The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1882-11-02
MANIToWoC. WIS, NOVEMBER 2. 1882.
with me, she was about re-entering with

with me, she was about re-entering with
her milk.
"You had a most narrow escsne last
night" l said.
30, yes," she replied, smilingly; ''it's
half water. and mighty blue and thin"
Evidently she referred to the milk.
IF it had not been for me-" said,
''you would have been murdered in
your beds; was up and out. In three
seconds after the first stroke of the ham,
mer was in your garden. / hope your
charming granddaughter has suffered
no inconvenience; am quite positive
that they-the robbers-were around
last night, and my timely presence scat
tered them"
''God bless my SOUL" said the old la
dy, as she dropped the milk. land l
did not know it,
'.But you hammered away like first
class blacksmith
Indeed did not" said she, land
my milk, that is all gone; / stepped un-
common well, better than usual. /
always sleep soundly when it rains.''
Would it be believed that the old
woman denied tho hammer incident in
toto? Had been dreamingP Was it
force of imagination, the teeming of a
delirious brain? A shocking bad cold
in my head assured me that it had been
reality.
Twas quite out of heart all the next
day, and went to bed at night in most
unhappy state of mind. Was my rest
to be broken in upon again? l had
hardly fallen off into a feverish slumber
when I heard that accused hammer
again l covered my head with the
| bedclothes. Rat-tat-tat it went. 1t could
not be hammering of my imagination,
for l put my ear to the wall and felt the
| vibration through the f1imsy partition.
| 0, the unutterable selfshness of that
old woman! And what if she were rob-
bed of silver teapot or so, or dozen
| teaspoons! l was desperate now.
rushed down stairs. Fortunately it was
not raining. found my barrel at once,
and that was reassuring. I excoriated
myself again. l scaled the wall and
| landed with crash on the other side on
| pile of flour pots some one had care
lessly placed there. waited a moment
for the noise to subside. / knew that il
| any robbers were there the row [ had
| made must startle them. I rubbed a
very badly skinned ankle and waited,
| and nothing came.
Night after night went on that ac-
cursed hammering. Was to De doom
| ed to the terrible task of discovering
| thieves in that old lady's garden; and
what was worse, my chivalrc us conduct,
my dallying with DEATH receiving no
recognition? Evidently there was some
mystery. l was the victim whose sad
end was being plotted.
never went to sleep after that with
out stuf;ng cotton in my ears, and al
ways in most wretched frame of mind.
| was martyr of my disinterestedness.
! was being robbed of my sweet sleep.
| Life became burden to me. The old
lady was either laboring under some
hallucination, or l was crazy. There
| was only one thing which made me suf-
| fer all these torments, and that was the
belief that was hero in the eyes of
the granddaughter. | cannot say that
she ever directly expressed herself in
tLat way, but looking at ner at times
when l met her in the street, as l ad-
dressed few words to her, l thought 1
recognized an expression on her face
which told me of her sympathy.
These nocturnal visits at last preyed
on my spirits. went to bed now with
| my clothes on. had bought. second
| hand revolver / had become reckless.
am quite sure that had l met small
| boy about the size of Oliver Twist at
| night in the old lady's garden, l should
have shot him.
The rapping would cease for night
or two, and then commence again. l
| felt that this business must come to a
stop. My employers. leading. grocerss'
had noticed my sleepiness during busi-
ness hours, and had complained aboutit.
One night this summer, wearily |
climbed the garden fence, pistol in hand
for it had become mechanical pro-
cess now-and 1 dropped into wash
tub of water, placed with devilish in
genuity on three-legged stool As I
fell over, my pistol went of. The neigh
borhood was aroused at last, but l de-
stpctly heard, in the bathroom that
overlooked the old lady's garden, peals
Of laughter, and young woman ap-
peared at the window who was appar-
entity enjoying the scene.
If this brutal conduct on the part of
that girl were not sufficient, think of
the impertinence of a young man who
called next day Oh me at my place OF
business. AS | have said, | am clerk
in the wholesale grocery line, and drug
gists' clerks are always stuck-up crea-
lures. The young sprig twirled 3 stick
in one hand, and in the other he had q
card. I am to suppose his name was
written on it. ''See here" he said,
I. = a.
air within few inches of my nose.
'See here, oleomargsrine, Goldfish,
prunes, pickles, and glucose, you have
been fooling around grandmother's s
place long enough, and you are pre-
cious ass, and Mary Jane-that's my
cousin, lady | am going to marry
has had quite enough of your nonsense.
What prime proprietary idiot, with a
revenue stamp on it. you are not to
know that the old lady has got robber
on the brain bad when she's awake, but
when she's asleep of nights, bless her,
she snores away like humming-top.
A Chinese cracker under her ear
wouldn't as much as faze her. Now,
the old woman never had any use for
your hammer, but guess from what
Mary Jane has told me she has been
pounding around with it quite pro-
miscuously. Now, see here, here is
your hammer, and do you take it. be-
fore make you swallow it, handle,
claw and all, just as if j. were a glass Of
cream soda; and the very next time
hear you have ventured to cross that
fence, or put that big foot of yours in
my grandmother's house, will just
thrash you dizzy; and listen to some
good advice-change your boarding
house, figs, even if you have to 60 back
on your landlady."
WOMEN are everywhere using and re-.