Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1917-02-02
BrokenPeace
By F, A, mitchell

pendent rs u wood sawyer's clerk,
when that consamcd Jim Simpson
come along and put an idea into my
head that spilled the hull business. !
had jlst done my weeks washln' o. the
Dishes hayin' put 'em on to the wagon
and drlv 'cm into the crick and mopped
EN- and was takln' out the horses
when Jim come along.
"What v been doln'2" he says.
"Washln' the dishes, Next week |
got to change the sheets, seeln' they
haln't been changed In two months,
Saturday'll be the last day o. the
month, and that's my sweepln' day"
"By gum, Enoch," says jim, that
haint no kind O. work for n man.
Why don't y git a wife to do 1t for
your
81 don't See" says !, "how any wo-
man could do 1t any better'n l. She'd
take lot more time about 1t, and
mebbe the wlnders would git washed
occasionally, but my opinion Is that II
woman is always klckin up dust for
nothln', My way O. dom 1t is to let
the dust git settled before dlsturbn' It
again, Y can't cit n woman to do that, "
Jim aud walked to the house, and
he come in, Fact is he wanted to find
somepin to find fault with And he
did, He said that 1t was the dirtiest
house he'd ever been in, When he was
goln' away he said'
"Enoch, ! got wife that when we
was first married used to stir up the
dust lot | complained, and she told
me that If | preferred dust In bulk
rather than at retail she didn't, She
said mans place wasn't In the house
anyway when woman was cleanln'.
So l made it 4 pint to find somepin to
do outside when she was stlrrin' up the
dirt and when | come back again ev.
erything looked splck and span, and
got used to havin' it that away and
couldn't stand it tothcr way"
ITS all II matter O. habit" says
Jim went away, but he'd put flea
into my ear There was a likely gal
at BunkerS farm-Bunker's wife's sis
ter. | reckoned that I'd go down and
see her, Mcbbe | might take her in
for the house work IL she'd come. Nat
urally got to tellin her how | washed
the dishes and the other things. She
larfed and said that ! was very ingen-
ious. She'd never thought about dom
dishes that away. And as for sweep.
in, she thOrt my way O. leavin' the
dust TO settle before stirrin' it up again
was good idea. Anyway that was all
right for man who didn't know how
to do sich things without lot o trouble.
"Well, | sot up to her for a month or
so on Sunday nights, at the end of
which time We was married and went
to my house to live. My Aunt Emily
says to me aiOre | was chained, SAYS
she, "Enoch, you don't mean to take a
wife into that house O yourn without
havin' some woman 90 into it and cart
away the dirt, do you| And | says
"Aunt Emily, what I'm gittn' married
for is to have some one to keep the
house in order. She mought as well
begin at the beginnin'." Aunt Emily
says, says she: Eyer beginnin the
wrong way. When couple starts in
to keep house together they ought to
have smooth sailin' at the commence
ment. Instead O. that, you're goln' to
begin with a fine inducement for a
scrap"
| was mighty feared when she said
this that I'd better have gone on as
was, but 1t was too late for that now.
So TUX my wife right inter the house
just as it was.
"Enoch," she says, take all the
buckets and go out to the well and fill
EN-"
| did this, and when came back |
found that my bride had taken off her
weddin outfit and put on scrubbin' uni
form. That was the beginnin' of 1t.
The first quarter O the honeymoon was
given up to whirlwind O. dust; then
buckets o soap and water and all sorts
O. dirt KILN contrivanCes come on.
Just as | was hopin' the end was COM
in and the furniture would be put
where it belonged, another cleanup
commenced that took up what remained
O. the honeymoon.
After the cleanin had wore me out /
said, 81 s'pose we kin rest"
mo" she says. 1--WE been a month
putin the house in order, but while
I've been dom one thing the dust has
been accumulatin' elsewhere. The first
week | washed the winders. That's
three weeks ago, got to wash 'em
again"
How about the sweepin'?" I asked,
gloomy like.
1.-THE sweepin IL come the day after
the winders is washed"
One day-it was in the last week O.
the honeymoon was walkin' along
the road comm toward my happy
home, over which hung n cloud o. dust,
when | met Jim Simpson
Look a-therc," | says, pointin' to the
house. That's what v done by dis
satisfyin' me about my Housekeeping"
as yer house atre?' he says
mo" says l. sceiu "A stream O. wa
for hputin' ouin thp MINOR story