The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-08-08
A MODEL HUSBAND.
The Globe Discovers Real One Over
ct Atchison.

| Third street. And what is still moro m
u lal. he is only % or 20 years old. an
| age or which not great deal is ex-
! pected when the Model Husband uues-
ton comes up. The other Model Hus-
bands have heard of have been nm
| wards of 60, or dead.
| While I have known Ed BiIimek a
| long time my principal knowledoe of
| him is due to the fact that we are neigh
! bors, living on opposite sides of the
| street. My house is located on higher
ground than his, and spend my even
ings on my porch.
He wasn't a particularly Model Boy. i
4 knew him then, too, for he has ALWAYS
| lived in my neighborhood. 1 never said
| anything about it before, but one Hal
| loween night he turned; over my smoke
| house, and paid 81 to have it fixed. I
4 know he did it because Jess Henderson
1 a darby boy who accompanied him. af-
| forwards worked for me- and turned
| States Evidence. But let the dead past
bury it's dead. Ed Bilimek is a Model
Husband now, and cheerfully pay him
| tribute. ~.
He works for the Ess company. and
every evening, at $3.50. rain or shine, he
comes home from work. usually accom-
| panied by his brother Joe. Then he dis
appears into the house, and eats his
| supper. At 7:30, he -reappears. smokin.
a pipe, and goes to work around the
house. If he doesn't beat carpets. he
| fixes the fence or works in the garden,
or puts new wire on a screen door or
window. Always something: he is never
idle around the house, And he is al
ways cOntented and cheerful: no one
has ever heard him growl. He never
leaves home at night, except when there
are fireworks at the park; on these occa-
sions, he helps shoot them off. And
think, although I am not positive, that
every Sunday he tends one of the gates
at the baseball park. But beyond these
two diversions, which earn him a little
extra, he is always at home. when not
at work. He is great big fellow, and
I think they want him at the ball park
to scare the boys, although the boys
wouldn't be afraid nf him if they knew
him as we'll as 1 do.
Ed Bilimek has little son, and Dr.
Shelly, who found the boy in a hol-
low tree before he was a day old. saws
child, now 212 years old, is tough, but
the father is such a kindly man that
when the boy runs off, he is whipped
with a weed. And, as every boy knows,
weed.
When Ed Bilimek is working around
the yard, in the evening, and the little
boy bawls because he is mad, the faith
er pays no attention to him, but goes
ahead with his chair mending, or
screen painting, or carpet beating, but
if the little boy hurts himself and cries,
the father picks him up. and says,
into the house, and in the house is al
ways a doctor and friend who can fix
up little boys when they are hurt.
This doctor and friend is Mrs Bilimek,
who is usually as busy as her husband,
and who, in addition to Edmund, the
little boy, has a baby girl, months
old, to care for. The baby's name is
Mary Barbara, for her aunt and grand
that while Edmund, the little boy, is
a bandit, Mary, the baby girl, is
saint.
Sometimes, from my front porch, 1
house opposite miner and that Mrs.
Bilimek is compelled to stop her work,
and talk to them. Women are always
expected to be potter than men; any
way, they are, for Ed Bilimek, Model
Husband, keeps on working when kin
call. AT long intervals. neighbors, as
well as kin, call at the Bilimel house,
opposite my porch, where 1 sit in the
ahead with his tinkering, whatever it
may be. Once, when the front yard
was crowded with kin and company,
the Model Husband disappeared. Had
he fallen, at last, and become frivolous?
1 was so much interested that 1 went
over to see. I found the Model Hus-
band on a back porch, alone, smoking,
and perfectly good-natured. But it
was too dark to work to advantage,
so it didn't matter much.
Regularly, every night at 8:45, the
Bilimek babies become sleepy, and
then begins the process of putting
them to bed. By this time there is a
light in their sitting room, and from
my dark porch I can see the babies
put to bed. The mother takes Ed
mund, the boy, and he cries because
he wants to go to sleep without being
undressed. The Model Husband holds
Mary, the baby. and bobs her up and
down on his knee. If the baby cries,
the Model Husband says, There,
there, there" and sings to it, but
much as 1 admire him. 1 can't say he
sings very well. Usually he seems to
think he might as we'll be doing some
thing. so he takes off the baby's
clotl Q S until it has nothing on except
a knit shirt and didie. Finally, Mrs
Bilimek comes and gets the baby,
whereupon the Model Husband lights
his pipe, puts his feet on the table,
and reads the evening paper. This al
ways happens at exactly sos. At ex-
actly 9:45, he yawns good, comfort |
able yawn, stretches his arms back of
his head, and goes over to the water |
bucket after a drink Two minutes
later, he closes the door, and puts out |
the light, and, for the rest Of the |
night, the Bilimek house is as black |
as a stack of black cats. have heard |
Mrs. Bilimek say that once she puts
her children to bed. that is the last of
heard her say "I don't know what
I've ever done to deserve as good q
husband as Ed. Bilimek,'' and 1 great
ly admire her for saying it.
The next morning at $50, the
gas Office that he is an extra good
man.-Drake Watson in the Atchison
Globe.