The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-12-30
A new YEAR RESOLUTION.
MARX Z. WILKINS.

IaOlG H16ICG WHICH, uC Was QuitC diOuS
in years. Nobody thought he'd ever
get married at all, any more'n my
brothers Reuben and Silas. The
three had lived together and kept
bachelors hall ever since our mother
died. was married and away from
home long before she died. didn't
know how they would get along at
first, but all of the boys had been
used to helpin' me good deal, and
they were real handy, and when /
asked if they wasn't goin' to have
housekeeper, they wouldn't hear to
it. They said they wasn't goin' to
have no strange woman round in
mas place, nohow. So Silas he took
hold aud did the washin' and ironin'
and Reuben did the sweepin', and
Lemuel, he was the youngest, next
to me, did the cookin'. He could
cook a dinner equal to any woman,
and bis pies beat mine. My husband
said so, and I had to give in they did.
Well, they seemed to get on so
nice, and none of 'em had ever seemed
to think much about the girls, not
even when they was boys, that / must
say l was astonished when Lemuel
he up and got married to Mehitable
Pierce. She was a little along in
years, too, rather more so than Lem
uel, and dreadful smart piece. She
was good lookin' and had property,
but she was dreadful smart and up an
comm. could never see how Lem
uel got the courage to ask her to have
him, he was always kind of mild
spoken little fellow. Reuben he de-
clared he didn't. He vowed that
Mehitable asked him herself. He
said he knew it for fact, and he said
it with the tears rollin' down his
cheeks. Reuben was the oldest, and
he'd always been terrible fond of
Lemuel. "That poor boy would never
have got in sech a fix ef that woman
hadn't up an asked him, an he didn't
have spunk enough to say no." said
Reuben, and he swallered hard.
Mehitable had nice house of her
own that her father left her, all fur
nished and everything, so of course
Lemuel he went to live with her, and
Mehitable's house was pretty near
where 1 lived, so I could see every
thing that was goin' on. 1t wasn't
very long before l said to Hannah
Morse, my husbands old maid sister
that lives with us and teaches school,
that I believed Lemuel was henpeck-
ed, though I hadn't anythin' against
Mehitable.
"I don't see what else anybody that
married Mehitable Pierce would ex-
pect, said Hannah. She spoke real
sharp for her. I've always kind of
wondered if Hannah would have had
Lemuel if he'd asked her. "Well. !"
said 1, II hope poor Lemuel will be
happy. He's always been such a
good, mild, willin' boy that it does
seem pity for him to be rode over
rough shod, and have all the will he
ever did have trodden into the dust. !"
"Well, that is what will happen,
or I'll miss my guess said Hannah
Morse. For long while l thought
she was right. 1t was really pitiful
to see Lemuel. He didn't have no
more liberty than five-year-old boy,
and not SO much. Mehitable wouldn't
let him do this and that, and if there
was anythiu' he wanted to do, she
was sot against it, and he'd always
give right in.
Mehitable she bought all his clothes,
an she favored long-tailed coats, an
he bein' such a short man, never
looked we'll in 'em, and she wouldn't
let him have store shirts and collars,
but made them herself, and she didn't
have very good patterns, she used her
fathers old ones, and he wasn't no
such built man as Lemuel, and
know he suffered everything, both in
his pride an his feelin's. Lemuel
began to look real downtrod. He
didn't seem like half such a man as
he did, and the queerest thing about
it was: Mehitable didn't pear to like
the work Ct her own hands, so to
speak.
One day she talked to me about it.
ct dunno what 'tis,' said she, 'but
Lemuel he don't seem to have no &C
ahead and no ambition and no will O
his own. He tries to please me, bu'
it don't seem as if he had grit enough
even for that. Sometimes I think hs
amt well, but dunno what ails him
I've been real careful of him. He''
worn thick hannels, and he's hat
wholesome victuals; I never let hin
have pie" 4"
"Lemuel was always dreadful font
of pie" said. 1 felt kind of sorry
, for l remembered how fond poo
Lemuel had always been of mother
pies, and what good ones he used t.
make himself.
st know it, said Mehitable. "H
wanted to make some himself, whel
we were first married, but l vetoe'
that. 1 wasn't goin' to have mai
messin' round maxim pies, and
wasn't goin' to have him eatin' Q
'em after they were made. Pies ain
good for him. But declare I dunn
what does make him act so kind Q
spiritless. Itold him today though
he'd better make resolution for tn
New Year and stick to it, and see
it wouldn' t put some spunk into him.
| Pretty soon she went home.