Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1909-04-08


~ her pass in and
out.
Poor little
thing!" they said. "She is SO sweet
looking and fragile-and that hus-
band Of hers certainly has horrible
disposition even if he is SO good look
ing. You can tell 1t by his facet"
Strange to say, they were not
wrong. Slane did have a wretched
temper and moreover he had none Of
those graces which are supposed to
attract women. He was gruff and
rough and cranky and inconsiderate
and selfish and several other undesir-
able qualities. In just what strange
moment of mental alteration Mrs
Slane had decided to wed him was a
popular question.
"She must have had other
chancesi" said the neighbors 1T
couldn't have been that, He must
make her perfectly miserable!"
"She looks so resigned" they said
when several years had passed. ut is
pitiful TO see her meekly tagging
along after him as If she was afraid
TO call her soul her own! What he
needs is some one to talk back to
him."
Unfortunately Slane ran his own
business downtown, so the chasten-
ing effect of knuckling to superior
there was not exercised on him. There
did not seem to be any one with the
power and the authority to beat some
courtesy and humanity into Slane
The way he talks to her when they
play cards!" said one of the neigh
/ bors after a whist game with the
/ Slanes. my dear. 1t is positively dis
! graceful! If l had been his wife I'd
have thrown a chair at him. I would
Just as though she didn't have a mite
of sense of her own So embarrassing
before outsidersl What on earth
could she ever have seen In him?"
Through Slane other women man
aged their husbands beautifully. He
would have been a remarkable man
who could have been otherwise than
amiable and liberal and attentive aft
er his wife had voiced a sugared SEN
timent like this: Henry, | thank
my stars every, day of my life that
] am not Mrs Slanei You are so diff
ferent from him. don't know what
I'd do If you forgot to kiss me good
by every morning the way he does
and am sure she is just as pretty
and sweet as possible."
Or the sentiment was expressed
like this "Tom, what do you think?
/ ran in to see Mrs. Slane this morn
ing and heard her asking him In
trembling tones for so cents and he
said she could have quarter What
do you think of that? just can't COM
prehend a woman's enduring it, be-
cause you've always been so generous
oh. thank you | can find good use
for this SO to-day! I'm so glad you're
not like Mr. Slanel"
Or the remark was like this: II
really ought to give thanks publicly,
James, that you are so good natured
and kind, after hearing the way that
Slane man goes on He doesn't care
a bit If all the windows on the court
are open! You are so Different"
Nearly any man will be a model
husband If his wife thus sings his
praises to his face, insisting that he
is such a paragon. He'd be ashamed
not to be-
In time everybody got used to the
fact that Slane was a brutal sort of
person who ought by good rights to
be shut up in an iron cage and that
his wife was a suffering martyr over
whom the looker-on must drop a tear
and a sigh. If Mrs ISlane had taken
all the revenges on her husband that
In eight years all the other women in
the neighborhood had suggested in
their conferences she would have had
to get her normal lease of life extend
ed and hire an assistant at that Her
abnormally meek and lovely DISPOSE
ton was a constant and never-failing
topic when the weather and styles
failed.
i She was quiet, reserved little per-
son, was Mrs. Slane. So there was
not hint nor rumor of impending
revolution, until the deed was done.
She simply packed up her belongings
and left Slane for good and all with
out saying word or asking anybody's
advice.
After the first riotous excitement
had Gained down in the neighborhood
six of the women who had always
most violently wondered how Mrs.
Slane ever stood il and had yearned
for chance to plunge Slane into boil
ing oil, met in a fancywork session
and talked long.
We'll" said one Of them at last,
"all I've got to say is that I'm very
, much surprised. I'd always thought
Mrs. Slane was such nice little
thing You never can tell Leaving
that poor lonely man like that You've
got to expect some little differences
when you're married, There must
be Eighty strain in her somewhere"
Il never did like these awfully quiet
people who never tell you anything, -
said the woman In the next chair
I'm going to ask Mr.. Slane to din.
neri It's n shamei"