Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1910-12-31
OPPOSED TO
SUFFRAGETTES
Preludiced Views Of a Hen
pecked Husband.

One night while travelling In tho
country l stopped at farmhouse. |
could see plainly that the farmers
wife was not a person TO be lived with
on amiable terms. After she had gone
20 bed the farmer and sat together
chatting / asked him IL he liked 10
read. s.
'Waal, stranger" he said, 81 reckon
do like to read Of / kin git the books.
For long time I had nothin' but
Shakespeare and the Bible. But last
winter l got historical book about
them kings and queens OF England,
was Interested in one of 'em, king
called Henry VIII. That king was
the only man l ever read or heercd
about that got ahead of six wimmin,
all his wives, and didn't hev to kill
more'n two of 'em neither"
"He was monster" protested
"Waa1, now, stranger, hain't 50
sartin about that don't know that
of his first wife, the Spanish woman;
but, We see, man to git ahead of sEk
wimmin has got to be mighty sharp,
If remember right, Henry he'd mar.
ried his brothers wilder. which Is con.
trary to Scripture, and after Twin with
her twenty years his. conscience trou.
bled him. It may be tibet he hadn't
orter married her in the first place,
but 1t makes a good deal OF difference
whether woman's young and anna.
fple or old and spiteful. No, think,
under the circumstances. Henry was
excusable for gitten tender con.
science at the right time"
you surely don't approve OF his be-
heading Anne Boleyn, his second
wife?"
WAL now, hain't so sartin about
that neither. Henry's conscience was
a very tender one and, as said afore,
always pricked him at convenient
time. When his first wife died he
wanted to show her every mark of re-
spec and ordered his court to put on
black. Anne Boleyn showed what kind
of woman she was when she order.
ed her wimmin to wear yaller. That
made Henry mad. 1t was convenient
time to be mad. He was gittin' ready
for his next WIFE"
His third wife," remarked, "Jane
Seymour, was, I believe, the only one
of the six who died a natural death
while married to him. The next, Anne
of Cloves, he divorced without be-
heading her."
"The Cleves woman was the only
sensible one o. the lot, the only one
that come any ways near gittin' even
with the king. When he said You gitF
she was very much pleased to CO."
what do you think of the case Of
Katherine HowardP"
"Lemme see. What did she dor
There's so many of 'em forgit."
"As q mere child she had been led
into several indiscretions, including a
sort of marriage with low bred fel.
lew who afterward turned pirate Az
soon as she married the king all those
who had led her astray"-
81 remember now. They all turned
Office seekers, and the queen had to
give 'em situations or they'd blow on
her. WAL, now, don't see how Hen
ry could "a done any different. He
wouldn't believe nothin' agin her till
wv nun thAhS was Outs hulnSlluV
was one o. them middle-o'- the-road
wimmin. She might "a lived eff she'd
only given in. She wouldn't own up
to her first marriage. The king
couldn't git a 'nullment OF his mar
riage on any other ground, so he had
to chop her head off. She done that;
Henry didn't. Y see, stranger, there's
a popularity about wimmin that 1t re-
quires jist such man as Henry to
handle. They never give in. Kath.
crime preferred to love her head, and
in doia' so she only showed woman's
natur'
"There's another point in Henry's ia.
vor. He had two gals to leave the
crown to and only one boy, an he
weakling. Henry had material insight
into wimmin's onfitness to run things
and, having a tender conscience, Il
grieved him to think o. leavin' his peo,
pie to suffer under 'em. And 1t turned
out he was right. His first darter was
Bloody Mary whose name speaks fol rs
her. Then comes Elizabeth, who cut *
Off the heads of the men she loved.
"No, stranger; In summin' up the
married life o. Henry VIII. considef
that he was remarkable man and
very conscientious one. He done all
he could to keep England from bein
pestered with wimmin rulers, and for
that alone he orter be honored by bis
grateful countrymen. Six of 'em! Jiss
think of 1t, stranger-six OF 'em Wms
would you and I do with such q lot
restricted by law as we air? Henry
VIII. was a great and good man.
The farmers arguments set me
thinking. OF late years we have hae
lives of Aaron Burr, setting forth hp
virtues, and of Benedict Arnold, show
Ing how bad treatment and inexoraps
fate compelled him to betray his coun'
try. I confess the farmers logic in
pressed me as favorably as many i've
have read of the worlds prominen
sinners
The farmer having no more Of Kin'
Henry's queens to discuss except tn
last, who survived her husband, ane
as the farmer expressed 1t, "dldn
count" he showed me to my room.
overheard a curtain lecture he recelvs'
from his wife which somewhat diml9
lshed my respect for her opinion
women In general and the unbass
character of his excuses for the gre
British royal Bluebeard.