Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1882-10-06

Twas quite out OF heart all that next
| day, and went to bed at night in a
most unhappy state of mind. Was my
rest to be broken in upon again? l had
! hardly fallen off into feverish slumber
when / heard the accursed hammer
again. 1 covered my head with the bed
clothes. Rat-tat-tat it went 1t could
not be hammering OF my imagination,
| for put my ear to the wall and felt the
vibration through the tiimsy partition.
Oh, the unutterable selfishness of that
old womanl And what if she were
robbed OF silver teapot or dozen tea
spoons. i was desperate now. / rushed
down stairs. Fortunately it was not
raining. / found my barrel at once,
and that was reassuring. / excoriated
myself again. l scaled the wall and
landed with crashon the other side
on a pile of flowerpots some one had
carelessly placed there. waited
moment for the noise to subside.
knew that if any robbers were there the
row l had made must startle them. l
rubbed very bad skinned ankle and
waited and nothing came.
Night after night went on that &C
cursed hammering. Was to be doomed
to the terrible task of discovering
thieves in that old lady's garden; and,
what was worse, my chivalrous con-
duct, my dallying with death, received
no recognition? Evidently there was
some mystery. 1 was the victim whose
sad end was being plotted.
Inever went to sleep after that with
out stuffing cotton in my ears. and al
ways in a most wretched frame of
mind. was martyr of my disinter-
estedness. was being robbed of my
sweet sleep. Life became a burden to
me. The old lady was either laboring
under some hallucination or / was
crazy. There was only one thing which
made me suffer all these torments, and
that was the belief that was a hero in
the eyes OF the granddaughter. can
not say that she ever directly expressed
herself, but looking at her at times
when met her in the street, as adj
dressed few words to her, thought /
recognized an expression on her face
which told me of her sympathy.
These nocturnal visits at last preyod
on my spirits. went to bed now with
my clothes on. L had bought second
hand revolver. / had become reckless.
am quite sure that had 1 met small
boy of about the size of Oliver Twist at
night in the old lady's garden should
have shot at him.
The rapping would cease for night
or two and then commence again. /
| felt that this business must come TO a
stop. My employers, leading grocers,
had noticed my sleepiness during bust
ness hours and had complained about it.
One night this spring YEARLY
climbed the garden fence, pistol in
hand-for it had become a mechanical
process now-and l dropped into a
washtub of water, placed with devilish
ingenuity on a three-legged stool. As
L fell over my pistol went off. The
neighborhood was aroused at last, but
l distinctly heard in the bathroom that
overlooked the old lady's garden peals
OF laughter, and young woman APP
peared at the window who was appar-
rently enjoying the scene.
If this brutal conduct on the part of
that girl were not sufficient, think of
the impertinence of young man who
called next day on me at our place of
business. AS | have said, am a clerk,
in the wholesale grocery line, and drug
gists' clerks are always stuck-up Great
ures. That young sprig twirled stick
in one hand and in the other he had q
card. l am to suppose his name was
written on it. "See here,' said he,
making his stick whiz through the air
within few inches of my nose. "See
here. oleomargarine, Goldfish, prunes,
pickles and glucose, you have been fool
ing around grandmother place long
enough, and you are a precious 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 revenue stamp
on it, you must be 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 shores
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 promiscuously. Now, see here,
here is your hammer, and do you take
1t before make you swallow it, handle,
claw and all, just as if it were glass of
cream soda, and the very next time /
hear you have ventured to cross that
fence. or to put that big foot of yours in
my grandmother house, I will Just
thrash you dizzy; and just listen to some
good advice-change your boarding
house. figs. even if you have to go back
on your landlady."- Y. Times.
HaoIfh Tko,,,