Retribution.
A citizen of Pittsburg, aged sixty, had, by tireless
industry and the exercise of rigid economy, accumulated
a hoard of frugal dollars, the sight and feel
whereof were to his soul a pure delight. Imagine
his sorrow and the heaviness of his aged heart
when he learned that the good wife had bestowed
thereof upon her brother bountiful largess exceeding
his merit. Sadly and prayerfully while she
slept lifted he the retributive mallet and beat in
her brittle pate. Then with the quiet dignity of one
who has redressed a grievous wrong, surrendered
himself unto the law this worthy old man. Let him
who has never known the great grief of slaughtering
a wife judge him harshly. He that is without sin
among you, let him cast the first stone—and let it
be a large heavy stone that shall grind that
wicked old man into a powder of exceeding impalpability.
