Sharp County record., 1879-01-30

spirits revive q little. But few MIN
utes later Mr.. Motfat dropped in and
stated that his wife had suffered intense
ly all night with neuralgia, and as she
was feeling too wretched to leave the
house he begged that they might be ex-
cused
Hiram, this is dreadful! awiulH
said Mrs. Tibbons aS Mr.. Moilat went
out the gate. 81 declare l don't BE-
lieve we shall have soul come to din
ner, and all my work and trouble gone
for nothing. Why couldn't Mrs. Moi
fat have the neuralgia some other day.
Just like her, though. | might have
had more sense than to invite her-she
always was contrary piece. It's too
mean! Boo-hoo-h -hoo!" and cry No. 2
distorted the pretty features.
ooh, never mind, little woman;
cheer up. Don't get in the dumps on
Christmas Day, my dear; every thing
III come out all right, see if it don't
There's the JansOns yet, and the Stan
berrys, besides young Mr.. Menger, and
he won't disappoint us, you can bet,
even if every body else does. There,
now, don't worry any more, or the
first thing you know you'll let
the dinner spoil, and have a whole
houseful of hungry people here. lguesS
you'd better take look at the turkey,
right away, too, Susan, for | kind o.
think | smell something scorching."
While the good wife was in the kitch-
en- looking after the precious bird, Mrs.
Stanberry rang the door-bell, and came
into the hall with a dripping water
proof, to say that it would be impossi,
BILE for them TO be on hand, as they had
been surprised that morning, by a
couple of Mrs. Stanberry'S relatives who
had written week before to give no.
tice of their coming, but the letter
hadn't turned up.
"Bring them along with you, by all
MEANS" said Mrs. Tibbons coming out
to the door at that moment.
"Oh, no-couldn't think of it for the
world" protested Mrs. S.; "knew
you'd have houseful of folks, so |
started George out to get a turkey, and
we'll manage to pick up dinner at
home. Icouldn't bare the thought OF
iintruding our company onyou, and then
you know they couldn't feel exactly
right about it themselves. Very sorry
Mrs. Tibbons, but then under the cir
cumStances you really must excuse u.s."
and picking up her umbrella she splash
ed homeward through the drizzling
rain.
"There, now, Hiram, what did | tell
youP" said the agitated little woman,
leaning against the banister, with eyes
almost snapping fire; for by this time
she had passed the crying stage of emo
ton, and felt q good deal more like
using big words and breaking up the
furniture.
"But, my. dear, we haven't heard
from the Jansons yet, or Mr.. Menger,"
remarked Mr.. Tibbons, rubbing his hands
hopefully. "They're the j0lliest of the
lot, you know, and if they come We'll
have lots o. fun any way"
eyes, but as sure as you're a living
man, Hiram Tibbons, inside of another
half hour you'll see somebody else
around here with the information that
,Janson has had another stroke of apo
plexy, and I'm prepared to hear as any
moment that Mr.. Menger has got a
broken leg or is locked up in the station
house. But don't care now whether
single soul comes or not. I'll dish up
at two O'Clock as | said | would, and
I'll never get up another Christmas din
ner as long as II live"
The day moved on, with no further
tidings of bad luck coming to hand, nor
did any of the invited guests put in an
appearance. Every 10 or 15 minutes
some member of the family was deput-
ed to 90 to the door and look out to see
whether any of them could be seen. As
the dinner hour drew YEARLY near, Mrs
Tibbons became more and more nerv-
Gus and fdgety, banged the dishes
around recklessly, and remarked re-
peatedly that she hoped nobody would
come, any way, as the dinner wouldn't
be fit for dog to eat. Every thing had
gone wrong from beginning to end, and
if she had to die at that minute her last
words would be that she had forgotten
to put bit of seasoning in the dressing,
and had used salt instead of sugar in the
cranberry sauce.
Tibbons himself looked as wretched
as he was capable of doing, stood around
in the way all the time, rubbing his
hands, and with a weak little sickly
smile that felt ashamed of itself, kept
trying to cheer his wife up by saying
"Don't worry, little woman-it's no
use, Susan; every thing'll come out
right, see if it don't"
And, as if to confirm his words, just
as the clock was on the stroke of two,
and the dinner was smoking on the table,
one of the children came running with
the cry Of .."
"Mr. Menger's coming!"
Two siphs of relief filled the dining