The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1877-01-25
Observations OF Men and Things


Nix. Simmer s't AZ. NTalk about The charms
Of an open fire. YOU needn't buiLi any for .af
said Sliinmens. Just give a furnace to boil
up the air in nIJ house. No room fall Of smoke,
no getting dewn on your knees and making a
pal! nt bellows Of yourself, and blowing ashes
all over the room, and swallowing smoke
enough to care Il ham. I'm satisfied With a
good furnace. like 10 draw up my chair after
| get all ready to 90 TO bed, and sort of no, +
over the register spell, and soak up enough
heat 10 keep the bed warm ali night. And then
the cellar; keeps it warm all winter, nothing
freezes down there. 1t makes it so nice for the
old cat. believe i'll treating an animal half de-
cent she likes a warm chance as we'll as | do. =
Having freed his mind and tried his leg with
hair pin to see if it was sufficiently done, Slim
mems turned out the gas and crept into bed.
Just Is he was falling into Il doze. his ear
caught the sound of Il prolonged 'ye-ow-ow-
OWL which seemed TO come from directly I'M
der the bed. Giving Mrs. Slimmens 4 poke in
the ribs, Slimmens enquired quite distinctly
chow i'll blazcS did that cussed cat get into this
room: Scat, you beggar. shes not in the
room, she's down cellar, and the noise comes
up through the register, and if your head wasn't
thicker than this mattrass, YOU'D have known
it," ''Oh,' said Slimmens rather mildly, and
reaching his foot out Of bed, he stamped on the
floor, assisting matters with an occasional
"shoO." y OH may kick aud shoe, all night, but
you can't stop her yelling. Ever since you car
ried oft her kittens, She has kept up that infer
nal catawauinS. I'd rather have rats knee deep
in, tha To
Mrs Slimmens had an early prejudice against
eats, which she had not quite overcome.
"If that's the ease, III go down and read her
the rules Of the house. and let her know that
She can't practice the chromatc scale after I've
gone to bed. [ enjoy music, but its rather too
late in the season for serenade>. | will deliver
little address 10 her, and punetuate it with
wooden punctuation marks too"
Getting out of bed he stubbed his toe against
a chair and something cracked ls if he had
dropped 4 torpedo on the floor. He made some
light remark. but it did not illuminate the room
any, and with outStretched hands he felt his
way along to the match safe and put his hand
on it the first iilne-and Knocked it Cd from the
bureau. sinking on hi Lnee1, he picked up
everything there was on the floor, before he
found match, but at length he cot one, and
with il lighted small night lamp
II was one Of those little lamps thai 90 often
make life 4 burden t. IL. One Of those inyen-
TONS that Will go out quicker than Il dismis ed
school, ana leave rs n uch solid darkness, that
we can lean against il without falling over A
fortune, Il marble monument two hundred feet
HIUli and tl,p Jhanj. ii talp pt N
await the man who viii invent night lamp
that will light quick, and 60 out slow The
world has been waiting over sly thousand Years
Tor il.
Aimed with hi. lamp, and arr,Ned IN a long
white cotton ulster and a pair Of slippers linn
mems proceeded to the cellar, keeping hi eve
fixed on the lamp, and walking As carefully as
though he expected to break through The door
4. every step. Being naturally 4 little merry GUS,
he took the broom along with him for company
II this time the ral was yelling AZ il somehow
She had got behind hand, and was trying to
catch NJ.
Creeping cautiously along SINNERS perceived
the cal Just i'll the at OF executing Il very diff
cult passage OF meW-sip, in !, minor Kew Pat
ting the lamp on 4 barrel he grasped Ills broom
firmly, and swinging it round his head re-
marked, "suppo~e we have Il selection from
handle or straw and will beat time W hen
hearing the noise, the singer turned her head
She lid NOT >tol, 10 finish her song but lie
seemed TO take in the Situation Of things at
once, and romprehcn,ed that She must lnnhi-
late space in some direction, and do it Meu.
There was no time Ia consult rail road guide,
To see when the EeNt tram left, or 10 order Il
carriage TO take her 10 the depot. Size knew She
was ~ full of springs as a hoop skirt. and cath
ering herself into Il bnHHd volume of beautiful
SpfinY, She gave up the place where she was
standing to the broom, which arrived lust as
she left, and shooting through the air like Il
meteor, she landed on the top of the cistern wall.
SimmenS saw her start, and then he heard a
rafting Of claws on the bricks, a prolonged
yell, and splash, and he knew that in her
haste to start, the cat had made no arrangements
about stopping, and had consequently landed
10, and not on the cistern. Simmens guessed
this, because the broom In its haste to make
the eats acquaintance, had eXtingushed the
lamp, and the cellar was AS full Of darkness as
though it had been slowed in by stevedore.
Language and the human voice are wonderful
things, and by their means Mrs. Slimmens was
soon made acquainted with the situation, and
came to her husbands assistance with lamp.
Then they looked into the cistern. The water
was just deep enough so the cat could barely
wade, and Slimmens says if he lives as long AS
the Atlantic cable, he never shall forget how
that cat looked. He sad that you couldn't paint
the expression of her face with less than five
gallons of paint. He got Il step ladder. and put
into the cstern, and the way that cat reached
the top step of that ladder is Il noble example
for young men to initiate. Simmens now sits
over his register nights and partially cremates
himself, while the cat occupies her old place in
the cellar, but she is as still as the corner stone
of Bunker Hin monument.
Bertha Won Hillern, the German girl,