Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-09-08
Evening Story !
AUNT ROxY'S DIVORCE.
BY Lawrence Alfred Clay.


copyright, 1912, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.)
When Adam Perkins, farmers hired
man, came counting Roxy Smith, farm
er's hired girl, they told her that he
was a good-natured, lazy young man.
That was about the best that could
be said of him.. He got less wages
than any other hired man in Medina
county, but he didn't kick about that.
He realized that he didn't earn any
more than he was paid.
Miss Roxy was Woodworking
young woman. and she detested q
lazy man. She married Adam because
she believed she could reform him.
She was told that such reform had
never been worked in this world. but
she was woman of self-confidence
When the marriage came off they re-
tired to a little farm of their own.
For three years the wife had hopes.
She plead and she argued and she led
the way, and now and then Adam
would take squirt and work like g.
horse for half day at time. Then
his ambition would be gone. He read
lily acknowledged his lazlness, but he
just couldn't help it. II he was found
in shady fence corner while the corn
needed hoeing his argument was:
"The Lord made corn to grow wild,
and it was never intended that man
should get the backache chopping out
the weeds. Nothing can hurt If we
leave things as the Lord made EN-"
There came day when the wife,
after carrying sober, thoughtful face
for a week, said to the husband:
adam, you put in about five days
work in the past month"
"As much as that, Roxy?" he asked
in surprise.
about that"
well, the Lord never intended that
man should work. If he had he would
have given Adam something to do ex-
cept loaf around
Our crops won't be half a yield
this fall"
well, there will be other folks just
as bad off,
1--WE have made poor showing for
three years"
We've got along, and no ones back
has been broke. What you fussing
about, Roxy?"
eve been thinking, Adam, and
have come to conclusion. Ihave
hoped to make you a hustling man,
but it's no use thinking of success.
l am going to leave YOU
Shoot
yes, going to get divorce
yes, what have done?'
Its laziness. I'll get divorce and
work out again
Tears came to Adams eyes and he
made promises. It hadn't been the
square thing for him to loaf around
the way he had, and he would do bet
ter. He would begin that very min
ute, and he went out and fed the hogs
and shut the hen-house door to prove
that great change had suddenly
the breakfast fire for the first time in
two years, and for half day he WELD
ed the hoe with great vigor. Then his
wife came down to the cornf1eld and
found him asleep.
1t had been discovered, however,
that any talk of divorce scared Adam,
and the wife planned to use the wea-
pom. About once month for years
the matter came up. Now it would be
that her sister advised her-again it
would be what the tin peddler said
then what she had concluded. Those
talks were always good to push
Adam along for week, but as tho
years went on and the talks" went
on they lost their force and got to be
an old story. And, too, the wife made
mistake by not combining them to
laziness alone. It got SO at last that
when she wanted new pair of shoes,
for instance, she would threaten d.
vorce to get them. The weapon wore
out at last, as she might have antici-