Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1872-02-10
THE LODGEn,s CHRISTMAS.

"Job," said the mild lodger to his
room mate job Precious few
Jobs ever got along with such nui-
sance as this !"
But, my dear fellow"
Don't dear fellow me at this
time, if you please. am not
dear at all in fact, l am cheap, and
my feelings seem to be reckoned the
cheapest part of me. Capital chance
of ever getting a capital prize at the
college have, with such an inces-
SAINT humping and laundering in the
next. room !"
Well, but is it worse than usu-
alp"
:. Worse! Let me tell you, she
begins very early, just as l want TO
sit down TO my writing. The keys
rattle as if the Old Nick was in them.
There 10 you hear her 2n
And in truth the mild lodger's
companion, who was generally alb
sent all the day, heard, with awful
distinctness, the piano in the adjoin-
ing room.
IT was not tune. Perish the
thought! 1t was a Heterogeneous
collection of misguided notes hud-
died into discord and tumbled into
misapprehended scales.
The performer began at the begin
ming resolutely each time, determin-
ed, evidently, to succeed in rushing
into harmony at any cost of muscle
or perseverance. But there was an
inyariable hitch in the smoothness
of the execution, and it had always
to be done over from the start until
the broken chords united
One could have made better music
with brush and scraper, and have
been less hazardous to dentistry by
the use of a well assorted saw and
file.
1t was not continuous-there was
the greatest fault. For it was prac-
ticed with a desperate earnestness
| during five minutes, and in the same
| length of time afterward 1T was
quite mnte and still, awakening con-
| fdence of it's complete cessation, on
ly to begin again with renewed dis
cOrdance.
Nor was it alone in its horrors
1t was attended on occasions by thu
shrill counting of numbers, in ;
harsh, unmusical key, and training
of that much abused instrument, thu
human voice divinel
1t was horrible, thrice horrible t
hear, not merely pounding, bu
squalling-squalling undisguised b.
a single appreciation of right or
righteous note. Now il was higl
in the scale like the sharp shrieks o
a steam whistle; now down at tn
lower places, strangling and chok
ing along like disabled bullfro;
with a fearful cold.
No language can do adequate jus
tice to the horrors which envirOne,
the practice " and the " vocal cul
ture /" of this disturber of the publ
peace. The mild lodger put hi
head on his hands, as ii Overcom
bv the accumulation of woes. Hi
i friend began to rave around tn
room, exasperated beyond endu
rance, crouched already with tn
early symptoms of headache, an
very greatly desirous of pitchln
the offender into the open street.
1t was the week in which Christ
mas comes-bright, clear, and cold
THE ground was solid under tn
tramp of the frost. The Afternoon
sun was streaming down, glancin.
through the window on the mild lod
gers medical books, his untinisheu
thesis, his pale, care worn face. Hi
friend. on the contrary, was robust
healthy, actiye-brown with the re
mains of the summer which ha
gone, aud ready, apparently, for
battle royal with all the elements pu
together.
= Come" said he, drawing hi
arm through that of his companion
and lifting him from his seat at tn
table" come, we can't stand thi:
aud its no use to demonstrate SuI
pose we go out for walk
The mild lodger cast lOngin
glance toward his books and hi
thesis-it was in the interval of tn
noise-but another bang at the plan
conquered his doubts, and he ros
from his seat with sigh for his mes
lected work. He only ventured on
wish as he left the house. 1t ws
this:
"How | would like to see that p
ano scuttled and sunk, and that gil
with a note stuck crosswise in he
throat :"
The wish was, like himself, milo
, ly expressed, and yet withall POI
sessed of q firmness which indicate
its sincerity.
The other lodger only laughed.
"Come, now," said he, "let 1
forget all about it for awhile. Yo
are endlessly pouring over science
take advantage of the day, and Ia
up a stock of vitality against IL
' next day of trial."
So they went on through one sire,
and another, in the clear cold, whiC
was nevertheless, not uncomfort
bic, talking, as they went, of man
things.
They had been strolling in tn
:, fashion until the sun was near
down, when suddenly a reckle
driver, Whirhng into the stree