Show WifeBeating as a Pastime There is no sense of chivalry in this CDuntry and you will readily understand under-stand when I tell you that it is no uncommon un-common thing for men of the lower types to wallop their wives in the streets without interference One of the high and holy privileges of British citizenship is the freedom to whale your wife as early and as often as the inclination strikes you Sitting Sit-ting in a secondstory room up in St Martins street the other nightI saw a singnlarly vivid illustration of this I fact A worthy though somewhat alcoholic al-coholic subject of this monarchy was engaged in the national pastime of caressing the wife of his bosom with his knuckleswnen a passing stranger stepped up and gave him one behind the ear tha sent him rolling into the gutter This was a foreigner of course A nativeto the manner born would never have thought of interfering interfer-ing in A manner like this Equally he was of course an American and a newly arrived American at that Well the British husband picked himself up out of the gutter and went back at bis wife who was awaiting the completion com-pletion of her thrashing with great fortitude not to say philosophy The Americans next move was to pick up a pavingstone and to tell the bellicose belli-cose family man that if he went any further he would get his head mashed You ougbt to be ashamed of yourself you bighulking blackguard to beat a woman around like that Ive half a mind to thump you anyhow any-how Thus ipake the proud son of Columbia Col-umbia Now what do you suppose the reply was Do you think the Englishman En-glishman sailed in and punched him Well he didnot H ° drew his arm over his eyes and began to bawl like a whipped urchin He boohooed and blubbered about till quits crowd gathered about and began to ask what was the matter Whereupon he explained ex-plained that the American wouldnt let him lick his wife It was one of the most comical spectacles I ever witnessed The big lumbering brute who could and obviously did pound the partner of some of his joys andall his sorrows with a clear conscience standing there bellowing like a calf before a furious American Somebody advised him to whip the American first and finish up with his wife afterward after-ward That indeed seemed to be the ruling sentiment iu the crowd but he did not look with favor on the proposition propo-sition any more than the balance of the people did and the affair was ended by the woman sneaking off in one direction and the man in another Subsequently I I was told that if an Englishman had ao far forgotten the principles of his race as to interfere in a family sluggingmatoh he would have been thrashed for his pains to a dead moral certainty But Londoners London-ers are opposed to fighting with AmerIcana because they think we mean to kill whenever we indulge in fisticufls London Car Chicago News |