News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1882-08-24
A Chapter Of Troubles.
BY CHARLES Il. CLARKE.

deaf.
Mrs. Whitaker had acquired the habit
of sleeping upon her left side, with her
deaf ear up, and this had often been a
source of annoyance to her husband,
who was nervous and irritable, while
she was woman whose calmness and
serenity of disposition were remarkable.
Sleeping with ner deaf ear up, Mrs.
Whitaker at night was rarely disturbed
by noises which robbed her hus-
band of his rest. The hum of
the mosquitoes which maddened him
was not heard by her. A passing
thunder storm which reused him in
summer night and sent him flying
about to close the windows would leave
her in perfect Inconsistencies of its
existence. The noises in the street and
the rattling of the window-sashes upon
windy nights frequently filled Mr..
Whitaker with vexation as they deprived
him of sleep; but his wife slumbered
sweetly on and heard them not. Indeed,
it rarely happened that she heard the
crying of the baby until Mr.. Whitaker,
indignant at its refusal to 60 to sleep,
would rouse her by shaking her, and
would ask her to try to soothe the little
one.
Mr.. Whitaker had often demonstrated
with his wife about this habit of Sleep
ing with her deaf ear up, and she had
often replied good-humoredly with
promise to try to remember to break
herself of it, but somehow or other it
continued to cling to her.
One night in winter time Mr.. Whit
aker sat up in his library till late hour
reading a book in which he was very
much interested. His wife retired
early. Mr.. Whitaker finally closed his
book, and after locking the front door
went down in the cellar, in accordance
with his custom, to see if the furnace
fire had been fixed properly for the
night. While he was poking it a gust
of wind came through the screen upon
one of the cellar windows and slammed
the door leading into the back
hallway above, through which he
had come. For a moment Mr.. Whita-
ker did not think of the matter particu-
larly, but suddenly he remembered that
he had put spring lock on the other
side of that door, and the thought struck
him that the catch might possibly be
down. He ascended the stairs and tried
the door. The catch was down and he
had no key. He was locked in the Gel
lar, for the key of the out-cellar door
he knew was in the kitchen.
He could hardly think what he had
better do about the matter, but finally
he concluded to try to make his wife
hear him and come to his rescue. He
seized the long and heavy furnace poker,
and inserting the crook of it above the
Dell-wire that ran along the ioist of
the cellar ceiling he pulled. The bell
tangled loudly, but it was in the
kitchen and Mrs. Whitaker was in the
front room in the second story. Would
she hear it? He pulled tie wire again,
twice then he sat down on the steps
and waited. There was no response. 1t
then flashed upon the mind of the i'm
prisoned man that Mrs. Whitaker was
probably sleeping with the deaf ear up.
This increased his growing irritation,
and he pulled the bell-wire with the
poker fifteen or twenty times.
ST could hear that a mile from here
+ I was as deaf as post p he exclaimed
Is he threw the poker on the floor and
;ook his seat again, with the bell still
But Mrs. Whitaker did not hear the
,oise, for no sound of her coming
cached the ears of her impatient and
husband.
He grew angrier every moment. He
cit sense of injustice. 1t seemed un-
lind, inhuman for his wife to be sleep
ng away calmly up stairs while he was
ocked up in the dismal recesses of the |
,ellar.
"I'n make her hear me or I'll break
he exclaimed, seizing the
,oker and hooking itupon the bell-wire-
Then he pulled the wire with such
urious energy that he broke it, and the
angling of the bell died away into
ilence.
"It is scandalous shame" said Mr.. |
Whitaker in rage. 81 have spoken SO
'ften to Ellen about sleeping with her
leaf ear up, that it looks like malice,
deliberate fiendish malice when she per-
lists in doing it,
What should he do next !? He could
lot stay in the cellar all night, and he
lid not like to batter down the door
With the poker. A happy thought He
vent to the furnace and with the help
# the hatchet from the kindling- wood
,ile he cut the tin flue which conveyed
he heat up to Mrs. Whitaker's room.
he could compel her 10 hear
i'm now. He put his mouth to the
,roken fue and called ''El-len-El-lenl"
Then he stopped and listened. He
hought he could hear Ellen breathing
oftly in her sleep, but he was not GER
ain. He called again more loudly, and
hen put his fingers in his mouth and
Vhistled. Probably 1 can wake the
baby anyhow, and the baby will wake
ler," he said; but no response came
iown the fue. The baby seemed to be
sleeping with almost supernatural sound |
ness, and, manifestly, Mrs. Whitaker
lad her deaf ear up.
Mr.. Whitaker was almost beside him
Ielf with rage. GA woman" he said,
who would treat her husband in such a |
as this, is capable of anything.
Either Ellen will stop sleeping with her
leaf ear up or we will separate" A
hird time be applied his lips to the tin
,ipe and bawled into it until he was
loarse. He thought he heard his |
Ipouse walking across the floor, but |
when called again there was no response,
md he knew that he was mistaken.
The soul of Mr.. Whitaker was filed
With gloom. In his anger he indulged
n sardonic humor. ST suppose she
'ather relishes having me down in the
cellar here all night; it is good joke
But let her take care She may laugh
lpon the other side of her mouth before
We are done with this business = And
le laughed wild and bitter laugh.
Poor Mrs. Whitaker, sleeping sweetly
lp stairs, in perfect Inconsistencies,