Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-12-21
MISS MARIA'S PARTY.

+ : Old Snarley stood before the glass
{ shaving. It was a weazen faced, rusty
bit of MIRROR scarcely big enough to
cast a reflection: but it meant well
enough, and tried to fulfill its destiny,
like some poor human mirrors, who, let
them do the best they can, only blunder
and distort the images that are cast
upon them. Old Snarley had sharpened
his razor carefully on bumped backed
, bit of oil-stone; but had he made the
!. edge as sharp and keen as the breath of
the north wind, he couldn't have cut the
grizzly stnbble from his face without
grumbliug.
E, Old Snarley was rasping and scraping
: and Scratching his chin, when a thud0
thud-thud! came ct his chamber door !;
not one of those clear, quick raps that
startle one, and echo in the hallway,
but timid, muffled, submissive appeal
for permission to come in. The door
was so accustomed to Old Snarley's dis
position, that it dare not sound out as
the. panels of some doors do; but, like
all of his animate and inanimate sur
roundings, it had lost its individuality.
Old Snarley lifted the latch, and
- grunted surly g Come in"
Please, sir, master wishes you a
merry Christmas, and would like you to
( look at this" :
Sf"Off with you! OFF with you! you
little rapscallion,'' shouted Old Snarley.
tsCan'tl your master keep his bills at
: home on Christmas Day? Is he so hard
up that he must come into peoples
houses on holidays with his due bills?
. Off with you'll Tell your master there's
a time for everything, and when 1 get
ready:I Eli pay him. Off with you'll
TLa Inft TO bo 1oc
of Old Snarley's words, but, leaving the
paper in his hand, scampered off, and
scarcely breathed, again until he got
around the corner. sc - 9
And all that day, even after he went
home to his mothers cottage, Old
Snarley's face would appear before him
like a phantom in q -fairy-taie. And
when he sat down at dinner, munching
the brown meat from the turkey bone,
he could see in the steam that rose from
the pudding-a plum-pudding, not rich
and oily, as some people have them, but
wholesome corn-meal and raisins, with
sirup-sauce poured on-he could see in
the vapor Old Snarley's half-shaven
face, with streaks of lather under the
chin, and as he looked at the pudding
he thought that the little pit on the top
of it was for all the world just like the
shade of Old Snarley's nose.
And that night, when he lay in his
bed in the attic and listened to the rum
BILE of wagons and stages in the streets,
the sounds seemed to- shape themselves
into a word, and the monotone of the
pavement's music was ''rapscallion,
ID, ssrapscallion, 't'srapscallion.n
Old Snarley slammed the door and
went back to his shaving, muttering to
himself a. the scraping went on:
"That's the way with them-that's
the way with them. An honest man
can't buy anything without being bored
to death by bills. Rascals are never
bothered in that way. Confound me if
they don't have more comfort in life
than honest men!" and Old Snarley
went on with his shaving. ..y a." :,
Thud-thud-thud! went the door
again. Old Snarley laid his razor down.
"Confound it," exclaimed he, s'there' s
another one!'' And he pulled the door
open with a jerk, as if all the bill collec-
tors in the world were condensed into a
door. and he had hold of it.
ssWen, well; what neNt?" said Old
Snarley, as the postman handed him a
letter. "Well, we'll; what next?'
The postman didn't say ga merry
Christmas to you, sir!"-as he had q
hundred times that morning-ssandm may
YOU have many returns Of the same!"
He knew that wishes and blessings would
be lost on Old Snarley, such an ash
heap of emotions as he. was lie. knew
that all the wishes and blessings in the
world cslidnt make him happy this
Christmas Day; and he went of, think
ing how some people were like tubs,
and how some other people were Ike
baskets.
Old Snarley, said he to himself, is one
of the baskets; You could pour all the
pleasures of the world into his life, and
he wouldn't hold bit. Old Mr.. Twin
.kle, over the way, he thought, was one
of the tubs; were it never SO small
favor, were il never 50 meager wish,
or q smile, even, that he 7gave Mr..
Twinkle, he seemed to take it all in and