Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1871-12-14

Bx MATTE DYER BRiTTS.

In a certain village. which shall in
these pages be name!ess, lived a GER
tain worthy doctor by the name Of
Hollis. lie was good man and a
skillful physician; greatly loved by
his friends, and somewhat feared by
his enemies: the latter, it is likely,
from a way he had of saying aud do.
ing odd things, which made people
shy OF giving him chance of getting
the better of them.
He was provldcnt man, withal,
and looked we'll to the care and com
tort OF his wife aud family. No
hody.s barns and cellars and smoke
houses were better stored than his.
Nobody's cows and horses looked
sleeker and plumper. Nobody's
chimneys set up more hospitable
smoke, and nobody's hand and purse
were sooner opened or ~iler to re-
lieve the wants OF the poor.
1t happened that upon particular
day of snug, cold winter, the doc.
tor having been on his round of visits,
came driving through the sido gate
which led into his own yard. He
closed the gate. and was IN the act OF
stepping into the buggy to drive to
the barn. when his eye schanced to
fall upon the wood pile. Now, tho
wood shed standing directly upon the
other side of the gate, the wood pile
was directly in front of the door, as
he turned to step into the buggy, and
there is nothing remarkable in his
looking at it.
But from the way he looked, he
seemed to see something In the wood
pile itself. Finally he walked round
in front OF the house and crossed
over to the shed. There was a great
mountain of it, enough to trightcn
Jack Frost out of sight Of the prem
ises for whole sharp winter-the
dry wood all on one side, nicely sep
arated from the green on the other,
piled ready for saving and splitting.
.Well,' said the doctor, slowly, we
manage to use mighty sight of wood
this winter. ALI, l see. Dry wood
half gone. green hardly touched. I'll
have to speak to mother.
With which wise resolution in
mind he went to attend the comfort
and pleasure Of his well kept horse.
A few minutes later he walked in.
TO the kitchen where Mrs. Hollis was
STOPPING to take some golden brown
pumpkin pies from the oven.
Mother said he, don't We burn a
great deal of wood this winter?'
We'll, yes. the boys say the wood
goes pretty:fast,' replied Mrs. Hollis;
it's been right cold, you know
Comfortably cold returned the
doctor, but not cold enough to make
fuel fly that way. was noticing the
wood pile as I came in-I'm afraid
you burn all the dry wood and leave
the green
No we don't said Mrs. Hollis; 4
tell the bows every day to mix it. 1t
makes better fires mixed--and I'm
sure they do it.
/ saw that the dry wood was pret
ty we'll used up, and the green hard
| ly touched,' remarked the doctor.
4 don't see how that can be- said
!, Mrs. Susan.
| 4 do MOTHER put in Sam Hollis
4 can tell You just how It goes
somebody steals II.
No, no, Sam, don't say that SAID
Mrs. Hollis; we know there is no
body in this neighborhood who would
steal. and l don't think any on.
would come a great ways to stea
wood
We'll, don't know about that
mother,' replied Sam. But John ant
me both thinks taint us that burns
all the wood that is burt. We carr.
IN Just abou. equal piles Of green an'
dry every night. Father ought T
know that--he saws the wood. l sa.
there's a theft somewhere