Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1911-01-12
OPPOSED TO
SUFFRACETTES
PrejudiCed Views of a Hen
pecked Husband.

wife was not person to be lived with
on amiable terms After she had gone
to. bed the farmer and l sat together
chatting l asked him If he liked to
read.
"Waal, stranger" he said, 81 reckon
do like to read eff / kin git the books.
For a long time | had nothin' but
Shakespeare and the Bible. But last
winter | got historical book about
them kings and queens Of England. {
was interested in one Of 'em, king
called Henry Will 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 a monster" | protested.
"Waal, now, stranger, l 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 wilder, which is con-
trary to Scripture, and after livin' with
her twenty years his conscience trou-
bled him. 1t may be tibet he hadn't
orter married her in the first place,
but it makes a good deal of difference
whether q wOman'S young and anna
BILE or old and spiteful. No, 1 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
WifeY'
WAL, now, | hain't so sartin about
that neither. Henrys conscience was
very tender one and, as | said afore,
always pricked him at a 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 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 gitn
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 | fOreit'
'As mere child she had been led
into several indiscretions. including
sort of marriage with low bred fell
low who afterward turned pirate AS
soon as she married the king all those
who had led her astray''-
Il 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
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
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
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 dom so she only showed a 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
weallling. Henry had a material insight
into wimmin's onfitness to run things,
and, having tender conscience. it
grieved him to think O. leavin' his peo-
pie to suffer under EN-. 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.
mo, stranger; in summin' up the
married life o Henry VIII. | consider
that he was a remarkable man and a
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 EN-! Jist
think of it, stranger-six of EN-! What
would you and l do with such a 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 memorable
fate compelled him to betray his coun-
try. l confess the farmers logic i'm
pressed me as favorably as many lives
l have read of the worlds prominent
sinners
The farmer having no more of King
Henry'S oueenS to discuss except the