Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1912-08-29
WORKING OUT
A PRINCIPLE
A Disagreeable Situation Re.
lieved by Accident.

John Wren was an intimate friend of
mine, and Amy. my wife, was as fond
OF him as l. He was constantly at our
house. and we should have found it a
great loss to give him up.
One day John went away. and when
he came back he brought a wife with
him. AS soon as we saw her it was
evident that John. with good natured.
easy going p~roclivities. had been roped
into a marriage with a woman beneath
him.
Amy and l found ourselves in the
face Of a problem. We could not take
Mrs. Wren into -Our hearts along with
John. and we could not give John up.
The only thing we could do was to
treat her as cordially as possible. This
we tried, but it proved a failure. She
was constantly in trouble not only
with us. but with others. Her asso-
ciates were noisy, common people like
herself. and she usually led them by
the nose to make themselves more dis
agreeable than they naturally.
Having children who needed the
country air. Amy and I concluded to
build a suburban residence. We were
much interested in it's construction and
when we got into it thought we were
settled for life. My wife insisted on
inviting John Wren to come up and
| stay over the first Sunday we spent in
the house.
will you invite his wife? 2" l asked.
mo. John understands the situation
perfectly and will come without her."
VERY WE'LL" l replied. II trust she
will be satisfied with our loving her
husband and ignoring her."
John came. He said nothing about
our leaving out his wife. and we did
not mention her during the visit. He
looked careworn when he arrived. but
frightened up while he was with us.
When about to return he again re-
lapsed into sadness.
Three months after we got settled
Mrs. Wren wrote Amy asking Some
questions about the place of our resi-
dence. saying at the same time that
she was urging her husband to build
lear US. You are such friends she
wrote. land John enjoys your society
Sc much that I have not the heart to
let him be separated from you"
Amy and l looked at one another in
establishment. What could we do to
prevent this woman from coming
among us? What did we do? Moth
ing. One morning we saw a load Of
lumber dumped in the adjoining lot
and upon inquiring who was going to
build there were told that it was a
man of the name of Wren.
Well. we watched the house go up.
every day losing interest in our own
home now that it was to be in the
shadow of Mrs. Wren's. When she
moved in she was profuse in express
sions of friendliness-aIl on account Of
her ~husband-and was sure that it
was the only thing that would save
him from a chronic melancholy. As
John left in the morning on an early
train and never returned until hear
midnight it did not appear that the
remedy would be effectual. Neverthe-
less whenever he was ar from the
city for the day he spent all his time
with US. But If John was not often at
home his wife's friends were there
constantly. They would sit out on the
piazza until late in the evening. talk
ing and laughing boisterously.
We had never noticed any fondness
for music IN the part of Mrs. Wren.
but now most of her friends played on
some instrument. There were guitars,
mandolins. banjos. tambourines and
bones. The players seemed to nave
barely learned the rudiments of music
and kept up an incessant hammering
that would destroy the nerves OF a
dinosaur. One evening when Amy was
suffering from a headache | ventured
to inform the party Of the fact from
my piazza and ask a respite. They
stopped playing Immediately and sulk.
lily. The Ext evening their concert
was enlivened by a French horn.
Amy" said l. that woman came
here to drive US out
Il do believe it." she said
When the autumn came and Mrs.
Wren announced that on Johns ac-
count. his health demanding that be
should remain near u.s.. she would re.
main in the country. there was nothing
for US to do but take a house in the
city. We could only afford a fat. but
we feared that Mrs. Wren would take
another in the same building and over
or adjoining us, so we rented a house
standing by itself. feeling safe that
she could not build another beside us
before spring.
Mrs. Wren finally decided to spend
the winter in the city, returning to her
country place in the spring. only to
find our rented. She was preparing
to return to the city, doubtless to dis.
cover where we were going for the
season and follow us, when one after.
noon a terrific thunderstorm came up
For five minutes the holts flashed in