The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1907-08-02
THE BROKEN
COMPACT

when the bachelor girl come home
from the south" said the little grass
widow, she found me broken-hearted.
Sammie and | had quarreled.
The bachelor girl was unhappy,
too. The little artist fellow she was
helping to feed the winter before had
disappointed her, so we made a com
pact to stand by each other just as
men do. Men were lot better friends
to each other than women. We had
10 own that We went out to dinner
to talk it over. 1t was funny, but the
bachelor girl was good deal more
bitter than |, who have suffered so
much from men and been married so
many times; but then ! am of very
forgiving and recuperative nature,
taking 1t all In all, as the English say.
THAT little fellow, she complained,
was the most ungrateful creature she
ever encountered. What thanks did
she get for feeding him? None at all.
On the contrary he sneered at her
dinners Said he could improve on
the cooking. Think of that! Looking
a gift horse in the mouth like that!
Did ever hear anything like it?
mo | said. He was brute.
"She looked at me hard when I said
he was brute, then, thinking better
of it, went on giving him fits.
would | promise her on my word
Of honor not to tell something if she
told it to me?
"Of course, | would
well, then, she leaned over the
table to tell me, so the waiter wouldn't
hear He had borrowed ten dollars of
her before she went south A ten
dollar bill!
land to think she went on, that
| could care anything for him after
that! That l could think of marrying
him! | don't understand myself;
don't understand myself at ALL, she
reiterated.
While you are under the halluci-
nation, said |, the meaner they treat
you the more you care for them; but
just wait till you get out! It's then
you see them as they are and hate
them accordingly. Why | continued,
there isn't a husband | have had that
/ would make a doormat of now.
have taken such a dislike to them ali.
| saw one on the street the other
day and didn't recognize him. A friend
OF mine who was with me said, why,
isn't that your husband-one of them,
/ mean?" And | looked up and said,
ooh, it is" And that's the way you
get once you are out from under the
influence
THE bachelor girl stared at me
hard.
L believe you are right she said,
L believe you are right. Thank heav-
en- l am out of the influence! They
are no earthly good, these men,.
You are right, too, said |, but
presently when the waiter showed the
bill at us | sighed and added, but they
do come in handy at times. Don't
they?'
las we went on home together she
began again
"'He has phoned me and phoned
me- she said, since l have come
home, but | shall not see him till he
pays me that $40. | promise you that.
| shall not see him. They are brutes.
These men,
Then she went to her fiat in Har-
lem and | didn't see her for the long
est time. But | began to hear of her,
faint rumors that ended in my calling
her up one morning on the phone.
And so you are to be married to
the little brute, they tell me- said.
'She laughed in confused way.
Yes said she.
Nice way to keep our compact
said /. Then like a crazy foolish,
added, Did he ever pay you back the
tenn
The answer came sharp and quick.
That question cost me an invitation
to the wedding.
NO said she, but l wish you
would not let that worry you and she
rang off with an angry click.
Now, what do you think of that?"