The Newport miner. [volume] (Newport, Wash.) 1899-current, 1912-07-25
Bv EVAN 8. M'kNlCHT


noyed with the feminine pecularitles
Of his wife. The best way tor hIm to
do is to get used TO them. suppose
the reverse of this is true that wo
man may as we'll get used TO the pc
culiarities of her husband but. being
q man. | don't know anything about
that part OF it.
The first thing | noticed about my
wife after marriage that / didn't like
was that she opened my letters aud
read them with as much compiacency
as If they were her own. There was
nothing in them to injure me IN her
estimation. but that didn't make their
opening by her any more agreeable to
me. When a man has reached middle
age without having any one dare to
read what belongs to him alone. nav
ing from childhood considered such an
act highly discreditabe, not to say dis
honorable, to have his wife do such a
thing CRATES on him terribly.
! hoped that when Lena noticed that
/ never opened any letter OF hers she
would refrain from opening mine
When she came down 10 breakfast
later than ] and the pOStman had de
ivered the morning mall | would nand
her her letters intact. Sometimes she
would say This Is from Aunt Ga
rissa' or Cousin Sarah or her sister or
a brother why didn't you open itY'
whereupon would say sententiously,
81 have never been accustomed to
open another persons letters
But Lena didn't take the mint or any
other hint | gave her. just Keeping on
breaking the seals OF my correspond
ents epistles till at last concluded To
give her a more marked hint than any
| had thus far devised / wrote a note
to myself from a mythical Horace
Dunn. telling me in confidence OF mis-
engagement to Julia HALEY. an init
mate friend OF my wife. AS | expect
ed. Lena opened the letter; but. finding
in it a confidence one which very
much interested her she sealed it up
again. saying nothing to me about the
matter.
Maybe there wasn't bot time when
Lena congratulated Der friend on her
engagement Lena asked me who the
scoundrel was who had claimed to be
engaged to her friend without admit
ting that she had opened the letter the
man had written me and then deceiv-
ed me by sealing it again. For some
time | saw by her demeanor that her
friend was not satisfied to have the
matter hushed up and insisted on find
ing out who the man was who claimed
to be engaged to her Finally, when
my wife could withstand the pressure
no longer. she made a confession and
demanded the required information
My time had come. ! told her that
the lady to whom the writer claimed
to be engaged was not her friend at
all. but another person OF the same
name. Then | proceeded to give her
lecture on the practice OF interfering
With any one else's correspondence,
even her husbands. by doing So"
said, you have caused a great deal
of unnecessary trouble. Had you left
me the sole reader OF my letter the
error would not have been made"
This bad only an Irritating effect
on my wife, who vowed she would not
again touch one of my letters even
With a poker and for a time handed
me my mail unopened In nigh dudgeon.
But she sooD fell into ner old habit.
Instead of accepting the situation. as
/ should have done. | concluded to lay
another trap wrote myself another
letter which | asked a friend to post
In distant city from another mythical
friend of mine confessing that he had
embezzled some money and asking me
what under beaver he should do to es
cape state prison. He added that If
any one except myself should see his
confession the ruin he dreaded would
be sure to come.
Lena opened this letter and. finding
that she had stumbled upon another
secret, made up her mind to reseal the
letter and this time keep silent on
matter that was of 10 personal inter
est to her. But just as she was about
to do SO there was smell OF smoke
from the laundry. and, leaving the
note and it's envelope side by side on
her desk with letters OF her own. she
ran downstairs to learn If the house
was on Ere. She found an incipient
blaze. which with some trouble was
put out Then she went back to her
desk and did as she mad intended with
my letter.
When came IN and found the letter.
apparently untouched. tore 1t open
and took out a letter to my wife from
one of her friends containing a conf
dence ] had no right to possess.
handed the note to Lena. demanding
to know how a private letter to her
had come In an envelope addressed to
me.
/ shall never forget the frightened
look that came over her face. Intend