Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1906-08-20

They had quarreled-and parted
vowing to meet no more She had
packed her trunk and her dog and all
the bric-a-brac and the sofa pillows
and gone, not home to mother, but
back to her girlhood boarding house.
He had put on his hat and hurried out
to meet the boys. The fat looked as
though whirlwind had struck it.
AS she rose YEARLY the next morn
ing after sleepless night, she same
gradually to the full realization that
she was a grass widow. All, that was
a relief No more quarrels, no more
weary nights of waiting for him to
come home from the club. No more
oh, well, she guessed she could earn
her own spending money. She was
free-free to do as she pleased. With
that thought she started to dress.
She pulled on her stockings and shoes.
A glance at the latter convinced he1
that she had been neglecting herself.
The toes were almost gray for want
of polish.
She pulled things out of her valise
and the top of her trunk in a rapid
search for shoe polish, when it sud-
denly occurred to her that she hadn't
drop of it. She never had any in
fact She always used Toms.
Then she took out a nice clean
shirtwaist and a smart stiff collar.
She had struggled into the shirt
waist and buttoned it down the front,
when she discovered to her great dis
may that she hadn't such a thing as
collar button. She searched and
searched; but when you've been in
the habit of depending on a man for
collar buttons for two years, you get
out of the habit of carrying them
around with you. Impatiently she
jerked the stiff shirtwaist off and
looked for something else. She
thought for a moment that she would
put on her Peter Pan suit, but with
a Peter Pan you have to wear a
smart four-in-hand tie, and she had al
ways used Toms four-in-hands.
Oh, very well! She pulled out a
dainty muslin waist with an attached
collar and slipped her arms into it.
Alas! it buttoned up the back. She
struggled until she had fastened the
two top buttons and then twisted
round till her muscles ached to hitch
the lower buttons. When she had
worked herself into dripping perspi-
ration and nearly sprained her right
wrist, there still remained two uE-
fastened buttons At the acute angle OF
her back. They were the two Tom
had always buttoned. She finished
dressing with a horrible consciousness
of her openwork back and wondered
what time it was. Alas! she had
Oh, if Tom we're only there with his
watch. She'd write to Tom and ask
him to send the clock. Afte' fifteen
minutes search she found the stub of
a pencil somewhere at the bottom of
her ribbon box. The pencil had no
point. Vaguely she looked about.
| She knew there was something she
wanted 1t was Toms razor-to
sharpen that pencil
MEANTIME.
He turned over in bed the morning
after the fight of his wife with feel
ing of relief. No more nagging, no
Vrrba h. CT
late. Gee! He was going to have
the time of his life.
He started to pull on his boots, but
his feet were warm and the backs of
the Oxford ties stuck to his heels.
He got up to look for shoe horn,
but he could not find one. Then it
suddenly occurred to him that his
wife had taken her silver shoe horn
with her. He got into the shoes as
best he could and began to shave.
When he finished he reached mechan-
ically down into a side drawer for the
talcum powder and the powder puff.
They were gone!
He went out into the kitchen and
cut a piece Of bread ready for toast
ing The knife slipped and shaved a
bit of flesh from his finger. When he
had stopped the bleeding he went
back into the dressing room to look
for some courtplaster. Alas! that
too had gone with the powder put
and the shoe horn and the wife. He
hunted high and low for some cold
cream and a cotton rag with which to
tie up his wounds, but she had taken
the cold cream with her and he didn't
know where she kept the rags. When
he had finished cold and lonely
breakfast, he put on his coat and took
his hat, prepared to start for town.
Just then he noticed that button
was hanging by one thread to his
coat. After he had looked the house
over from garnet to cellar for needle