The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1911-07-06
OPPOSED TO
SUFFRAGETTES
Prejudiced Views of a Hen
pecked Husband.

could see plainly that the farmers
wife was not a person to be lived with
on amiable terms. After she had gone
to bed the farmer and i sat together
chatting. l asked him if he liked to
read.
"Waal, stranger" he said. 81 reckon
do like to read eff l kin git the books.
For a long time l had nothin but
Shakespeare and the Bible. But last
winter l got u 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 / ever read or heered
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" l protested.
"Waal. now, stranger. hain't so
sartin about that. / don't know that
he was quite eXcusable in the matter
of his first wife, the Spanish woman;
but, We see, man to git ahead of six
wimmin has got to be mighty sharp.
If / remember right, Henry he'd mar
ried his brothers widder, which is con-
trary to Scripture, and after livin' with
her twenty years his conscience trou-
bled him. 1t may be thet he hadn't
Orter married her in the first place.
but it makes a good deal of difference
whether woman's young and amia-
BILE or old and spiteful. No, l think.
under the circumstances, Henry was
excusable for gitten a tender con-
science at the right time"
You surely don't approve of his be-
heading Anne Boleyn, his second
wife?"
"Waal, now, | hain't so sartin about
that neither. Henrys conscience was
very tender one and, as l 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 a woman she was when she order
ed her wimmin to wear yaller. That
made Henry mad. 1t was a convenient
time to be mad He was gittin' ready
for his next wife"
His third wife," | remarked, Jane
Seymour, was, believe, the only one
of the six who died a natural death
while married to him. The next, Anne
of Cleves, 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 git!
she was very much pleased to 60"
What do you think of the case Of
Katherine Howard"
"Lemme see. What did she do?
There's SO many of 'em forgit."
LAS a mere child she had been led
into several indiscretions, including a
sort of marriage with low bred fel-
low who afterward turned pirate. AS
soon as she married the king all those
who had led her astray"-
II remember now They all turned
Office seekers, and the queen had to
give 'em situations or they'd blow on
her. Waal, now, don't see how Hen
ry could "a done any different. He
wouldn't believe nothin' agin her till
the hull thing was out. Katherine
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
1n1t crit Of p
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 it re-
quires jist such a man as Henry to
handle. They never give in. Kath-
crime preferred to love her head, and
in doin' 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 a
weakling. Henry had material insight
into wimmins onftness to run things.
and, having Il tender conscience, it
grieved him to think O leavin his peo-
pie to su&er under 'em. And it turned
out he was right. His first darter was
Bloody Mary whose name speaks for
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. l consider
that he was a 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 his
grateful countrymen. Six of em! Jist
think of it, stranger-siX of 'em! What
would you and | do with such lot,
restricted by law as we air? Henry
VIII. was a great and good man."
The farmers arguments set me to
thinking OF late years we have had
lives of Aaron Burr, setting forth his
virtues, and of Benedict Arnold, show
ing how bad treatment and inexorable
fate compelled him to betray his coun-
try. l confess the farmers logic i'm
pressed me as favorably as many lives
have read Of the worlds prominent
sinners.
The farmer having no more of King
Henry's queens to discuss except the
last, who survived her husband, and.
as the farmer expressed it, didn't
count" he showed me to my room.
overheard curtain lecture he received
from his wife which somewhat dimin-
ished my respect for her opinion of
women in general and the unbiased
character of his excuses for the great
British royal Bluebeard.
Game of Shopping.
The leader says: II went shopping
this morning and everything bought