The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1875-09-03
HE COULDN'T FIND THE LIGHT.

~ ~ 7 G1.IsassyEHr !t1zts,>
he COULDN'T FIND THE 'L1gH Ill, ,
I. One night, during the recent troubles
ipethe Pennsylvania, coal regions, Judge.
Potts brother, Thomas Potts. was round
at . meeting Of mine owners, and after
the adjournmentsh he stepped:in$at .a3 tav.
crn. While there he met some friends,
and in the course Of an hour or two he
became very much sintoxicated. On his
way home he lost his hat, and miner
who knew him, feeling compassion for
him, clapped o.. his head miners hat,
and in order to make the dark street look
brighter he lighted the little lamp in front
ofsthe hat. When Potts reached his
house his wife had gone to bed and the
lights were out, but Potts felt certain that
the lamp was burning in the hall. but he
couldn't for the life Of him tell where it
was. He lookedat the regular lamp, and
that seemed to be out, then hunted in
every direction for the light, but he was
unable to find it, althoug III it seemed to
shine brightly wherever he went. Pres
emily nc happened to stand in front Of the
mirror in the hat rack, and then he saw
precisely where the lamp was. After a
brief ob;urgation upon Mrs. Potts for
leaving a light in such preposterous
place, he went up to the mirror and tried
to blow it out. He blew, and blew, but
somehow the flame burned as steadily as
ever.
SHAT said Potts, lis the moz ex.
tror'nary lamps ever been my mizlortune
t encounter"
Then he took off his coat, and holding
it in front Of him, he crept cautiously up
to the mirror and tried to crush the coat
down over tn light to smother it. He
made half a dozen Intellectual attempts,
and then standing of and regarding the
light, which still burned brightly, he said:
"That's cert'nly very extor' nary MOI
'stonishin' circumstanz ever come un'ner
my observation Don no how t'account
for it,
1t occurred to him then that perhaps
he might smash the lamp with the UNI:
brella. Selling that weapon he went up
to the hat rack, and aiminga terrific blow
at the light, he brought the umbrella
down. He missed and mashed his Sun
day hat into chaos He took aim again
and caught the umbrella in the hall lamp
overhead, bringing it down with crash
Then he tried third time, and plunged
the ferule of the umbrella through the
mirror, smashing it to atoms. Hesfelt
exultant for moment as the light disap'
peared from his vision, but he was per.
picked to find that there was another
light somewhere, he couldn't tell exactly
where. So he sat down on the stairs and
remarked:
.'Moz 'stonishin cirgumstanz ever come
un'er my obzervazhun. What in thnn.
der's it mean, anyhow? Lights gone,
and yet it's shinin'. Perfectly incom-
pr'nsible. Wish t grashus Miss Podd's
wake up n explain it. Durn + l know
what I'd better do
Then Potts took off his hat to scratch
his head, in the hope that he might scare
up an idea, and the truth broke upon
him. Gazi2g at the lamp for moment
until he drank in full conception of the
trouble it had caused him, he suddenly
smashed it down on the floor in a rage
and cxtinguished it, after covering two
yards of carpet with grease. Then he
went to bed, and when in the morning
Mrs. Potts informed him that some Of
those awful miners had broken into the
house the night before andleft one OF
their hats with lamp, Potts turned over
in bed so that she couldn't see his face,
and said that il the stern hand OF the
law wasn't laid upon those ruffians soon,
nobody's life would be safe.