Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1914-01-14
An.
Experiment
BY DONALD CHAMBERLIN

"Evenin'. Mr.. Rogers" she said
ION your way home. ! reckon. 1t
must be mighty pleasant to have such
nice home as yours to 60 to after
a hard days work"
1T used to be 'slong as mother and
Anna lived, but now it's kind a lone
some. Besides. when a feller's tired
out he don't want to cook his supper
and wash dishes"
why don't you 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. II don't know but that's good
idee. But 1t amt SO simple as would
appear. Furst off. feller's got to
End the gal be wants. and to make 1t
go she's got to want him. Then.
s'posin' it is go, it's easy and cheap
enough to git married: you kin git
parson to do the job for whatever you
like to pay Now. I can't hitch two
critters together and expect 'em to
travel easy. Furst off. one on 'em II
plunge for'ard. and t'other II hang
back. Then one on EN- II balk when
the other Is sot down to a stiddy gait
That's the way 1t is when two pus-
sons begin to travel the matrimonial
road together And. sposin that in
stead Of gettin' nsed to the same kind
O. goin they git wuss and wuss. what
Won gOin' to do then?"
"Oh. Mr.. Rogers" says Martha,
you're pessimist. and the wust kind
Of q one"
II don't know what that Is, but
do know that gittin' married Ia like
buyin' pig in 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
snow on the surface. and not two
inches down she may be a smolderin
! fire. ready to burst out at any mo-
ment."
"I'n tell you what I'll do with Won.
Reckon yon don't want me. and I'm
not hankerin' to git married. You kin
experiment on me II you like. and II
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', I
, declare" | says to her. when shall l
begin?"
whenever you like"
"Ill commence tonight. when I've
had supper and got the dishes washed"
; "You needn't mind about the dishes
Jest you let 'em alone tonight To-
I morrer when you're out to work I'll go
in and tidy mp for you and do your
dishes Where'll find the door key"
"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 8
O'Clock went over to her house and
| found that she'd done her evenin'
chores and was a-sittin' before blaz-
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 nice gal that could ex-
pertinent on. with a view to marriage.
! She said she would If she could bit 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
ties shinin' like lookin' glasses and
everything spick and span. By
crackey. hardly knowed the place.
That was Saturday. and | thort |
oughter go over the same evenin' and
thank Martha. did so. and she
said that for a 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 growed
into a few months
/ Meanwhile was a-watchin' her to
see IT Sue was koOu all TIE way
through or only vanished. AT last |
told her that | was well satisfied with
the experiment and didn't think
wimmen was so onsartin' after all, I'd
been SO encouraged by her goodness
that l concluded to git married She
looked very much pleased after this
apd asked me who was goin' to
marry l hadn't any one In view; but
thinkin' | oughter name somebody. in
asmucb as | said was goin' to git
married. said the gal was Matilda
Blake,
! "You jist oughter seen the change In
Martha. Her face got red. and her
eyes fairly spit fire.
Matilda Baker she said. mighty
scornful "She doesn't know how to
fry bacon. She couldn't sew button
On your coat She couldn't even darn
tockin's."
soid Somafp in dafapSo nj Matilda