THE FEMININE SIDE OF THE STONEWALL.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 390, 3 August 1889, Page 4

THE FEMININE SIDE OF THE STONEWALL.

Osh or two curious little incidents of the debate on the Representation Bill, now being carried on in the House of Representative?, have been whispered about. I will not vouch for their absolute veracity, but they have an air of probability which commends them to crcdetfee. It seems that on one evening the ladios' gallery v.as particularly well tilled, tho fair occupants thereof following tho progress of the debate with great interest. But as midnight .approached their numbers gradually diminished till, amidst the necessary amount of bustle, the last tlnce ladies retired, one of them being tho wife ot tho member just thon on his feet. She knew he was blest with the gilt of the gab, and was not likely to pause in his oration lor I !>omo hour?, so in despair sho waved him a Graceful though unseen faicwoll, whilst her clear, sweet voice distinctly conveyed to his ears, and to those also 01 all other wakeful members, the words, " (Jood night, dear John." Another evening, when some members wero preparing to make a night ot it, one ot them sent round to his hou>-e foi his mattiess and a couplo oi blankets. A cab soon drove up, and tho bedding was conveyed into the lobby, followed by a lady with an infant in her arms. The husband, who was at iir&t fully occupied with the mattiess. did not perceive her until a gentle wail from thounhappy baby, whose slumbers had been uithlossJy disturbed by the dutiful wite, attracted his attention. " Cheat ScolV, Maria ! \\ hat in thunder do you mean by this ?" " Don't bo using your unparliamentary language to me, sir !" said the injured lady. " You sent for your mattress-, and as baby and 1 weie sleeping on it, and there wasn't another unoccupied, because your brother had gone to bed in the spato room, and wouldn't wake, and as you must have known ( tlii", I thought you wanted us too, so I got up and put some things on, and here we ate.'" The husband stifled some remark in his throat. "I've brought baby's bottle and tho spit it lamp, so you can get up and warm her food as usual," continued the practical wife. At this interesting moment, the infant signified her appreciation of her mother's thoughtful attention to her comfort in a melodious though lather high-pitched key, which had the ellcct ot recalling the Sergeant-at-Arms from blissful di earns of soft pillows on ahaid bench, and in a remarkably short time ho ejected the ollendcrs with a kind warning against a repetition of buch scandalous conduct. Scarcely so humiliating was the experience of another noted stonewaller. He was told he v as wanted in the lobby, and on going there he found a lovely young lady, attired in an elegant pink wiapper, her pietty bang very much out of curl, and the absence of the test ot her usual chevelure concealed by a soft, white, fleecy cloud. She sprang forward to meet her husband, who certainly did not expect to see his wife, ilo was awaiting a telegram from on© of the tour piincipal citios, wherein were located his constituents, engaged in holding a meeting of monsters, or lather a monster meeting. (What does it matter in •■/Inch position the word is placed '!) " You here ?" he cried in dismay. " Ye a , dear. Its such a cold night, and there's no fileplace in our bedioom, and the fire has gone out in the sitting-room, and the landlady says she won't light it for anyone who keeps such unlawfully late hours as you do, and I can't get warm anyhow. So I just ran o\cr to fetch you home. Do come, darling, it's awfully bad for you to sit up all night like thi=. You will wear yourself out, and then whatever will the country do without you ?" " There are better men than I, who think nothing of risking their health, or c\en their lives, over such a vitally impoi taut measuie as this, by going without their lesrulai meals and lest lor houis, love." "But they arenothing to me, dearest. Well, if you won't con,e home, I will stay heie with you. See," opening a little handbag, "I have brought all thai, we shall require, so you can ha\ c a good night's *>iecp for once." But ho was a \eiitt\blo stoic, and sent her home in toais, and warm with indignation against the " ridiculous parliamentary abu&e*-. 1 ' How truly unselfish are our statesmen ! Jack Flics r.