The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-01-30
...An...
Experiment
By DONALD CHAMBERlIN

! oI0S tCO III uUUU I u1cS V10IIu0
Hodges.
"Evenin', Mr.. Rogers." she said.
"On your way home. reckon. It
must BE- mighty pleasant to have such
q nice home ~ yours to ~ to after
q hard days work"
1T used to he 'sl0ng a. mother and
Anna lived. hut now it's kind q lone
some. Resides. when q felIer's tired
out he don't want to cook his supper
and wash dishes"
"Why don't you Kit married? Then
you'd have some one to do yOur cook
In for you and wash the dishes and
take keer q the house"
WAL" said. kind q thinkin' out
loud. Il don't know hut THAT'S a good
idee. Hut 1t amt 40 simple IA would
appear 'Furst Of. a fe:lpr's got to
dnd the gal he wants. and to make It
q 90 she's got tn want him. Then.
s'p~sin' 1t II a 20 it's easy. and cheap
enough to git married: you kin git q
parson to do the job for whatever yOu
like tn pay Now. ! can't hitch two
critters together and expect en- to
travel easy. Fnrst on. n On 'em II
plunge for'ard. and t'Other II hang
back Then one on EN- II balk when
the other IL sOt down to- a stiddy gait.
That's the way 1t Is when two pus-
sons begin to travel the matrimonial
road together And. s'pOsin' 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 a pessimist. and the ust kind
Of a one"
II don't know what that ia. hut I
do know that gittin' married Ia like
buyin' a pig in a poke. Yom kin see
the gal plain enough on the outside.
but you don't know what she ia on
the inside She may be white IA
snow on the surface. and not two
inches down she may be a smOlderin'
, fire. ready to hurst out at any mo-
ment."
"IlI tell you what I'll do with yon.
Reckon yon don't want me. and I'm
not hankprin' to Git married. YOn kin
/ experiment on me Is you like. and II
yOn don't find ont Mt the end q ak
months that I'm what you took me
for In the beeinnin' III agree With you
that wimmen Ia mighty deceptive"
"Well. now. that's accommOdatin'. I
declare" says to her. "When shalt I
begtn?"
whenever you like"
"IIl commence tonight. when I've
had supper and got the dishes washed"
"Y0u needn't mind ahOnt the dishes.
Jest yon let 'em alone tonight. To.
morrer when you're out to work I'll 60
In and tidy M for you and do yOur
dishes WhereM I find the door key
"Hangtn' under the porch. left side
near the front"
Shed started on. and ! didn't say no
more. went ON hmm. got my sup.
per and Tux Martha at her word. leav.
in the dishes In the pan About 3
O'Clock I went over to her house and
found that she'd done her evenin'
chores and was a-sittin' before a blaz-
in ire. darnin' %stockin's. I thanked
her for the offer shed made nj and
told her when she'd convinced me
that wimmen was Jest as amiable az
they looked I'd like for her to put
me onter a nice gal that I could ex-
pertinent on. with a view to marriage.
She said she would II she cOnld hit on
the right gal. '"'
spent a couple Of hours with Mar
tina. toppin' OF with some cakes and
| cider she brought ont. The next day.
when I went home at noon. ! found
the dishes washed. the pots and ket-
ties shinin' like iODkin' glasses and
everything spick and span. By
crack~y. | hardly knowed the place.
That was Saturday. and I th"rt I
oughter "a over the same evenin' and
thank Martha. did 3 {. and she
said that for a few weeks she'd clean
M for me every saturday.
After that every Saturday mornin'
Martha put everything to. rights. and
dropped In to thank her Saturday
cvenin' She said shed do It for a
few weeks. bnt the few weeks RrOwed
into a few months.
Meanwhile | was a-watchin' her to
see II she was gOod all the way
through or only vanished. At last !
told her that I was well satisfied with
the experiment and I didn't think
wimmen was ~ Onsartin' after all. I'D
been SO encouraged ny her goodness
that ! concluded to git married. She
looked very much pleased after this
and asked Inc who ! was goin' ia
marry hadn't any one in view: but.
thiEkin' I onghter name somebody. In.
asmuch as ! said was gnin' to Git
married. I said the gal was Matilda
Blake.
"YOu list onghter seen the change In
Martha Her face got red. and her
eyes fairly spit fire.
MATILDA Blake" she said. mighty
ecornfnl. 'She doesn't know how tn
fry bacon. She couldn't sew a hutton
on yonr coat She couldn't ever darn
stockin's.