The herald., 1914-02-26
...An...
Experiment
By DONALD CHANi3ERLIN

when l started for hum met Martha
Hodges.
"EvenIn'. Nr Rogers" she said
ION your way home, reckon 1t
must be mighty pleasant to have such
nice home as yours to 80 TO after
a hard days work"
1T used TO be song as mother and
Anna lived, but now it's kind a lone
some. Besides, when a feller's tired
out he don't want 10 cook his supper
and wash dishes"
why don't you git married? Then
you'd have some one 10 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 IL amt so simple as would
appear. Furst of. a fe!lers got 10
End the gal he wants. and to make il
a go she's got to want him Then.
s'posin' II is a so. it's easy and cheap
enough to git married; you kin git
pa-son to do the job for whatever you
ike 10 pay. Now. | can't hitch two
critters together and expect EN- TO
travel easy. Furst of. one on EN- II
f plunge for'ard. and tOther II hang
! back. Then one on EN- III balk when
/ the other is sOt down to a Study gait
That's the way il 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 them"
/ "Oh. Mr.. Rogers" says Martha.
you're pessmist. and the wust kind
| Of a one"
Il don't know what that Is. but
, do know that gittin married is Ike
| bUyin' a pig in a poke. You 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'll tell you what I'll do with you.
Reckon you 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 winner is mighty deceptive"
We'll, now. that's accommodatin',
declare" l says TO her. When shall
Begin"
Whenever you like"
"I'll commence tonight. when I've
had 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 up for you and do your
dishes. Where'll | find the door keyT
"Hangin' under the porch. left side
near the front"
She'd started on. and | didn't say no
more. I 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 q blaz-
in fire. darnin' stockin's. I 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 I could eI-
pertinent on. with a view to marriage
She said she would IL she could bit on
the right gal
/ spent a couple OF hours with Mar
tina. toppin' OF with some cakes and
cider she brought out The next day.
when | went home at noon. I found
the dishes washed. the pots and ket-
ties shinin' like lookin' glasses and
everything spick and span. By
crackey. ! hardly knowed the place.
That was Saturday. anG thort
oughter 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
I dropped In to thank her Saturday
evenin' She said she'd do 1t for a
few weeks. but the few weeks growed
into few months.
Meanwhile | was a-watchin' her to
see II she was good all the way
through or only vanished. At last I
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 ! concluded to git married She
looked very much pleased after this
and asked me who ] was goin' to
marry | hadn't any one in view: but
thinkin' | oughter name somebody. in
asmuch as ! said ! was goin' to git
married. ] said the gal was Matilda
Blake
You list 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 a button
on your coat She couldn't even darn
stockin's."
! said somefn In defense Of Matilda.
but It only made Martha madden than
before. She began to abuse me more'n
Matilda. and when | got a triae huffy
she up and throwed a book at my