Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1884-02-12
BY MRS. NJ. L. RAYNE.

IL was Sunday. Mr.. Skinner was tired,
| and thought he would lie down on the sofa
in the back parlor and rest. People never
| learn by experience, and he was no excep-
tiOn to the common rule.
| He lay down and crossed his feet with q
-.'aTade hardly justifable under the circum
stances. His wife came liz and saw him.
"Why, Lot Skinner! she exclaimed, If
ever heard of thelike! lying down on that
new sofa with your boots on, and oh, my
goodness! your head on that lace tidy | had
done up only last week You ale the most
inconsiderate man | ever saw in my life!''
Mr. Skinner got up and his wife smooth
ed ont the tidy and rearranged it.
s'Ti idea of any body putting q lead on
that tidy" said MIS-. Skinner, who had no
intention of using slang. Il did suppose
you had more sense
81 used to have" said Mr.. Skinner good
naturally. "Ya-a-h. could take nap
if | could find a place to drop down.
Ya-a-h.
you had better read your Bible" said
Mrs. Skinner. She was good uncomfolt-
able woman so clean and neatand orderly
that she made her family wretched with
her domestic drill.
Something called Mrs. skinner off then,
and when she came back Mr. Skinner was
gone. She sat down and took book,
when a thought struck her, and she bound
ed from her chair as if it had been cannon
ball.
Yes, it was just as she feared, her hus-
band had gone up stairs, and She found him
stretched out on the bed, on top of u white
counterpane, his grizziy-gray head sunk
deep into white, starched pillow sham,
with these words embroidered in the CEN
| ter:
''Sleep sweet, belovedr'
| He was not only asleep, but snoaring
with look of sweet content on his wide
open mouth.
| 'L-o-t S-k-i-n-n-e-r.''
He got up in q manner that would have
done credit to a gynlnast, and stood staring
at the fearful hollow i'll the bed and the
wlinkled dent in the pillow sham
Il declare I forgot" he said, looking
very foolish. "Alice, haven't got place
where | can lay my head?''
| Don't talk nonsense" saii his wife
sharply. ''The idea of a sober man going
to bed with his boots on -
Would you rather I'd get"
I'D rather you'd get some comm n
sense" she said. eff you must sleep in
the daytime, why there's all old lour ge
down i'll the kitchen; no one will disturb
you there. Or, l suppose
- cap take off the quilt, and the slams,
and let y"u have your nap here, though its
wicked that's what it is, to sleep Sunday.
It's a bad example to ses to the children,
aud you know it,
But om SO sleepy" answered her hus-
band, ''my head is as heavy as lead, and 1
cannot keep my eyes open"
| 'Laziness! sheer laziDess!' said his wife
sharply.
MIR. Skinner went down stairs and disap
peared. The last words his wife beard him
say We're that there was rest for the weary,
out she was picking up the embroidery on
she mls-used sham with pin, aud did not
need him. When she went down stairs he
was not in sight and she busted herself in
getting dinner, VIII ch on Sunday took the
pace OF supper, and thought no more about
him.
she was distinguished woman; distin-
guiShed in the town where she lived, as be-
| ing the cleanest housekeeper in it, No
gill could be found neat enough to live with
ner; all the notices in her house were to
eie elfect thatceanliness ;sakin to 9odliness.
one dusted every ar icle of furniture in the
mouse several times every day; she scrub
oed yea SO often that the children had chronic
alpn'herla; she scrubbed so clean that at
iast she scrubbed through her kitchen floor
lnlo the cellar, and was nearly lost to the
community. It was perpetual war fare
between her and dirt. The front parlor
was never opened to the family, and al
though MIR. Skinner had furnished he
la; 1islo never sat down in it a moment since.
lts an Is that of tomb. After it had been
opened to company for an afternoon, the
children went with flannels about heir
snro,a's and drank ginger tea. 1t was the
ils'nesotnest lI u in the community, too, aud had
Tue family pictures and their marriage GER
tiilGa1es framed and hung up there
When dinner was ready-and it was a
good dinner, too. for Mrs. Skinner was
notable cooll-she asked the children where
their father was.
They did not know
This seemed strange: she questioned them
closely, but they had not seen Which way he
went when he passed through the room.
Didn't be say where he was going ?"
she asked, wonderipgly, fpr Mr.. Skinner
never went ont on Sundays without his
fsmiy.
lse saiti a 0es gciag where. had have
pi9re geaee-" sid ittl8 Harry Skinner.