The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1913-10-23
THE ROMANCE OF
FARMER DALE
Lost Faith In Womankind and
Then Retained 1t.

ped for supper and all night at a for
lorn looking farmhouse. l was sur
prised to see no woman about. all the
work being done by the owner of the
place, Ezra Dale After supper | light
ed pipe and sat on the porch smok-
ing. Dale came and sat beside me-
You have finished your evening
chores early l said. When my wife
is without a servant she never gets the
dishes washed before o'clock.
WAL, you see, | don't do it that
away. l wash dishes oncet week"
Don't you think a wife would be
handy? She could do your mending."
Don't need no wife. | got needles
an thread an buttons
where's your thimble?" | asked.
Don't need no thinble"
Did you never have 4 love AFFAIR.""
Yes, oncet. 1t was when | was a
young feller-very young an very
green. | used ter look on a gal as a
heather would look on a sacred image.
There was little one Twin across the
creek, Farmer Owens daughter Daisy
Purity? Ye bet, an gentle as a kitten.
she LUX IL SIIHe W Ille. WAS al ldlI
lookin' young Teller then, straight an
slim an light on my feet. One evenin'
| was a-passin' Farmer Owens. an
Daisy come runnin' out with her finger
a-bleedin' an asked me to tie it up fur
her. l had ter git her arm under mine
somehow an hold on ter her hand an
wrap the linen strip an wind the
string an Il lot of things all at the
/ same time. While | was adOin' of it
4 her hair got agin my cheek, an'-waal,
l lost my head an, turnin, put an arm
/ around her an kissed her
DO We know, stranger. I've since
made up my mind she done it all a-pur-
pose | blieve she cut her finger on
tentionally. ] tell We, women folks is
tricky
II think that was a very nice fem
mime way of catching your attention"
| remarked, GO on
That's iist what / did do. | went
on from day ter day week ter week.
till it seemed ter me if anything hap
pened between me an that gal Id col
lapse, Somethin did happen Farmer
Owens TUX 4 farm ham fur the hayin',
an what did Daisy do but take him
out in her buggy that her father bought
fur her at Christmas an drive right
by that house a-purpose ter show him
off ter me- l tell We. stranger, she
had the wickedest eye in her We ever
see
Another feminine trait" l observed
Miss Daisy was evidently Il woman
she was woman stranger. an the
! lugubrouSly ''She broke me all mp.
2 list rented this farm an went away
!, | didn't come back fur ten years Their
r | made up my mind that women folks
. wasn't with worryin about. an | tub
my farm ag'iu an began ter work it
\ The fust time | went by Farmer
. Owens Daisy come out-she haC
. grown ter be a fine lookin' young wo
man of twenty-siX-an' what do "
n suppose She did,"
7 Il can't imagine
: asked me if | wouldn't tie up GU
il finger. She had the same wicked TOOL
i'll her eve she had when she drove tina
lopsided farm han by my house te'
years afore. Women is the persistent
! est critters l ever see. | jist squares
off an said: 'Ye don't cit me tha
: away ag'in. Ye done it oncet. Al
: that's enough But. do We know stral
ger. she was so slick about it that /
= five minutes l had my arm about he
g an she was a-restin' her head on IN
shoulder She was a-cryin. too-cryiI
d crockerdile tears no doubt.
(, WAL. we was engaged. but 1t didn
u las long. The question come up a
~ ter whether we'd be married by jus
tice or a parson. | don't like parson
myself. an | wanted n justice Dals
.. wanted a parson, an she was so blan
set about it that reckoned if she wa
as obstinate about 4 small matter LII
n that she'd be wantin' ter run the farm
q so | called the thing off. an I've bee
7 livin' alone here ever since
Mr. Dale" | said you have mi
u taken natural feminine traits for Sel
Ill eral cussedness"
That's what they is, tell We, stra
ger. Ye don't understand"
You have declined to give up tn
which to a woman is a great dea
while to you it is nothing. Miss over
i. was right to insist on being marie
~ by parson. and you were ungenerol
~ TO refuse her. Now. let me give you
IN bit of advice. Miss Owens is st
r. single? Yes. Well. go to her and t
1y her that when you first met her "
were laundering idiot and that lat
. you We're an obstinate brute. Say tn
if she will overlook your past erro
you will spend your life in doll
penance."
''Why. stranger, if l was ter do tn
I'd never have any own way abo
anything afterward."
1T is the only way to have yo
own way about everything with W
man. Toss it alf~ into her hands, a