The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1877-08-09
THE HOUSE CLEANING G.

Mr.. Walter Ammidon laid his knife
and fork down with gestureo of absolute
despair.
'FNot going to clean house again, Mrs.
Benedict Why, it seems as if we had
only Just recovered from the dreadful
tearing up process of last fall. "
Mrs. Benedict slowly dropped four
Jumps of sugar into his coffee, then
handed it to him, utterly regardless of
Che misery in his face.
Dreadful tearing up that's perfect
nonsense, Mr.. Ammidon. AS if you
were very much inconvenience last Oc-
tober while the carpets were up and the
curtains down and the painting going on.
OF course I shall clean it's my habit,
and has been for twenty -odd years"
Mr.. Ammidon gave a little groan at
= Che sad fate that awaited him = that
awaited all bachelors in boarding houses
i'm the, shape of several consecutive
Il days of bare floors and the odor of
soap of cold dinners eaten wherever it
was convenient to set the dining table !;
OF Mrs. Benedict in chronic state of
hustle and crossness, and the servants
simpudent, tired and sulky of wide-open
doors and windows where the draughts
tore through.
He was a gentleman, however, Mr.
Ammidon was, and so repressed his ILL
temper and disgust and mental maledic-
lions that house cleaning was purely
malicious instigation of his satanic
majesty for the torment of mankind.
"Wen be so nice and sweet and
Clean" Mrs Benedict went on, with
horrible cheerfulness, "and, I've been
thinking that I'll have your rooms. newly
papered, Mr.. Ammidon. Tn sure you'll
like that ?" ~ .auon
Very muoh-wheen it is done,
And he cut his meal short and rushed
out of doors into the cool, fresh October
evening air.
''Ah, bah I can already experience
She agonies of last fall Good Heaven
the woman must be made of cast-iron to
attempt such siege again. It is no
wonder her husband died if he suffered
bwo attacks of house-cleaning year, and
I shall die or go crazy unless I leave her
but I suppose all women are equally
idiotic."
rA A groan Of genuine misery broke from
q his lips as he STROBE along, his hat
4 damned over his eyes-very unlike the
handsome gentleman he really was, with
his frank, CHEEKY face and pleasant
S mouth, with the white even teeth, and
the half-curling, thick, dark hair, and
the grave, intelligent eyes, that nothing
could ruf1e as the idea of Mrs. Bene-
diets semi-annual tearing-up- a court
eous, refined, genial gentleman whom
society found puzzle because of his
persistant bachelorhooa, when it knew
of at least half dozen who would have
jumped at the faintest chance. of an offer
of marriage from him-who himself
is wondered why he had never fallen in
& love and whom pretty little Mrs. Bald
win, the blue-eyed, blonde-haired
widow, with no incumbrance, house Of
her own, and an income Of three thou,
sand dollars year, often felt piqueG
with that he was SO very unimpression-
able.
So Mr.. Ammidon strobe along, almost
mechanically turning corners, his pace
gradually growing slower, and then al
at once he heard the brilliant tones of 6
piano as some skilled hand played, and
looking up, found himself in front of
warmly-lighted, CHEEKY, hospitable house
the very house where Mrs. Bessie
Baldwin lived.
The contrast was so strikingly viyiC
between the pictures in his imagination
that he involuntarily paused-one. the
picture of the way Mrs. Benedict's
boarding house would look next day. the
other of how Mrs. Baldwin's elegant
Little home always appeared when he
called there, and as it appeared nov
through the lace curtains -quiet, warm
hospitable, inviting.
And like a revelation from heaven il
came to him-an idea, determination
that was so strong, so resistless that he
walked up Mrs. Baldwin's front steps
and rang the door-bell, wondering as he
did whythe music had ceased, and where
the player had gone.
"I'll marry her if she'll have me, anG
then we'll see how many times a veal
the house is cleaned; that is if"
Then the door opened and the maic
invited him into the parlor, with the in
formation that Mrs. Baldwin had ius
run into neighbor's by the side gate
but would be back directly if the sicI
child was better she had gone to see.
Mr.. Ammidon ensconced himself II
Che easiest chair in the room a great
deep, wide, cushioned affair was draw
up by the little low table under The
chandelier.
''Bless her pretty blue eyes! Gone Il
see sick child; like that like it
What a blessing it occurred to me t
offer myself to such a good-hearted
cheerful, tender, fond little woman al
she is; and what miraculous fool I hay.
been not to have done it long ago. Why
honestly I feel as if had been in love
with her all along; and believe have
been, and never knew it. !"
His handsome head leaned comfortably
against the cushions, and his weIl-shaped
wela-booted feet were crossed on Low