Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-02-20
A PREJUDICED VIEW
[Original.1

One night while travelling In the coun-
try / stopped at a farmhouse. l could
see plainly that the farmers wife was
not a person to be lived with on
amiable terms. After she had gone
TO bed the farmer and / sat together
chatting about the dull winters in the
country and the want of means OF
amusement, especially for the older
people. 1 asked him if he liked to
read.
WAL, stranger" he said. Il reckon
1 do like to read eff 1 kin git the books.
For a long time 1 had nothin' but
Shakespeare and the Bible. But last
winter 1 got a historical book about
them kings and queens of England. 1
was interested in one of 'em, a king
called Henry VIII. That king was the
only man 1 ever read or heered about
that got ahead of six wimmen, all his
wives, and didn't hev to kill more'n
two Of 'em neither"
HE was a monster" protested.
WAL. now. stranger, l hain't so
sartin about that 1 don't know that
he was quite excusable in the matter of
his first wife, the Spanish woman; but,
ye see. a man to git ahead OF six vim
min has got to be mighty sharp. If
remember right. Henry he'd married his
brothers wilder, which is contrary TO
Scripture, and after Twin with her
twenty years his conscie4ce troubled
him. 1t may be tibet he hadn't orter
married her in the first place, but it
makes a good deal Of difference wheth
er a woman's young and amiable or
oil cV1ifaf1ll No I fhinIy 1n6nF
the circumstances, Henry was excusa-
bic for gittin' a tender conscience at
the right time. Most peoples con-
sciences pricks 'em at the wrong time.
Henry'S come in remarkable handy"
You surely don't approve of his be-
heading Anne Boleyn, his second wife?"
"Waal, now, hain't so sartin about
that neither. Henry's conscience was
a very tender one and, as said afore,
always pricked him at a convenient
time. When his first wife died, he
wanted to show her every mark of re-
spec and ordered his court TO put on
black. Anne Boleyn showed what kind
of woman she was when she ordered
her wimmen to wear yaller. That made
Henry mad. 1t was convenient time
to be mad. He was gittin' ready for
his next wife. I reckon eff he hadn't
been king and wise as a sarpint be-
sides he'd never "a done what he did
with the hull six on EN-
His third wife" l remarked, Jane
Seymour, was, 1 believe, the only one
Of the six who died a natural death
while married to him. The next, Anne
of Cloves, he divorced"
1.-The CIeves woman was the only
sensible one o. the lot, the only one
that come any ways near -gittin' even
with the king. When he said, You gitr
she was very much pleased to go. This
wounded the king sorely. A man don't
like to be taken at his word by a wom-
an, no matter how onruly she is
what do you think of the case OF
Katherine HOward?"
"Lemme see What did she do?
There's so many of 'em l forgit''
las a mere child she had been led
into several indiscretions. including a
sort of marriage with a low bred fell
low who afterward turned pirate. AS
soon as she married the king all those
who had led her astray''-
81 remember now They all turned
Office seekers, and the queen had to
give 'em situations or they'd blow on
her. WAL, now, l don't see how Hen
~ could "a done any different. He
wouldn't believe nothin' ag'in her till
the hull thing was out Katherine was
one o. them middle-o the-road VIM
min. She might "a lived eff she'd only
given in. She wouldn't own up to her
first marriage The king couldn't git
a 'nulment of his marriage on any 9TH
er ground, so he had to chop her head
off. She done that; Henry didn't. You
see, stranger. there's a popularity
about wimmin that it requires jist
such a man as Henry to handle They
lose her head, and in doin' so she only
showed woman'S natur.
There's another point in Henry's ia
vOr. He had two gals to leave the
crown to and only one boy, an he a
weakling. Henry had a material insight
into winners onfitness to run things,
and, having a tender conscience, it
grieved him to think O. leavin' his people
to suffer under 'em. And it turned out he
was right. His first darter was Bloody
Mary, whose name speaks for her. Then
comes Elizabeth, who cut off the heads
of the men she loved. and loved her
cousin, Mary, queen o. Scots, so well
that she cut her head off too.
mo, stranger: in summin' up the
married life o Henry VIII. consider
that he was n remarkable man and a
very conscientious one He done all he
could to keep England from bein' pes
tered with wimmen rulers, and for that
alone he orter be honored by his CRATE
full countrymen. Six Of 'em! Jist think
Of it. stranger. Six of 'em, What
would You and do with such a lot. re-
stricted by law as we air? Henry VIII.
was great and good man."
The farmers arguments set me to
OF late years we have had
lives OF Aaron Burr. setting forth his
virtues. and OF Benedict Arnold, show
Inc hor Had nd ino