Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1906-01-27
A Brutal Husband
[Original.1

did it ever occur to you, my dear
Mrs. bingham, that too much amiabil-
ity may be as disagreeable as too much
irritability? My husband is wearing
me out with his perfection of temper"
'YOu surprise me-"
Would that could find a way to
make him speak one harsh word"
prod him."
Prod him? Why, I've goaded him.
I've tried"-
your mother?'
Certainly. She was with us for
months. Arthur became fond Of her."
"Have you tried a rivalF'
"YeS, I encouraged Ned Sparrow to
make love to me. One morning Arthur
returned suddenly from business for
something he had forgotten at II
O'Clock in the morning, and found Ned
here. l trembled fer fear Of having
gone too far. Arthur begged him to
stay all day, saying that was so
lonely"
Him. It does seem to be a peculiar
case. have it. Hire an organ grind
er to stand in front of the house and
grind whenever your husband is at
home"
$50 1 have. 1 engaged one to begin
at in the afternoon and keep it up
till II at night. 1 hired him for a
week. When it ended Arthur hired
him for another. At the end Of the
second week l had nervous prostra-
tion.''
''YOu poor woman. Such perversity
is positively brutal"
men are SO provoking"
II should think So A man who
won't get angry when his wife really
wants him to must be very hard to
live with. I'd leave him."
II proposed to go to Europe for
year, and what do you think was the
result? He was delighted. He said
he would take rooms at his club and
be cheerful till 1 returned. 1 didn't
CO."
"Of course you didn't"
"He would have had a beautiful
time'
"Why don't you try naggingY"
II never thought Of that"
'It's infallible. A man who can
stand everything else will at last break
down under persistent nag. / al
ways use it when my husband stands
in the way of anything 1 set my heart
on, and l never knew it to fail. When
the Folwells invited us to dine, Jimmie
vowed he wouldn't go. You see, he
hates Alice Folwell as much as l love
her. The invitation came two weeks
before the dinner. 1 began to nag
the day after it came and carried my
point in time to accept a week before
the entertainment"
"How nice! 1 wonder if l could
break down Arthur's good nature in
that way"
"Try it,
81 surely WILL
II must go now. Don't give up too
soon. Remember that persistency is a
jewel"
Mrs. Parmelee, I'm so glad to see
you. You naughty woman! Why have
you not returned my call sooner? It's
three months since you've darkened my
doors. What have you been doing with
yourself? You're looking miserable"
Its all Arthur
"YOu poor, dear thing! | remember
now you were telling me when | called
on you how obstinate he was. Did you
try the remedy l suggestedY
81 did,
'Well, sit down and tell me about it.
after you called 1 began a persist
ent course of nagging. l objected to
everything Arthur wished and stood
firm for everything wished myself l
scolded and scolded, keeping it up
from the time we woke in the morn
ing till we went to sleep at night. Ar
thur, you know, is stone deaf in his
right ear, and he was mean enough to
lie on his left side while | was talk
ing. The result was that he always
went to sleep in the middle of my most
effective nag"
"How provokingv'
''Well, l fancied he was beginning to
give way. Ee did look as if he had
something on his mind though it
wasn't my nagging. l was disappoint
ed in that. At any rate, l had hopes
that the game would soon be mine
One morning he appeared nervous and
when he went out forgot to kiss me
as usual. L watched him from be-
tween the Stats of the shutter and saw
him go in an opposite direction from
his Office. In half an hour he came
back wild with JOY and told me that
he had just been to the doctors. |
asked him what for, and he said that
for three years-eyer since we had been
married-he had had 4 blood tumOr, or
something of the sort, which had threat
ened his life. The doctor had told him
that if he permitted himself to get ex-
cited he might die suddenly, but if
he treated the annoyances of life philo-
sophicaIly and kept cool after awhile
the thing might be absorbed and he
would be as we'll as ever"
"And be kept you in ignorance of his