The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1876-03-16

evening after an absence of two days, and
as he sat eating his supper he observed:
Il tell you 1t was a long ride, and I'm
glad you didn't 60"
Lonesome was it ?' she asked
sit would have been fearful if hadn't
had young lady in the seat with me-" he
replied.
"What :! A young lady in the seat with
you ?"
''That is-that is-yon know the car
was crowded" he said.
"And you offered her half your seat ?"
"I-that is she sat down there he stam-
mered.
Mrs. Shott's ears grew red and her eyes
snapped.
And so it was lonesome, was it? You
didn't speak to her, suppose ?" inquired
the wife
why, II spoke once or twice, of
course"
"Nice young lady, I suppose ?'
''Well, no; | can't say she was"
"And there you sat and looked your
sweetest, and Eli bet you passed yourself
off as a single man"
Il don't know as 1 did, he replied as
he drank his tea.
"Did you inform her that you were mar
ried and had three children ?'' she deman-
ded.
Il don't remember, though 1 presume
I did"
"You presume you did Well, I pre-
sumo you didn't. know just how you
sat up there and pretended to be rich
widower, and took care of her satchels, and
popcorn and illustrated papers for her"
Mr.. Shott inquired if there were any
more biscuit
''It's nice operation your coming home
and expecting to find biscuit for you! = she
went on. "Why didn't you ask if that
young lady could make BISCUIT? why didn't
she come home to tea with you?''
"Nancy, don't be foolish, he observed.
Don't be foolish Who is foolish :?
Here I was, scrubbing and baking and
patching, aud breaking my back, and you
were braced up in seat with young lady,
stroking those yellow whiskers and talking
about your bonds and mortgages and lone
ly widower life"
Il wasn't" he briefly observed.
Daniel, did that girl ride all the way
from Chicago with you?' asked Mrs. Shott
as she toyed with the handle of the milk
jug.
''Did she? Lemme see p he unused, as
he helped himself to the butter.
"You know she did p shouted Mrs.
| Shott
''If she got off at any one of the stations
| didn't see her" he admitted.
"And there you sat and sat, and rode
and rode, and you paid out money we need
so much in the house for peanuts, and pop
corn, and juba-paste, and picture papers
Daniel, let me see your wallet =
"My wallet ?"
eyes, sir, your wallet y
"What for, Nancy? ?"
II want to see your wallet p
ats the same one | always had y
"You left home with twenty-six dollars,
and know exactly what the trip cost.
Fare to Chicago and back, seventeen dol
lar. Hotel bill, two dollars. I'll allow
one dollar more for incidentals, and now
where's that six dollars 2"
"I-Ir' he stammered.
"You what 2"
II met Green down by the depot and
lent him four dollars"
sDaniel Shott, who is Green, and where
does he live ?"
Daniel did not reply.
'Danicl Shott, you've lied to me = she
exclaimed. "You didn't want to take me
along owing to the hard times. You said
I'd bother you. IF I'd been along you'd
have growled four times mile about the
bother and expense, and then you went and
bothered with young lady and squandered
four dollars on her, and I've worn these
old shoes seven months to save expense
"I'u get you a new pair pretty soon, he
replied.
sYou will, eh When Z?
aBefore the Fourth of July, anyhow
"You can squander four dollars on an
,nLnown oirl and make me wait four
months for shoes, can you? 2"
"What unknown girl =
~