Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-09-07
GH0RDS a ~
ID I S G. O r ID S
OBEY OR NOT OBEY?

|
| ceremony. She was for IL.
Good and strong. believe me-" she
said. I'm the first place, all of these
rules that we women have got to swear
to were framed by men for the purpose
of putting us in the nine hole and keep
ing us there. The move to change the
program shows that we have them on
the run, and we're going to keep them
hopping, il / have anything to say
about it."
You talk like girl that had had
| some experience with men and mar
riage"
! know any better. Il was born in the
! country among the kind faced cows
and the waving corn, as you may no.
tice by my pink cheeks. That's no
| jolly, pal. l have them, and l don't
need any drug store dope to keep them
| in condition either. II / had stuck on
| the farm perhaps | would have now
| been the wife of some strong-armed
Jake with a flock of land and a Ford.
| but lost my head the first time | saw
the bright lights of the city, and l
couldn't rest until ] got away from the
katydids and the lonesomeness that
| gets your goat in the country. Only
| yesterday l met a girl / went to school
with. She was riding in her own auto
mobile and had a pair of healthy
youngsters beside her. She had better
sense than me and sat steady until one
of the neighborhood boys with stubby
| beard and overalls got up enough cOur-
age to ask her to go the rest of the
| Journey with her. l never thought he
knew anything. Well, maybe he didn't,
but he knew enough to do the chores
| for father when the other children
| scOoted away to make their fortunes
in other parts of the country. When
| his father died the boy fell into the
old homestead and now it's all his.
He doesn't know how to put his foot
down fiat on a concrete sidewalk yet,
/ but, just the same, he can write his
| check for good many thousands with
out getting in trouble with the bank"
so you're sorry you left the farm,
Ell?
why shouldn't be? But what's the
use of croaking? I've made my bed,
and l guess I've got to bunk in it. I've
wised up some since I've been in the
city, but it amt getting me anywhere"
who was the man you married?"
please don't call him a man. But,
| say, how l fell for him when he first
came into my life. The Jaspers with
whom / went buggy riding inthe coun-
| try were rank amateurs alongside him.
They would put in a whole evening
with you and not say more than doz-
en- words. They would ask you what
| became of the old gray cat and what
price your father was asking for his
bunch of pigs, pray for rain, and bid
| you good night at the front gate. The
fellow that won your little merry sun
shine in the city wore a red vest and
watch chain with a race horse dan
( oil NNa Oh Cfr
riding nights and he would recite
poetry to me. l asked him where he
learned it all and he said it just flowed
from his soul like water from a brook.
l had a job, but | was afraid to ask
him if he was working. l thought |
would insult him if / pried too closely
into his private affairs. l might lose
him. He told me l was the most Won
derful girl he had ever met in his whole
life, and l believed him. Those were
the happy days. Really l was that
soft that if he told me he would jump
in the river if / didn't agree to marry
him I would have called out the police
to head him off.
"One night he asked me what l was
doing with my money. | said that /
was putting away so much every week.
He asked me where l was putting it.
told him. He said I should turn it
over to him. He had a friend running
bank who would give US more for
our money than l was getting from
the bank where | had it on deposit.
So | drew out my money and gave it
to my sweetheart. He said when we
got enough ahead we would buy fine
home. Oh, it was a wonderful story
that he told, and how / dreamed nights
of the little place that we were going
to have.
Yes, we got married. and when the
minister asked me if | would obey him
said l would, shouting it out loud,
and looking up into the eyes-they
were crooked, but didn't know it then
of my hero. If he had ordered me
TO go out and rob a house | would have
believed it was my duty to obey him.
when he was counting me he drew
a picture of the honeymoon we were
to have. He had me on the ocean so
long, in our conversation, that / al !
most grew seasick, and he took me
over so many high mountains that /
got dizzy. All the plans were COM
pleted except the buying of the tickets. !
He knew just where we would travel. !
He had been over the route before, he |
said. He knew it like book. Wasn't !
l the lucky girl? / wrote some of my |
friends, and they gave me all kinds of
advice. Now when ! run over their |
letters I get heart sick. / didn't need |
their advice. But it was a wonderful |
dream while it lasted.
After we moved into a furnished l
fat-we were to stay there until we |
picked out a building site-I inquired /
about the honeymoon, and I was in
formed that it was best that it be post |
poned. He read from paper about /
threatened railroad strike and he said /
ii would be dangerous 10 travel on the /
ocean while there was a war in
progress.
Il had quit my job. I supposed my
husband was taking a vacation to get l
married, but when he stretched it into /
a month and the groceryman and the
others from whom we had been order
ing provisions began hitting the back
door and asking for their change | |