The 'Dodo' in the Account Book
A wife catches her husband in a suspicious expense record, leading to a domestic misunderstanding over slang.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
“Charles, dear,” she remarked as she poured his second cup of tea, “tell me about the dodo, won’t you please?” “About the what?” “The dodo.” “Dodo? Dodo? Well, really, I don’t know much about it. The dodo, I believe, was a species of water fowl, now extinct, or nearly so.” “Is that why they are so expensive?” “Eh? Um—I don’t know about that, my dear.” “But what do you do with them, dear, after you purchase them?” “Why, the dodos, to be sure; the dodos that you have been buying lately.” “See here. This little account book fell out of your coat this morning as I was brushing it. I am not a bit curious, Charles—you know that—but I just glanced through the book and couldn’t help seeing that you’ve been buying dodos right along. Look! Drink and cigars, 50 cents; dodo, $2.50; dodo, $1.00; dodo, $3.50.” And thereupon that noble fellow pressed his wife to his bosom, imprinted an 18-karat kiss upon her brow and promised that he would bring home the next dodo he bought provided she would surrender the account book and agree to keep the matter a profound secret.
“I am not a bit curious, Charles—you know that—but I just glanced through the book.”
This domestic comedy relies on the 'dodo' as a code for illicit spending or secret vices, likely gambling or drinking at local saloons. It offers a glimpse into the gendered dynamics of household financial surveillance in 1890s Yakima, where a husband’s 'night out' was an essential, if hidden, part of the social fabric.
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