Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1913-07-03
Heroic
reatrnent
BY F. TOWNSEND SMITH

old and n bachelor. He had no taste
for society, and his life was solitary in
the extreme
had been to his room occasionally, |
and his landIady knew my name. One
day Rogers had worked himself up to |
such condition that she feared he
was going 70 commit suicide They |
hunted my name in the telephone reg
lister and called me up to say that
she wished would come round and
take charge of him. went to his
room and found him walking the floor
with a desperate look In his eye. I
took him out with me for dinner, after
which we went to the theater, and he
spent the night in my rooms. Before
going to bed / said to him:
Rogers. the thing for you to do is to
get married"
"Who would marry meT'
81 know several young women who
would be glad to get you. I'll intro
duce you to the one that think would
be the most likely to suit you If you
like"
Anything to relieve me of myself"
The young person to whom | intro
duced Rogers was twenty-seven years
old. Not having thus far fulfilled the
condition for which she was made-a
wife and mother-she was beginning to
get dissatisfied with herself and those
about her. | told her Of Rogers case,
and she confessed that it was much
like her own. She, too, said "any-
thing but the life Of an old maid" IT
was understood when l brought them
together that it was for the purpose OF
matrimony. and they didn't pretend to
what they did not feel-that they were
in that delirium commonly called love.
They made short work of the prelimi-
naries and, being very much pleased
with each other, became engaged and
were married.
think their honeymoon was as hap
py as it is with married couples usu-
ally. Both seemed to have taken
laughing gas. There was no attention
too great or too trivial for Rogers to
pay his wife, and she seemed disposed
to suffer any inconvenience rather than
put him to the slightest discomfort.
| called on them soon after their
marriage. Then l did not see them
again for six months. l met Rogers
and, grasping him by the hand, said
How are you, old man? How goes
married life?"
"Oh, married life Is well enough,
suppose"
"Well enough? Why. l thought al
first you considered 1t delightful"
THAT was In the beginning, wher
we hadn't really settled down to the
business of married life. l find double
harness pretty hard to work in some
times"
"Have any company?"
"All we want"
"Well, I'm coming round to see yoI
pretty soon"
When I called Rogers had been dc
tanned at business, and / was enter
tanned by his wife. Being an ole
friend of mine, did not hesitate t.
ask her how married life suited her.
'Oh, don't suppose" she said. 'tha'
Ed is any harder to live with thai
most men,.
HE isn't somber, is heT
"Oh. no; he is cheerful enough, bu'
surprise him every now and then by
not being what he has always sup
posed a woman to be, and If all mel
are what he is sometimes they mus
be-
While we were talking in caIne Ed
He saw by his wife's expression tha
she had been pouring her troubles int
my ear, and he didn't like it. lie sa
down with a very ugly look on hi'
face.
"Well," he said TO me, IL suptos'
she's been making me out pretty
hard nut"
"See here" | said, faring up, Il OH
the best | could for you two in bring
ing you together. If you want to quar-
rel would prefer that you leave M
out"
.'Who's drawing you in?" asked tn
husband, with snarl.
Hes drawn himself In" Shapes
the wife. "He tried to pump yo'
when he met you the other day, the
came around here to pump me"
pump you! What interest have
in whether you get on or don't get Of
together? l bid you both good even
ing"
seized my hat and got out OF tn
house as quickly as l could. followe
by more caustc remarks from bot
of them and making to myself NOR
caustic remarks still.
"What a fool was to try to do any
: thing with a bachelor and an incipien
old maid One might as well try
make crooked tree grow straight
Catch me trying TO help any one tina
} way again."
When we do a kindness we don
know whether II will turn out such
an injury. thought | knew that J
n