The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-02-27
...An...
Experiment
BY DONALD CHAMBERLN

Id been plantin' corn all day, and
when l started for hum l met Martha
Hodges.
"Bvenin', Mr.. Rogers she said.
"On your way home. I reckon. 1t
must be mighty pleasant to have such
4 nice home as yours to 60 to after
. hard days work." e.
1T used to be 'slong as mother aud
Anna lived. but now it's kind a lone
ZONE. Besides. when a fellers tired
out he don't want to cook his supper
and wash Dishes"
"Why don't you git married. Then
you'd have some n to do your cook
In for you and wash the dishes and
take keer o. the house."
"Waal," | said. kind O. thinkin' out
loud. Il don't know but that's a good
idee. But it amt so simple as would
appear. Furst of. q feller's got to
ind the gal he wants. and to make It
Z 20 she's got to want him. Then.
s'posin' it is a go. it's easy and cheap
enough to git married: you kin git a
parson to do the job for whatever you
like to pay. Now. ! can't hitch two
critters together and expect 'em to
travel easy. Furst of. on EN- II
plunge for'ard. and t'other II hang
back. Then n on 'em II balk when
the other is sot down to a stiddy gait.
That's the way it 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' tn do them"
"Oh. Mr.. Rogers" says Martha.
you're a pessimist. and the wust kind
Of q one"
II don't know what that Is, but I
do know that gittin' married Ia like
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'
Ore. ready to burst out at any no
ment."
"I'l tell you what I'll do with you.
Reckon you don't want me. and I'm
not hankerin' to Kit married. You kin
experiment on me Il you Ike. and II
you don't fnd 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 ID mighty deceptive"
swell, now. that's accommodatin', I
declare" I says to her. "When shah I
begin?" 1,'~ -. " - 80. .
whenever you IKE" ~ ,
"Tll 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. 10
morrer when you're out to work m 70
in and tidy up for you and do your
dishes. Wherell 6nd the door keyY'
"Hangin' under the porch. left side
near the front"
Shed started on. and I 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 I went owe to her house and
found that she'd done her evenin'
| chores and was a-sittin' before q 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 Is amiable as
they looked I'd like for her to put
me onter a nice gal that I could ex-
pertinent on. with q view to marriage.
She said she would If she could hit on
the right gal. ... s>-
l%spent q couple Of hours with Mar
tina. toppin' OF with some cakes and
cider she brought out. The next day.
when I 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. I hardly knowed the place.
That was Saturday. and I thort I
oughter 70 over the same evenin' and
thank Martha. l did so, and she
said that for q 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 q
few weeks. but the few weeks growed
into q few months.
Meanwhile 1 was a-watchin' her 10
zee II she was good all the way
through or only vanished. At last !
told her that I vas well satisfied with
the experiment and I didn't think
wimmen vas 20 onsartin' after all. I'd
been 90 encouraged BY her goodness
that I concluded to git married. She
looked very much pleased after this
and asked me who I ~ goin' to
marry. I hadn't any one in view: but
thinkin' I oughter name somebody. IN
asmuch az I said I was goin' 10 Sdt
married. I said the gal was Matilda
Blake.
lyon jist oughtsr seen the change In
Martha. Her face got red. and her
eyes fairly spit Dire.
Matilda Blake!" she nd. mighty
scoF,ful. ''She doesn't know how to
fry bacon. She couldn't sew q button