The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1872-11-16
saREie's Bedtime.

y father, not very Tar frOm here, read
in the paper the other morning that the
:" Utica girls who want their beaux to
go home the same night they call, pull
a string at the proper hour which, re-
verses a picture, Oh the BACK OF which
appear the words Ten O'Clock is my
bcdtime.~
This father, who has a daughter giy-
en- to late hours when a certain youth
sits up and helps her keeuthem, thought
he would try this UtaR plan, 50 he
wrote in large characH, on the back
of a huge portrait of gorge Washing
ton, this inscriptiOnfJ
40 O'clock IS s2AIEs BEDTIME.
Then he arranged6c picture $ that
when he attacheMg string to the frame,
he could reverseJ25from his bed-cham-
Der. But whenGsflie entered the room
an hour later, EbSpsthetic eye was out
ragged by o~bgtEging the. portrait of
George hangiEG Tightly out of plumb,
so to speak, @aiuin adjusting it her
fathers littl& jRme was revealed in I'LL
it's subtle ings fuity.
Sallie was not a Utica girt however.
| S O she went to work and neatly. cfaced
the figure 60" leaving the / standing
| solitary and ulright-which, you will
| observe, made II few hours difference in
her bedtime. That night, as usual,
Sallic received a visit from her young
man-which his front name it was Henry
and her paternal parent attached his
string to G, WIS portrait, and retired
to his dOWny couch.
About ten o'clock, while Henry and
Sallie were deeply absorbed in some
knOtty problem, with their heads SO
contiguous that yOu could not insert Il
| piece Of tissue paper between them, the
Father Of his Country suddenly turned
his face t. 1.-THE wall, as if he was ashamed
to. gaze upon such dOings. Henry, with
! q sudden start, glanced at the picture,
and saw the handwriting on the
wall, as it were. which read a O'Clock
is Sallie's bedtime" Then Henry
looked at Sallie with an interrogation
in his eye, which was partly dispelled
by the fair maid numbering, It's all
right" Henry said of course it was Ill
right-that he had long known one
O'Clock was her bedtime, and he
thought it was plenty late enough, too,
for a young girl to be out of bed, but
what business he said, had George
Washington's portrait to be Hopping
about that way? Then Sallie explained
problem, Henry putting his arms around
GtE4IIC ~ pINNNhC III 4StAAALAS VII Ii
chair.
Meanwhile the old man was listening
for the front door to open, and his
would-be sOn-in-laW's footsteps patter-
ing over the pavement with the toes OF
his boots pointing from the house.
These sounds not falling upon his ears
and thinking maybe, the old, thing
didn't work right, he gave the string
another pull, and George W. again
faced the audience. Then he listened
but he heard no fOOtsteps-nothing but
a peculiar sound, something like the
popping of champagne cerks.
Then he grew cross, and gave the
sting another jerk, causing G. w. tt
turn about with violent suddenness
just as if he was dreadfuIly out of hu,
NOR, too. ...' -. --s-.
And still all is quiet below-except
the popping sound.
Then the string was pulled again
and again-and notwithstanding that
the Old fellow was just ready to ex-
minutes did he have the portrait of the
manwho could not tell a lie turning
excited fip-haps andthings on the wall
like a bewitched gynlnast, until he fel1
asleep. exhausted-Sallie's father fell
asleep, not the portrait. y
Henry kissed Sallie good night at one
o'clock A. NJ, remarking as he did SC
that it would seem like Il long, long
weary year ere he would see hen
again-because, You, kpoW he didnN
expect to see her again until the evening
of that day.
The next morning her father cx-
amined that portrait, and when he fully
understood the situation he was panied
He sheda silenttear, detached the string
sponged out the inscription, and walked
away with the weight of tifty-fve years
on his shoulders-that being bis age
He says, a girl who will go back on hel
not disgrace her parents by marrying {
Congressman.-fR, Dadd in Norristow1
Herald.