Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1859-11-19

ious person making such q use Of the few prec
ious hours OF darkness, as to 20 to slee2 in them !
Why. too, should he take a bedstead without q
mattress, which | believe is the case in this par.
hcular surposition of yours. when there were
leather beds unoccupied in other apartments I
Moreover, would not this lie a still greater height
Of recklessness in such m individual, should be
have q habit Of sno"- ,.
Aslight noise 10 the dressing room, occasioued
BY the Venetian blind tapping again,. the win
dow, causes Mrs. b. to bury her head with ex-
IRENE swiftness, ostrich-like, beneath the pillow,
80 that the pcroration Of my argumcnt is lost upon
her. | enter tho suspected chamber--this time
with a lighted candle-and fnd my trousers, with
the boots in them, but nothing more. Neither lie
there any body reposing under the shadow of my
~boot-tTee upon the floor. All is peace there, and
at sizes and sevens, as | left it upon retiring-as
| had hoped-.o rest.
Once more | stretch my chilled and tired limbs
upon the couch; sweet sleep ouce more begins to
WOO my eyelids, when "Ifenry, Henry" again
dissolves the dim and half.formed dream.
Are you certain, Henry, that you looked in the
shower-bath ? l am almost sure that / heard
somebody pulling the string"
NO biOuhce IL ieou ue tUU lu5umclent, no sup
position too inc m patible with reason, for Mrs. B.
to build her alarms upon. Sometimes, although
We lodge upon the second story, she i~magines that
the window is being attempted; sometimes, al
though the register 10 down, she is confident that
the chimney is being used as the means Of ingress.
Once, when we happened to be in London
where she feels, however, q good deal safer than
in the country-we had a real alarm, and Mrs. D.
since was suffering from q quinsy-contracted
mainly by being sent about the house o'nights in
the usual scanty drapery-bad to DO sworn in as
her own special constable.
Henry, Henry" she whispered on this occa-
sion, there's a dreadful cat in the roon."
Pooh. pooh !" I gasped; IFS only in the street;
I've heard the wretches. Perhaps they are on
Tiles"
'No, Henry, There, I don't want you to talk,
since is makes you cough; only listen to me.
What am l to do, Henry ? I'll stake my existence
hat there's a-Ugh. what's that ?"
And, indeed, ONE heavy body did, there ard
then, jump upon our bed, and off again at my
wife's interjection with extreme agility. ]
thought Mrs. B.. would have a fit, but she didn't.
She told me dear soul, upon no account to venture
into the cold with my throat. She would turn
out the beast herself, singls-handed. We arranged
that she was to take hold of my fingers, and re-
tain them, until she reached the fireplace, where
she would find a shovel or other offensive weapon
fit for the occasion. During the progress of this
expedition, however, so terrible o caterwauling
broke forth, as is seemed, from the immediate
neighborhood OF the fender, that my disconnected
helpmate made q most precipitate retreat. She
managed, after this misbap to procure a light,
and. by a ci~rcnitous route, constructed Of tables and
chairs, to avoid stepping on the floor, Mrs. B.
obtained the desired weapon. 1t was much better
than a play to behold the heroic woman defying
%grimalkin from her eminence, and to listen to the
changeful dialogue which ensued between herself
and that far from dumb, though inarticulately
speaking animal.
"Puss, puss. pussy--poor pussy"
"Miau, miau, miau," was the linked shrill-
ness, lorg drawn out, of the feline reply.
"Poor old puss. then, was it i'll? Puss. puss.
Whist, whist, cat !"
"Ps-s-ss, ps-s-s-s, miau; pss-ss-ss," replied the
other, in a voice, like fat in the fire.
my dear love-" cried !, almost suffocated with
a combination of laughter and quinsy, 'you have
never orened the door, where lie the poor thing to
run to 7"
Mrs. B.. had all this time been exciting the
poor thing to frenzy by her conversation dnd shov.
ell, without giving il the opportunity of escape
which, as soon as offered, it took advantage O
with a savage impatience, partaking very closely
indeed Of the character Of an oath.
This is, however, the sole instance of Mrs. B.
/, having ever taken it in hand to subdue her ow,
alarms. 1t is l, who. ever since her marriage
have done the duty, Of an efficient watchdog
which, before that epoch. | understand, was won
TO be discharged by one of her younger sisters
Not seldom in these involuntary rounds of mine,
have become myself the cause of alarm or inconve
uience to others. Our little foot-page, With
courage beyond his years, and a spirit worthy O
a better cause, very rearly transfxed me with til
Kitchens pit, as | was trying, upon one occasion
the door Of his own pantry. Upon another noe
turnal expedition, l ran against a human body il
tho ark-that turned ous to be my brother-in
laws, who was also in search of robbers-with
shock to both our nervous systems, such as the
have not yet recovered from. 1t fell to nv 10
: upon q third. to discover one Of the rural polio
up in our attic, where in spite of the increase,
power lately granted to the country constabulary
| could scarcely think he was entitled to be-.
once presented myself, an unlimited guest, at
select morning entertainments was at half pas
: one O'clock A. M.-given by our hired Loudol
, cook to nearly a dozen of her male and femal
friends. No wonder that Mrs. B. had 's.aked he
existence" that night that she heard the area ga,
;. go" When | consider the extremely free an,
= unconstraiued manner in which I was received
poker and all. by that assembly, my only surpris
is that they did not signify their arrivals bp dout
, 10 knocks ut the front door.
D On one memorable night, and one only, have
) found it necessary to use thai formidable weapo
. which habit has rendered as familiar to my han
3 as It's flower to that Of the Queen of Clubs.
The gray of morning had just begun to stea
n into our b~ed-chamber, when Mrs. y. calculate
4 with unusual vigor, "uenry. Henry, they're i
tho front dra win0-room and tltcu,pa inst LnnoLo