Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1873-07-30
ALADDIN'S LAMP.
BY KATE W. HAMILTON.

Nancy's broom was flying about furi-
ously with Nancy attached to the handle,
of course. She was in full sweeping cos
tume-dark calico sacque, tied down at
the waist by.an immense check apron, and
an old yellow silk handkerchief pinned
over her tea-colored locks to keep them
from the dust. Her sweeping was mar
Vicious and earthquakey. Now she
dropped on her knees, and made a vigor-
Gus charge under the sofa; now she insti-
tuted a wild dance with the chairs whirl-
ing first one and then another; then she
suddenly f1ourished her weapon high in
air, rolling up her eyes in search of invis-
ible cobwebs. y g.
In descending from these last heights,
the broom handle made an unexpected
detoatr, struck a large lamp on the table,
and in an instant the delicate globe was in
fragments. Nancy leaned upon the cause
of disaster, and surveyed the pieces in as
'Suz! Well, do say-suz!" she eiac-
ulated 'Glad faint the lookin'-glass,
cause then I'd think twas a sure sign O.
bad luck; an [ don't know tits as 'tis'
Poor Nancy had never read many Sun
day-school books, and then knew nothing
about the highly original plan of attribut-
! ing accidents to the cat; so when the door
! opened, and a brown braided head looked
In, she burst rOrth, cheerful1y:
"Well, Miss 'Laddin, I've smashed yer
big lamp to flinders. Couldn't have made
it much higher mince-meat if I'd been sot
= and strivin' fort, do say"
ooh, dear that's a pity! I'm sorry %
answered Mrs Aladdin, with sigh, and
q faint shadow fitting over her white
brow; though, truth to say, neither sigh
nor shadow were as deep as they would
have been had the lamp been less old
fashioned, and had not Mrs Garnet, over
the way, had prettier ones.
But our young Mrs Aladdin was no
princess; she had to count too closely the
contents of her little silver and green port
Z monnaie, and as she looked into it now
s she shook her head, and her sigh became
genuine. 1t was nonsense to think Of a
lamp like Mrs Garnet's, or any new one
at all; she couldn't afford it, and must
Just content herself with buying globe
for the old one. 1t was aggravating,
though, to have to patch it up, when she
had SO much rather dispose of it alto
gether But then she had spent so much
this quarter. And just there, oddly
enough, her eyes frightened All! she
knew some person who would think her
worth dozen princesses when he came
home at noon. Because she so hated dull,
old things, and did so love bright, new
ones, she could not bear to see her Alad-
din wearing his old overcoat to and
from his office. 1t wasn't half good
enough for her husband-what was, in
deed? And though he had said it must do
one season more, she determined it
shouldn't; so she had planned and econo-
smized until she had accomplished her OBJ
Ject, ana the handsome garment was wait
ing to surprise him when he should come
home on this bright birthday.
The portmonnaie closed with snap at
the end of the reverie, and the little lady
rose Up cheerily.
"Well, Nancy, it can't be helped. Brush
up all the bits carefully, so that no one
will step on them. I'll dust and arrange
the things myself when you are through"
wants it to look particular nice, cause
this is his birthday" soliloquized Nancy,
watching the retreating figure. "La men
is well enough in their way, but 'twould
take a powerful smart one to comfort me
for broken clancy ware in such a hurry!
Ten to one he'll never notice nothin' when
she's got it all fixed up"
But Mrs Aladdin was not disappointed.
Doubtless, many delicate little details
were unobserved, for the pretty home was
always pretty, and masculine vision could
not detect much difference; yet the fresh,
bright, sunny air of the whole was more
apparent than usual, even, and brought an
answering light to his eyes at the first
glimpse of it. Then her grand surprise
had been managed so cleverly GLOW
had she contrived to do it all without his
finding out about it?'' demanded the de-
lighted but somewhat astonished Aladdin.
Measure! Why, it fitted perfectly; and
color, shape, material, and all were Just
what he fancied. How could she have
Lnour co pYaPt1yS
"And, lastly, small sorceress, where did
you get the money!"
What a shockingly impolite question:
retorted the lady, shaking her head re-
provingly "sNow that you've got nice
new coat, do try to behave as well as you
1ook,'' as grandmother used to tell our
boys. Where did get it? Why, l In
vented it-made it all out of my own head
and few other little things"
But I have my fears concerning those
few other little things" began the gener-
-ous Aladdin, rather ruefully, with vague
visions of wifely martyrdom and self-de-
1.nial. "Your winter dresss and fxings-"
care ali right thank womb she inter-