The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-02-20
...An...
Experiment
By DONALD CHAMBERLlN

Id been pIantin' corn all day. and
when l started for hum l met Martha
Hodges.
"Evenin'. Mr.. RogerA" she said.
"On your way home. / reckon. 1t
must be mighty pleasant to have such
. nice home a. yours to 80 to after
. hard days work"
ut used to b 'slong a. mother and
Anna lived. but now it's kind Q lone
some. Besides. when q feller's tired
out be don't want to cook his supper
and wash dishes" ..s
why don't you git married. Then
you'd have some n to do your cook
n for you and wash the dishes and
take keer o the house."
"WaaL." said. kind o. thiHkfn' out
oud. II don't know bot that's Q eood
jdse. But It amt ~ simple % would
appear. Furst Of. q fellers got -
0nd the kai - wants. and 10 make Il
. 70 she's got to want him. Then.
s'p0ein' It h q 70. its easy and cheap
enough to nt married: you kin ait q
parson to do the job for Whatever yen
IKE to pay Now. ! can't bitch two
critters together and expect 'en 10
travel easy. Fmrst Cd. one on EN- II
p'nnge for'ard. and t'other II hang
back. Then n on EN- II balk when
the other " mt down to Q stiddy Rait.
That's the way It II when two pms
sons hegin to travel the matrimonial
road together And. s'poein' that in
stead Of gettin' uxed to the aam~ kind
o gOin' they Kit wuss and wuas. what
you goin' n do then?"
"Oh. Mr. Rogers" saya Martha.
you're q peasimist. and the wust kind
Of a one."
II don't know what that Ia. but I
do know that gittin' married h hike
buyin' \ pig In a poke. Yon kin nee
the gal plain enough m the "ntside.
but you don't know what abe r. on
the inside she may n white "A
snOw on the surface. and mt two
inches down she may be . smo4derin'
Ore. ready to hurst out at any NO
ment."
"I'i tell you what I'll Do With Won.
Reckon you don't want me. and I'm
BOT hankerin' to Kit married. YOn kin
experiment on me II yon ike. and II
you don't 6nd out at the end n nix
months that I'm what you took me
for In the heRinnin' I'll agree With you
that wimmen Ia mighty deceptive"
swell. now. that's accommodates. I
DECLARE" I saw to her. "when shah I
begin!"
"whenever Won like"
"Il commence tonight. when I've
had supper and got the dishes washed."
"You needn't mind abunt the dishes.
Jest yon let EN- alone tonight. To-
mOrrer when yOn're Out tn work TT 70
In and tidy M for yOu and do your
dishes whereM dnd the door key?'
"Hanein' under the porch. left side
near the front"
Shed started on. and I didn't nay no
more. I went on hum. got my sup
per and tnk Martha at her word. leav-
in the dishes in the. pan About 3
o'clock | went W to her house and
found that she'd done her evenin'
chores and war a-sittin' before Q biaz-
in fire. darnin' stockin'a. thanked
her for the offer she'd made me and
told her when she'd convinced rae
that wimmen was Jest a. amiable a.
they looked I'd like for her to put
me- onter 4 nice gal that could ex-
pertinent on. with q view to marriage.
She said she would II she cOnld hit on
the right gal
! spent a couple Of hours With Mar
tha. tOppin' OF with sOme cakes and
cider she hronght ont The next day.
when I went home at noon. I fOnnd
the dishes washed. the pits and ket-
tles shinin' like Iookfn' glasses and
everything spick and span. BY
crackey. hardly knowed the place.
That was Saturday. and thnrt I
onghter - ove the same ev~nin' and
thank Martha. did NJ. and she
said that for a few weeks she'd clean
M tor me every saturday.
After that every Saturday mornin'
Martha put everything to rights. and
] drDpped in to thank her Saturday
evenin She aafd shed do It TOR q
few weeks. hit the few weeks grOwed
into a few months.
Meanwhile ! was a.watchin' bet 10
see II she was gO0d all the way
through Or only Vanished. At last
told her that I was we'll satisfied with
the experiment and didn't think
wimmen was sO onsartin' after all. I'd
been 50 encouraged ny her Rsn'dnesa
TINT l concluded tn git married. She
looked very much pleased after this
and asked me who was ROin to
marry. hadn't any n in view: hut.
thiE kin I oMghter name aOmphldy. In
aamuch an said was gOin' to git
married. ! Mid the gal was Matilda
nlake.
"Y0u jist onghter the change in
Martha Her face rot red. and her
eyes fairly spit Are.
"Matiida Blake" she said. mighty
scorufnl. ''Shp doesn't know how to
fry bacon. She couldn't sew 4 hutton
on onr ron She cOuldn't eve darn
Htockin's."
NH - -