Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1873-03-28
Sallie's Bedtime.

Sallies Bedtime.
A father, not very far from here. says
a writer under cognomen of ''B Dadd, +"
in the Norristown Herald, read in the
paper the other morning that the "Utica
girls who want their beaux to 20 home
the same night on which they call, pull a
string at the proper hour, which revolves
a picture, on the back of which appear
the words, Ten o'clock is my bedtime"
This father, who has daughter given
to late hours, when certain youth sits
up and helps her to keep them, thought
he would try the Utica plan, so he wrote
in large characters on the back of huge
portrait of George Washington, this in
scription Z" Ten o'clock is Sallie's bed
time"
Then he arranged the picture so that
when he attached string to the frame,
he could reverse it from his bed chamber.
But when Sallie entered the room an hour
later, her aesthetic eye was outraged by
observing the portrait of George hang
ing little out of plumb so to speak,
aud in adjusting it her fathers little game
was revealed in all its subtle ingenuity
Sallic was not Utica girl, however,
so she just went to work and neatly eff
faced the figure 60" leaving the Il"
standing solitary and upright, which you
will observe made few hours difference
in her bedtime That night, as usual,
Salie received visit from her young
man-hs front name it was Henry
her paternal parent attached his string
to G.. WIS portrait and retired to his
downy couch.
About ten o'clock, while Henry and
Sallic were deeply absorbed in some
knotty problem, with their heads so con-
tiguous that you couldn't insert piece
of tissue paper between them, the Father
of his Country suddenly turned his face
to the wall, as if he was ashamed to gaze
upon such doings- Henry, with a sud-
den start, glanced at the picture and saw
the handwriting on the wall, as it were.
which read, Il o'clock is Sallc's bed
time" Then Henry looked at Salie
with an interrogation in his eye that was
partially dispclled by the maid murmur-
ing, ats all right" Henry said of
course it was all right-that he had long
known that o'clock was her bedtime,
and he thought it was plenty late enough
for young girl to be out of bed, but
what business, he said, had Geo. Wash
ington's portrait to be Topping about in
that way2 Then Sallie cxplained-and
the twain resumed work on the problem,
Henry putting his arms around Sallic to
prevent her falling off the chair.
Meanwhile the old man was listening
for the front door to open, and his would
be son-in-law's footsteps pattering over
the pavement with the toes of his boots
pointing from the house. These sounds
not falling on his ears, and thinking
maybe the old thing didn't work right,
he gave the string another pull and Geo.
w, again faced the audience. Then he
listened, but he heard no footsteps
ing but peculiar sound, something resem-
bling the popping Of champagne corks.
Then he grew cross, and gave the
string another jerk, causing G.. w. to
turn about with violent suddcnness,
just as if he were out of humor too.
And still all is quiet below--except
that popping around.
Then the string was pulled again-and
again--indcatin that the old fellow was
just ready to explode with rage. And
for fully fifteen minutes did he have the
portrait of the man who could not lie,
turning excited fip-haps on the wall, like
a bewitched gymnast, until he fell asleep
exhausted Sallie's father fell asleep, not
the portrait.
Henry kissed Sallie good night at one
o'clock, A. NJ, rcmarking, as he did so,
that it would seem like a long, weary
year, ere he would see her again--be-
cause, You know, he didn't expect to see
her until the evening Of that day.
The next morning her father examin-
ed that portrait, and when he fully un-
derstood the situation he was pained.-
He shed silent tear detached the string,
sponged out the inscription, and walked
away with the weight Of forty-fve years
upon his shoulders-that being his age.
He says a girl that would 60 back on
her father that way would as lief dis
grace her parents by marrying Con-
gresham.