, 1923-03-21

A plumber she married was forever
puttering about other peoples homes
IN the most personal %crannies; and
she gave him up.
An iceman followed him through
her much-trodden heart, but he, too,
had his kitchen doors to visit.
Discouraged by her inability to find
n husband I'm town who did not have
to spend u large part of his time and
attention upon other women Peach.
blow resolved to marry some homeIy
old farmer who lived in q solitude.
Ezra Hepple was the happy man
FOR a time. And he wns so content
with ~Peachblow's society that he
would not even keep a hired girl to
cook for the hired men.
He rose at 4 n. m. and Dragged
about 1t. He woke her up to brag
about 1t. The fact that he had gone
to sleep Mt dusk did not abate his
pride. The only poetry he knew was
something ending with healthy.
wealthy and wise" She knew he was
neither wealthy nor wise, but she was
ulTulu ne was nealtny.
Her Jealous little soul had Its wish
at last.
But n wish ceases to be a wish as
soon as it is achieved. Like the candy
In the bon-bon dish 1t is apt not only
to turn sour but to wreck the appetite
as well.
Peachblow's latest installment In
her serial husband never cast an in
terested eye on any other woman. But
this curiously made his interest in her
unlmportant; robbed him of suspense
and her of the drama Of anxiety. He
was unskillful, uncouth, illiterate in
~femininlty.
No other woman cast an eye In his
direction. But that was because he
had nothing attractive about him. And
the man who is unable to interest any
other woman is unable to interest his
wife.
Poor P%eachblow, having no rivals to
fear and having n husband who made
no perllous comparisons, began to neg
lect herself. Her beauty wilted from
lack Of attention. Her Incompatible
complexion began to yield to farm
food and farm labor in farm weather.
She sighed: at doesn't seem to
make much difference what man n
woman marrles; every one of the
brutes has his own speciality In being
impossible"
BY this time Peachblow had so dis
organized the machinery of the uni
verse, that the world was in the
garage half the time; and all the
angels exhausted.
1t Is not such an easy matter for
even the angels to keep everything go
ing, especially when it goes backward
frequently. There was talk of n strike
in heaven and celestial society was
profoundly disturbed. The Oldest
angels were forever talking of the
last big revolution when Lucifer and
his whole party were thrown over
board.
But how was the dreadful situation
to be changed? The Lord did not
want to cancel one of his own gen.
erOus gifts to one of his most beautl-
full creatures. But heaven was a
ing to be heaven for all Its deserving
tenants.
At the height of this dreadful cos
mic crisis Peachblow in a frenzy state
of dependency, while shaving in her
kitchen, Glanced to catch a glimpse
of herself in the casual mirror in the
round bottom of a big dishpan. She
had long ceased to consult her own
looking glass.
The vision that stared at her from
that tiny surface shocked her into q
sorrow too deep for Mysteries. She
meditated on her own image:
Every husband is worse than every
other husband. A woman might as
well stick to the first wretch she hap
pens to marry. / was luckiest when
I had the most lovable of men. and /
wish l had him back again. movie
actor though he be.
"This hateful power Of mine has
been my ruin. It's best to let nature
take her course. The one thing /
most wish had never been is my
ability to make things MS II they
e had been"
AS she exhaled this last sigh, a dis
tinct earthquake vas registered on
every s~elsmograph In the world. Tho
heavens shook. at first with surprise.
then with delight.
P~eachblow herself was shaken. She
found herself staring at n dishpan as
II under n hypnotic spell. She heard
her husbands voice from the dining.
room door. II was the voice Of Claude
Wlnsor, the star surprise Of the cine
matte armament. The world might
share his silent beauty with her, but
his voice belonged to her:
"What or earth are you doing in the
kitchen, my darling? It's no place for
such exquisite grace. And besides !