The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1907-01-24
Ven AND
GOSSIP

unest Nttle DIT or personal talk
asked one matron of another IF YOU
see an acquaintance three blocks away
when you are on the street with him.
and say, There comes Mary Smith !;
doesn't she look pretty" does he
clutch you by the arm and say, For
heavens sake, don't talk SO lond
she'll hear you?' Just as If Mary
Smith would be my enemy for life
if she heard me say she looked pretty.
Does he call you hopeless gossip il
you comment on the fact that Mar.
garet Jones is seen a great deal with
young Mr., Atterbury; and make life a
burden to you if you dare to whisper
that you understand the Browns do
not get along well together"
Yes" replied the other matron,
with a sigh Yes, my husband does
all Of those things. ! do not have a
happy life because of his prejudices
mate friend of mine comes to see me
and we talk in the library, where he
apparently is deep in the newspaper,
We are immensely interested in our
subject when | hear a faint cough.
| look at my husband, and he is gazing
reproachfully at me over his paper.
He shakes his head severely and |
grope around in my mind frantically
TO see what have said that has mer
tied his displeasure Then | remcm-
Der that | have mentioned the fact
that Mrs. Robinson plays bridge every
afternoon. or that Mrs. Jones is wear
ing her last years tailored frock,
After my friend goes receive the
most awful lecture about the abyss
that is yawnng at my feet am told
that the end Of all scandal.mongers is
the penetentiary and that there can
he no grief to a man like knowing
that he has a gossip for a wife
Now I take my friends upstairs I'M
der the pretense that ! have some
thing to show them up there Before
I learned this trick ! never had one
happy moment with my women ac.
quaintances when Alfred was In the
house"
1T amuses me, = returned her com.
panion, in anything but an amused
manner Tell you why The other
evening Ned and one Of his friends
were talking in the library and | was
ostensibly reading in the drawing
room l wish you could have heard
their conversation! | listened with de.
liberate intent and | distinctly heard
them declare that a Mr. ArroWrOot
could not meet his obligations Ned
said he had Endorsed one note for him
and had to pay it.. and he never in.
tended to indorse another They said
his business would go into the hands
Of a receiver They talked also of a
Charlie ome-body-or-other who was
going to the bowwows by the race
horse route, whatever that may mean
The other man said Charlie was a
plunger, but he wasn't in it with his
brother Frank and thus the talk went
On.
after tho other man had gone
went and sat on tho arm of Ned's
chair and spoke to him like a mother
DO YOU approve Of backhitine, Ned?
| asked sweetly DO you think per
sona gossip is either right or eleyat
ing?'
lie said he did not and that he was
glad had commenced to see the mat.
ter in a proper light
The reason | asked, ! interrupted,
was because | could not help over
hearing some Of the lmkind things
you said about certain friends of
yours--how their credit wasn't good
and they bet on race horses and other |
things of that sort. but at this, my
dear, his ears turned red as anything, .
and he interrupted my very rudely,
Women should not talk about
what they do not understand he said.
nor listen to conversations not in,
tended for their ears, and with that F.
he posted off TO bed. raging mad lie
has not said anything TO me since I.
about my indiscretions of speech; in .
decd. it is a very good idea TO get /
something like that on ycur husband; +.
it holds him i'm check