedient,
retorted her husband. Glow dare
you disobey my very first order?"
And he angrily shook his fist at her.
'Do not let us quarrel" said his
wife, "but rather agree that the one
who speaks first shall go and fasten
the door.
The husband surlily nodded his
head to this proposal, and they both
sat down, dressed in their wedding
garments, on couches opposite to each
other, looking more cross and angry
than bride and bridegroom are ever
supposed to have looked before. One
hour, two hours, three hours passed,
and yet neither spoke word. They
! only tidgeted, tossed and turned, for
they were both horribly tired and
sleepy, and longing to speak to each
other. Then it Glanced that two
thieves passed through that street.
Al once they remarked the open street
door.
''This is curious" one said to the
other. 81 know that there has been
a very fine wedding here to-day. Let
us go in very, very quietly. There
must after so much feasting be plenty
of rich and valuable things about.
We are certainly in luck" Stealthily
they entered the house; first they
went into one room and then into the
other, taking and putting into sacks
all that pleased their fancy and was
most valuable.
The man and his wife, alert to every
sound, heard their gliding footsteps,
and at once guessed that thieves were
In their house. Still mute and
motlonless they sat, neither uttering
q word. The thieves, emboldened by
the silence. next entered the room in
which the bridegroom and his bride
in their sullen obstinacy still sat star
ing silently at one another At first
when they saw two people there they
rushed back as if to hurriedly retreat.
Half second they hesitated, then,
since not voice was raised nor hand
moved to arrest them, they grew yet
more adventurous and entered the
room. They collected all the valuable
ornaments and eating utensils that
Uttered the room and stuffed them
into their sacks, and then, growing
bolder and bolder, they dragged away
the very carpets from under their feet.
Still neither the man nor the woman
uttered sound or syllable.
Then the thieves, with an ever-in-
creasing audacity, laid hands on the
woman and took from her every Jewel
and stripped her of her wedding
dress. With lips tightly pressed to-
gether she bore all these indignities
in stoical silence. But when they took
away her gold-embroidered slippers
she with her eyes mutely besought
her husband to come to her aid. Calm
and stationary he sat there; then theil
expression changed to one of blazing
anger, and out of their dark brown
depths she seemed distinctly to utter
the word "Cowardw
The thieves now turned their atten
ton to the man. With desperate
strength he struggled to retain his
precious dagger inlaid with diamonds
For q minute or two there was hand
to-hand fight, aud the man was Sc
cruelty hurt that in his pain he nearly
screamed "Ohr Fearful that ht
might be made to utter some e1
clamation, and so, according to thu
bargain, be obliged to fasten the
street door, he gave up the contes
and quietly resigned to the thieves hi!
dagger-which had been a present
his shawl and all his wedding gar
ments.
The robbers having taken every
thing that was of any value, nov
staggered away under their load o
ill-gotten gains. Still the bride ant
bridegroom uttered not Q word. Da,