The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-05-07
A SURPRISE PARTY.

outlandish, but it is outrageous. AStill
this might have been a blind, unreason-
ing prejudice on nay part, as my wife
said it was, but when saw his face ]
knew in moment Just what ne was.
There is q saying to the effect that the
world is made up of fools and knaves,
or flats and sharps, as some one ex-
pressed it, but I know one man, at
least, that is good deal of both. When
Broadspoon came to me with that amia-
BILE grin of his long sight teo amiable
to be pleasant, / knew he was up to some
mischief, though, of course, it was be.
yond human segacity to fathom it at
thel time. .---.~
= q Going to surprise Jenls tonight p
said he, slapping me familiarly on the
back. ~ ! l-iL hot1
moved away from him about three
feet.
"Surprise jerks % saidsI, surprised
myself, and very much puzzled. IS g 'How?''
"Oh. our crowd expect to SO there to-
night. asfsaHfE aG a
Now, if there is one thing that /
despise more than another it is q sur
prise party. Vulgar things at the best
and to be spoken of as one of our
crOwd-Broadspoon crowd-was be-
yond my patience; so I blurted out,
not so aniably as BroadspoOn had spo-
ken:
"No. I hate such affairs. Besides,
Mrs. Jones has a cold, and wouldn't
think of taking her out at night, and
Tn not quite we'll myself. I added
that much for the sake of being civil.
GOOD morning." said he, and saw a
curious expression pass over his face.
/ did not understand it at the time, but
1t meant something, as l afterWard
found. You see, he had plainly told
me that ne was going to jerks that
evening. That Is my first point against
him.
I sent word to jerks that Broadspoon
and his crowd were going to make a
raid upon him and that he had better
be prepared for them, and the whole
thing passed out of my mind.
That night Sarah Jane and I were
about retiring. We had taken a bowl
of onion syrup between us and a foot
bath apiece and we're wrapped in fan
mel up to our noses, when we heard
very singular noisS-s sOend like the
rasping of a fle-apparentiy at the
back basement door. There is an alley
way from our yard that leads back to
the next street, the gate of which is al
ways locked, but is only ten feet high
and nothing would be easier than for a
man to climb it.
/ hunted up an iron bed-key we have.
ItIooks exactly like pistol in its out
line, and opening the window I pointed
down into the yard and called out:
g Who is there Answer, or fire 20
The noise ceased, and as it was snow
ing very hard and blowing harder re-
treated in haste.
''Oh, John, John, come in - called
g, nk -.
"WeIl be murdered in our beds.
Well be robbed of everything. They'll
set the house on fire. They'll steal the
baby p
What was I to do? I locked the
doors of the bedrooms, but all our
Valuables were on the floor below. We
were alone in the house, our dom estic
having gone out for the night. Pretty
soon we heard the chink of silver and
something fell and shattered. The
heuse was so still we could even hear
them whisper " Hush !"
1 looked out of the front window,
hoping a policeman would pass, but no
such luck. There did not seem to be a
soul stirring.
81 must go for the police, I said.
"Don't leave me. Don't leave me.
John. They'll kill me and the baby !"
cried my wife.
She couldn't go along. What was I
to do? put on the first thing that
happened to come handy. They were,
as / afterward discovered, a pair of In
dia-rubber boots and my wife's water
proof cloak. AS for q hat, my hats
were on the rack in the hall. ~ - =
CT must leave you for few moments,
Sarah Jane, ] said, "only a few mo-
ments. I VIII hasten back. Be brave
The doors are locked. ?
We embraced, and went ont on the
balcony. There is another balcony be-
low, conr ected with it by iron-WUrk up
rights, and from that TO the front steps
"YouII fan r. shrieked sarah Jane /;
but did not. I Preached the ground in
safety, and the police station in an in
crodibly short space of time.
I had on my. red flannel night-cap,
which has, regret to say, a dropping
tassel, and / suppose / was rather pc
culiar object, for some one at the station
laughed at me-some one who did not
know my cause for agitation and alarm.
''I want police officer-two or three
of them" said I.
''Sit down and wait five minutes, "
said the man I spoke to.
Sit down wait the idea was prepos-
ferrous. H Hft t
''Send them Immediately they come, %
said 1, giving my address and hurrying
away. 500 t.s II
Sarah Jane is usually very sensible
for q woman but j must confess / was
provoked with her, for the first thing
she said to me when I got home was :
"John, the house has been so very
quiet. Don't you think it might have
been cats ?''
OF course didn't harbor the idea for
a minute, bat the house was very quiet.
and I concluded that, on tine whole, 1
had better find out what was really hap
peninS. confess it required some
courage. I took the bsd-key I have al
ready newfoundland the bedroom poker.
in one hand, and with a candle in the
other went and peeped over the stairs.
The parlor floor was quiet The bur
glars, whoever they were, were still IN
the basement.
I descended cautiously to the kitchen
stairs. I heard them whispering when
/ cot that far. I hid my candle and
put my head forward, holding the door
at the foot of the stairs on a crack
Through the glass door of the kitchen
saw then. - "a q 0kE Fl
y Cats. indeed i Sarah Jane cats were
six feet high at least. One Of them
wore anegro's mask, and one 8 black-fur
mufier. Both we're partly pushed back,
and under the black fur saw, without
the shadow Of a doubt BroadspOon's
leering -BroadspOon, who had
given me his word that he should be at
jerks. They held between thena the
silver tea urn presented TO me bT the
X. Y. Q. Society, and ] know not what
else. shut the door softly and dew