The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1914-04-24
...An...
Experiment
Nv DONAI D CHAMBERLI IN
By DONALD CHAMBERLIN

"Evenin', Mr.. Rogers" she said.
"On your way home. | reckon. 1t
must be mighty pleasant to have such
nice home as yours 70 go to after
hard days work
ut used to be 'song as mother and
Anna lived. but now it's kind q lone
some Besides. when feller's tired
out he don't want to cook his supper
and wash dishes"
"Why don't yon git married? Then
you'd have some one to do your cook
in for you and wash the dishes and
take keer o the house"
WAL" said. kind O thinkin' out
loud. Il don't know but that's a good
idee. but 1t amt so simple as would
appear Furst off. feller's got to
find the gal he wants. and to make 1t
go she's got to want him. Then.
s'posin' it is a 20. its easy and cheap
enough to git married: you kin git
parson to do the job for whatever you
like to pay Now. can't hitch two
critters together and expect EN- to
travel easy. Furst off. one on EN- II
plunge for'ard. and t'other II hang
back. Then one on 'em II balk when
the other is sot down to a Study gait
That's the way it is when two pus-
sons begin to travel the matrimonial
road together And. sposin that in
stead of gettin' used to the same kind
O goin they git wuss and wuss. what
you goin' to do then?"
"Oh. Mr. Rogers" says Martha.
you're pessimist. and the wust kind
Of one"
II don't know what that Is. but
! do know that gittin married il like
buyin pig in a poke. Yon kin see
| the gal plain enough on the outside.
but You don't know what she is on
the inside She may be white as
inches down she may be smolderin'
fire. ready to burst out at any mo-
ment."
"Ill tell yon what I'll do with Won.
:
not hankerin' to git married. You kin
experiment on me If you like. and If
you don't find out at the end o six
months that I'm what you took me
for in the beginnin' I'll agree with you
that wimmen is mighty deceptive"
well, now. that's accommodatin', /
declare" says to her when shall !
begin?"
whenever you like"
I'n commence tonight. when I've
mad supper and got the dishes washed"
"You needn't mind about the dishes
Jest You let EN- alone tonight To-
morrer when you're out to work I'll go
In and tidy mp for you and do your
"Hangin under the porch. left side
near the front"
She'd started on. and didn't say no
more. went on hum. got my sup
per and tux Martha at her word. leav-
in the dishes in the pan. About y
o'clock | went over to her house and
found that she'd done her evenin'
chores and was a-sittin' before hlaz-
in fire. darnin' stockin's. | thanked
her for the offer she'd made me and
told her when she'd convinced me
that wimmen was jest as amiable as
they looked I'd like for her to put
me onter a nice gal that | could ex-
periment on. with view to marriage.
She said she would If she could hit on
the right gal
spent a couple Of hours with Mar
tina. toppin off with some cakes and
cider she brought out The next day.
when | went home at noon. found
the dishes washed. the pots and ket-
Ties shinin' like loOkin' glasses and
everything Spick and span. BY
crackpy. | hardly knowed the place
That was Saturday. and | thort |
oughtpr go over the same evenin' and
thank Martha. did so. and she
said that for few weeks she'd clean
up for me every Saturday.
After that every Saturday mornin'
Martha put everything to rights. and
| dropped in to thank her Saturday
evenin' She said she'd do it for a
few weeks, but the few weeks growec
into a few months. .tu
Meanwhile | was a-watchin' her tC
see If she was good all the way
through or only vanished. At last
told her that was we'll satisfied witt
the experiment and | didn't think
wimmen was so OnSartin after all, IL
been so encouraged by her goodness
that concluded to cit married. Sh'
looked very much pleased after thi
and asked me who was gOin T.
marry | hadn't any one in view: hut
thinkn' | oughter name somebody. in
asmuch as said | was gOin 10 ri
married said the gal was Matilda
Blake
You jist onghter seen the change Il
Martha Her face got red. and he
eyes fairly spit fire.
Matilda Blake" she said. might
scornfuI "Shp doesn't know how t
fry bacon She couldn't sew n hutto
on your coat. She couIdn't even dar
Stockin'S"
said SOmein in defense OF Matilda
but 1t only made Martha madden tina
before She began to abuse me more
5 Matilda. and when | got a tritte hut
d. she mp and throwpd hook nj M
head got ont as quick as | could
but not before an inkStnnd struck m
on the shoulder II didn't hurt mt
| hut spoiled n suit Of store clothes
The experiment was failure Nv
2 hepn rnokin and wnShin' dishes my
l self since then and | expect 10 kep'
il NJ all nv life