The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1878-12-19
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I Did you ever Try the experiment Of
getting aP IN the dark, aud doing your
utmost to proyent the people 10 lhe house
from bearing youl Nobody gets up ip
The dark, be the object ever so lnnoccnb
without feeling strong desire 10 perform
the operation nolselealy aud secretly.
why il Is we do not know. II IL one Of
the mysteries Ui nature, You iast try II
some night, and note The result, You
pride yourself, perhaps, on tho order
which pervades everything In your csiab-
ishment, Youlare Ia tho habit OF toll.
Ing yonr friends that you have place for
everything, aud everything in It's place
that you could get up 10 the darkest
night and know where to pat yoaf baud
on anything III the house. But when YOU
come TO attempt IL, quite likely things
may not turn out just Ms you expected
them TO. You slide ont OF bed slesthily,
aud put one foot down lrst aud then the
other, and feel--to be sure that yon have
Bit the door, and are not being betrayed
into some hidden pitfalls. II there IL a
cat In the honse you viii step on her tail
the first thing, and the howl she will set
up will be as penetrating as the toot ofa
French horn aud the grind oftwo broken
winded hsnd-organs. Your blood will
curdle, for there IL no sound so full oi
horrors as the yell ola down.trodden eat
In the night time. When you have re-
coved your self control you will strike
out afresh; and, generally speaking, tho
first thing you will bring up against will
be the rocker OF a chair, or love of .
hassock. If there Is box of buttons, or
an inkstand, or a basket Of fancy work,
including score Of spools Of thread and
silk you will bo cure 10 knock IL over,
and Il will make clntter enough 10 hrouse
the whole house, and impress the ,imld
ones with the fixed idea that the mansion
has been burglarized, aud that every
body is in dankcl of Lai.'n murdered ia
their beds. You glope after the matches
but the match safe has moved away since
you went to bed Then you remember
that there were some stray matches on
the mantel few days ago. Yop search
for them, and of goes a Bohemian yase ora
piece of pottery, and smashes itself all 10
fnters on the floor at yonr feet Yon
stand dismayed TO step lest you
step on broken glass; and Immediately
you call TO mind all the stories you have
heard and read of lockjaw and paralysis
which resulted from stepping on broken
glass. You find match at last aud
scratch it on the wall paper, regardless of
tho scratch my back In perforated board
and sand paper which you know must
hang somewhere in your vicinity, but
inst where--ahl that is the question. You
scratch the wrong end OF the match, and
you quickly reverse il and Try the other;
but both are the wrong ends. The days
OF ils usefulness are past-somebody has
scratched Il before. Before YOU get back
to bed ia safety 500 have stumbled over
half the chairs Ia the room, upset M otto
man, barked yonr snkies, bruised your
feet, exhausted your palieuee, aud roused
the whole house; aud next morning at
breakfast you viii be asked by the whole
household, seyeralIy and collectively,
what ou earth were yon up all Night Tor,
/ tearing the house down