The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1869-05-07
THE THREE WARNINGS.


a .rHr mat
e 1t was in the days of our grand
mothers, when there were brick oven
e in the land, that Mr.. Hubbard bough
4 his house: and bought it very mucI
O against his wife's will II was lionel,
y house and reported to be haunted. /
= was next 10 a graveyard, which
n thoagh unused, was not cheerful, and
r which had likewise the reputation o
Il ghost However, Mr.. Hubbard die
I not believe in ghosts, and was to,
:, cheerful to be depressed by warnings
!, and never intended To be lonely.
c "Mrs Hubbard" he said, when hi.
: wife shook her head over the purchase
Il got it cheap, and it is good one
t You will like it when you get there
e If you don't, why then talk
] SO the house was bought, and into
! it the family went. There was scarcely
t Il chance for ghost to show his face
amid such family of boys and girls
Mr.. and Mrs Hubbard counted ten
; of them, all noisy ones
II Having once eXpostulated and spoken
out her mind as to the house, Mrs
Hubbard gave up the point She
scrubbed and secured, tackled down
carpets and put up curtains, and own
, ed that the place was pretty. AS not
Il ghost appeared for week, she made
up her mind that there were no such
inhabitants; she even began not to
mind the tombstones. so the house
got to rights at last, and baking day
came about. In the press OF business,
they had a great deal of bakers
bread, and were now tired of 1t
Mrs Hubbard never enjoyed set
ting a batch of bread to rise as she did
that which was to be eaten for the
first time in the new house.
"For cannot get up an appetite for
stuff that nobody knows who had the
maxim Of said Mrs. Hubbard, land
puffy and alumy besides .
So into the oven went the bread,
and out it came at the proper time,
even and brown and beautiful as loaves
could be. Mrs Hubbard turned them
up on their sides as she drew them
forth, and they stood in the long
bread tray, glorious proofs of her skill
and the excellence of the oven, when
Tommy Hubbard bounded in. Tom
my was four; and when at that age
we are prone to believe that anything
will bear our weight. Tommy, there
fore, anxious to inspect the newly
made bread, swung himself off his
feet by clutching the edge of the
bread tray, and over it came, loaves
and Tommy and all.
Mrs Hubbard flew to the rescue
and picked up the loaves. All We're
busted and put in the tray again but
one. They lay bottom upwards un-
der the table
"a bothe-ing child, to give me so
much trouble :" she said, as she crawl
ed under the table to get it. "A-O-l
ah-dear, dear, dear, dear-ohmy-"
And there on the floor sat Mrs.
Hubbard, screaming, wrineing her
hands and shaking her head. The
children screamed i'll concert. Mr..
Hubbard rushed in from the garden,
where he was at work.
What the matter, mother?" he
gasped
Mrs. Hubbard pointed to the bot
tom Of the loaf lying in r lap
Look there and see y she said at
is a warning, William | am going to
be taken from them all"
And he looked; and he saw a
deaths head and cross-bones, as plain
ly engraved as they possibly could
be.
at is an accident" said Mr.. Hub
bard. "Such queer cranks do come,
yOa know"
But Mrs. Hubbard was in a troub-
led state OF mind, as was but natural.
''Thc stories about the haunted
house were true,' she said land the
spirits have marked the loaf. am
afraid it is a Warming
And the Loaf was put aside, for even
Mr.. Hubbard did not dare eat any OF
it.
Mrs. Hubbard got over her fright
at last, but the news Of the awfully
marked loaf spread through RI
and the people came to Hubbard's all
the week to look at it. 1t was Il
death 's-head aud cross bones certain
Iy; every one saw that at glance, but
as to its meaning, people Differed
Some believed that il was a warning
of approaching death; some thought
that the spirits wanted to trighten the
Hubbards away, and get possession OF
the house again, all to themselves -
This latter supposition inspired Mrs.
Hubbard with courage; finally, being
a brave woman, she adopted the be-
liet, and when another baking day
arrived, put her loaves into the oven
once more, prepared for cross-bOnes,
and not to be frightened by them.-
The loaves baked as before. They
came out brown and crusty as Mrs.
Hubbard turned each i'll her hands,
There were no cross bones visible, but
on the last were sundry characters or
letters. What, no one could tell, until
there dropped in for chat a certain
printer of the neighborhood, aceus
toned to reading things backward.
'sBy GEORGE said he, ''that Is
curious. That is curious-r-e SUR
gam resurgam; that is what is on
the loaf-reSurgam
at is what they put on tomhs, ism
it - asked poor Mrs, Hubbard family |
swell, yes" said MIR. Hubbard,
being obliged to admit It, 'But 1t Is
not so bad as cross bones and skulls.
Mrs. Hubbard shook her head.
ats even solemner,' said the little
woman, who was not as good
|Iinguist as bread maker. Il feel con-
fident, William, that | shall soon be
resnrgamed. and what will these dear
children do then ~
And now that the second loaf was
before her eyes, marked even more
awfully than the first, Mrs Hubbard
grew really pale and thin, and lost her
cheerfulness.
81 have a prescntiment,'' she said, |
over and over again, ''that the third
baking will decide who the warning
belongs to, l believe 1t is meant for
me. and time will show. Don't you
see how thin am growing? p
And though Mr. Hubbard laughed,
he also began to be troubled. The
third baking day was one of gloom
c,Jonrly % ut a funeral the family |