Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-02-04
A FAMILY
MATTER
3, EVAN 3. MkN!CHT

DO is to get used 10 them. suppose
The reverse OF this Is true-that a wo
man may as we'll get used 10 the pc
cuIiarities OF her husband: but. being
a mau. dont know anything about
that part of it.
TIE 6rst thing I noticed about my
wife after marriage that | didn't like
was that she opened my letters and
read them With as much complacency
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 q 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 discredItable, not to say dis
honorable. to have his wife do such
thing CRATES on him terribly.
! hoped that when Lena noticed that
l never opened any letter Of hers she
would refrain from opening mine
When she came down to breakfast
later than l and the postnan had de
dvered the morning mail would hand
Der her letters intact. Sometimes she
would say This Is from Aunt Cha
rissa" or Cousin Sarah or her sister or
brother. Why didn't sou open it,
whereupon would say sententiOusiy.
IL have never been accustomed to
open another persons letters.S
But Lena didn't take the hint or any
other hint gave her, Just keeping on
breaking the sedls Of my correspond
ents' epistles till at last concluded to
give her more marked hint than any
I had thus far devised wrote note
to myself from a mythical Horace
Dunn. telling me In confidence Of his
engagement to Julia HALEY. an init
mate friend Of my wife. As I expect
ed. Lena opened the letter; but. finding
in Il a contidence-one which very
much interested her-she sealed It up
again, saying nothing to me about the
matter.
Maybe there wasn't q bot time when
Lena congratulated her 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 fnd
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, confession and
demanded the required Information.
Ny 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. 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 q time handed
me my mail unopened IN high dudgeon
But she soon fell into her Old habit
Instead Of accepting the situation, as
l should have done, I concluded TO lay
another trap. wrote myself another
letter which I asked q friend to post
in distant city from another mythical
friend of mine, confesstng that be had
embezzled some moEey and asking me
what under heaven be should do to es-
cape state prison. He added that II
any one except myself should see his
confession the ruin be dreaded would
be sure to come.
Lena opened this letter and. finding
that she had stumbled 0pon another
secret. made up her mlnd to reseal the
letter and this time keep silent on q
matter that was of no personal inter
est to her. But Just as she was about
to do so there was a smell Of smoke
from the laundry. and. leaving the
note and its envelope side By side on
her desk with letters Of her own. she
ran downstairs to learn II the house
was on fire. She found an incipient
blaze, which with some trouble was
pot out Then she went back to her
desk and did as she had intended with
my letter.
When | came 10 and found the letter.
apparently untouched. tore 1t open
and took out a letter to my wife from
one of her friends containing conf
dence ] bad 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
ing to slip my letter back into Its en-
velope. having been ratified on account
of the blaze in the laundry, she had