Little Falls herald., 1914-02-06
...An... !.
experiment. 4 il: !, i:
By DONALD CHAMBERlIN

when i started for hum 1 met Martha
Hodges.
"Evenin'. Mr.. Rogers she said.
Ion your way home. l reckon. 1t
must be mighty pleasant to have such
a nice home as yours to go to after
n 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 yen 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."
"Waal,'' said. kind O thinkin' out
loud. II don't know but that's a good
idee. But 1t amt 50 simple as would
appear. Furst off. a feller's got to
find the gal he wants. and to make it
60 she's got to want him: Then.
s'pOsin' it is a so, 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. I can't hitch two
critters together and expect EN- to-;
travel easy. Furst off. one ON 'em II
plunge for'ard. and tother II hang
back. Then one on 'em III balk when
the other is sot down to 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 soin' to do then?" =.
"Oh. Mr., Rogers, says Martha.
you're pessimist. and the wust kind
Of one.'' =:
II don't know what. that is. but
do know that gittin' married is like
buyin' Il 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 smolderin'
fire. ready to burst out at my mo-
ment." -
"1'll tell you what III do with von.
Reckon you don't want me. and I'm
not hankerin' to glt. married. You kin
experiment on me IL yon like. and IL
you don't find out at the end o six
months that I'm what you took me
for in the hesinnin' I'll agree with you
that wimmen is mighty deceptive
"Well, now. that's accommodatin', /
declare" says to her. "When shall I
begin?"
whenever you ike ...--.~.~
"1'n commence tonight. when I've
had supper and rot the dishes washed"
'You needn't mind about the dishes.
Jest you let 'em alone tonight. To-
morrer when you're out to work I'll 20
in and tidy up for you and do your
dishes. Wherein l End 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 I 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. ! thanked
her for the offer shed 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 e1-
pertinent on. with a view to marriage
She said she would If she could hit oh
the right gal. :.
l spent q couple Of hours with Mar
tha. .toppfn' of With some cakes and
cider she brought nut: The next day.
when went home at noon. found
the dishes washed. the pots and ket-
ties shinin' like iool<in' glasses and
everything spick and span. By
crackey. 1 hardly knowed the place.
That was. Saturday. and thOrt I
oughter go over the same evpnin' and
thank Martha 1 did SO. and she
said that for q few weeks she'd clean
M for me every Saturday.
After that every Saturday mornip'
Martha put everything to rights. and
I dropped in to thank her Saturday
evpnfn' She said shed do 1t for a
few weeks. hut the few weeks growed
into few months.
Meanwhile I was a.watchtn' her to
see If sht. was good nil the waH
through ar only Vanished. At last l
told her tl,atl was we'll satisfied with
the experiment and didn't think
wimmen was -, Onsartin' after all. I'd
heen 81, encouraged by her gtN.dneas
that l. concluded tu sit married She
looked very mnch pleased after this
and asked me who ! was gOtn' tt,
marry. tladlf't any one in view: bt't.
tl,frkin' ! olglltprs name. sOrnt'lnxiy. In
'asmnch assil :snid i /, was g,,ln to cit
married.; lHsssaid the eal was Matflda
/. You list onshter seen the change II.
Martha f1er face got red. and hefI
eyes fairly spit: fire. RI Ri. u sss 5s.a
!, { '''Afafilda Riakc:' she said. mighty
ecornfMl. ''Sh.. doesn't know h.Iw TO-
fry bacon. She couldn't sew a hutton
On av0t,r rtlaf She couldn't even darn