Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-11-08
: OUR BURGLAR.

"And if you were three girls. an old
lady and cat you would be as fright
ened as We =
These words woH1d up what I felt to
be the oratorical effort of my life. as,
indeed, IT we'll might be, for did not
peace of mind. fortune. nay, life itself,
hinge upon it? For Billy, our youngest
and our pride. was about to leave home.
having received a business offer too good
todecline, but which would unfortunately
take him from US, except for an infre-
-quenp Sunday. And with Billyall sense
of security departed, for, though only
seventeen, he was so big and so fearless
that we would have matched him against
the burglar that was our haunting fear;
though ourneighborhood had never been
molested since the memory of man;
though neither friend, relative, nor ac-
quaintance had ever been a victim to a
burglarious attempt. and We ourselves
had never suffered from the covetous-
ness of humanity; though our neighbor-
hood was probably not set down in the
Blue-book Of robbers, and our house it
self presented most attempting APP
pearance, thanks to a landlord who held
it to be the whole duty of a householder
to receive rent.
Most families have peculiarly. Oar
win tells of one which for generations
had six fingers, and six toes. We were
not so afflicted, but our peculiarly was
not less a part of every member of our
family. From youth up we had had
mighty conviction we were to be rob-
bed. Still, we had felt no real fear as
long as we had Billy and the weapons
that, to please us. rested nightly by his
side-a section of gas-pipe and police
mans billy without any lead in it; pre-
sumably the latter was efficacious for
the moral force that might still inger
about it
'.Tn> get you a revolver" offered
Billy! ''Six shots. You might hit your
man with one of them
But to this proposal there was a cho-
rus of rejection from Aunt Barlow down.
1--WE should be sure to shoot each other,
like those. awful stories you read of in
the PAPERS. | would not even take
pistol up by the handle" declared Ma
tilds, energetically. To the feminine
mind, firearms divide themselves into
two classes, pistols and guns.
a dog? l can getyou beauty; bull
terrier I'd like to See the man who
could get by hind Such mtizzfer' pro-
posed Jack Walcott. -
But this too we rejected, with even
more energy than; the pistol. j am not
sure but what. in our Utmost hearts, the
burglar seemed preferable to the canine
..beauty" that would let nobody get
past him. Billy laughed little scorn-
fully. Our fears were an old subject of
mirth with him. Not so did Jack. In
his slow, patient way he sat there smok-
ing. and fn FIG fto devise still another
way for our protection. If he could
only have staid with US. for no one
could have felt afraid when Jack Wal
colt was near. Big, burly. common
whom Billy had any reverence. Some
how it always seemed as though it was
his commonplaceness, even more than
his muscle and size, that made him such
a tower of strength He lived some
distance from us. but summer evenings
usually found him on our porch, smok-
ing always, talking sometimes. Jack
always fitted in. One reason was. he
was not one of those uncomfortable peo-
pie who ALWAYS insist upon talking. and
the time none of us cared to talk was on
q summer evening.
II shall take the dinner bell to bed
with me every night" said Lou. "An
the neighbors have told us to ring it
out of the window if we hear anything"
Tie degrees of our fear might be ex-
pressed by positive, comparative, suser-
1ative Louis was superlative.
Ito rouse the neighborhood at every
mouse you hear.-you will do nothing
of the kind said Matilda, crushingly,
who by virtue of slight seniority I'M
dertook TO manage Lou and myself.
Then we must get somebody to stay
with u.s." pursued Lou. Il do not stay
in this house alone this winter. Lou
was ALWAYS making impossible sugges-
lions. and then leaving them for some
body else to carry out. The present
one was instantly secuted.
rSoh dear no"' said Aunt Barlow.
ssTake anv one herep Never!" mega
lived Matilda. energetically. lone
gets used to the angles and corners of
ones own family, but a stranger would
create perpetual friction. We should
l. , l.