Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1884-03-18
MISCELLANEOUS.
a Happy Family.

It was Sunday. Mr.. Skinner was
tired, and thought he would lie down
on the sofain the back parlor and rest.
People never learn by experience, and
he was no exception TO the common
rule.
lie lay down and crossed his feet
with a parade hardly justiliab!c under
the circumstances. His wife came in
and saw him.
"Why, Lot Skinner !" she exclaim-
ed.
"IfIever heard OF the like. Lying
down on that new sofa with your
boots on, and Oh, my goodness! your
head on that lace tidy l had done up
only last week. You are the most
inconsiderate man 1 ever saw in my
life!'
Mr.. Skinner got up and his wife
smoothed out the tidy and rcarrangcd
it.
g The idea of anybody putting a
head on that tidy" said Mrs. Skin
ner, who had no intention of using
slang. " did suppose you had more
sense.
.-.-ss=I ,sed.to have5aa-safI1 Mr.. Skfrs
ner good-naturedly. q Ya-a-ah. l
could take nap if I could find a
place to drop down. Ia-a-ah.''
=" You had better read your Bible, +"
said Mrs. Skinner. She was good,
uncomfortable woman, so clean and
neat and orderly that she made her
family wretchcd with her domestic
drill.
Something called Mrs. Skinner off
then, and when. she came back Mr..
took q book, when a thought struck
her, and she bounded from heI chair
as if it had been q cannan ball.
Yes, it was just as she feared; her
husband had gone up stairs, and she
found him stretched out on the bed,
on top of white counterpane, his
grizzly-gray head sunk deep into n
white starched pilIow-sham, with these
words embroidered in the center:
Sleep sweet, belovcd!''
lie was not only asleep, but snor-
ing, with a look of sweet content on
his wide open mouth.
Lot S-k-i-n-n-e-r!"
lie got up in q manner that would
have done credit to a gymnast, and
stood-staring at the fearful hollow in
the bed and the wrinEled dent in the
piIIow-gham.
declare forgot" he said look
ing very foolish. {" Alice, haven't
got aplace where can lay my head 2"
Don't talk nonsense" said his
wife sharply. 1.-The idea Of q sober
man going TO bed with his boots on. "
Would you rather I'd get
ia rather you'd get some com
mon scrse," she said. If you must
sleep in the daytime, why there's an
old lounge down in the kitchen; no
one will disturb you there. Or, l
suPpose"-ungraciousIy-" 1 can
take of the quilt, and the sham and
let you have your nap here, though
it's wicked, that wiat it is to sleep
Sunday. It's 4 bad example to set
to the children and you know it. .
But L an so sleepy" answered
her husband, "my head is as heavy
as lead, and 1 cannot keep my eyes
open"
Laziness! sheer laziness!" said
his wife sharply.
Mr.. Skinner went down stairs and
disappeared. The last words hi:
wife heard him say were that there
was rest for the weary, but she wa:
picking up the embroidery on the mis-
used sham with a pin, and did no
heed him. When she went dowr
stairs he was not in sight ard sht
busted herself in getting dinner, which
On Sunday took the place of supper
and thought no more about him.
She was distinguished woman
distinguished in the town where She
lived, as being the cleanest house
keeper in it. No girl could be founc
neat enough to live with her: all the
: notices in her house were to the effec
that cleanliness is akin to godliness
She busted every article of furnitur,
in the house several times every day
she scrubbed so often that the chill
dren had chronic diphtheria sh
: scrubbed so clean that at last sh
! scrubbed through her kitchen foo
, into the cellar, and was nearly lost t,
the community. 1t was perpetua
warfare between her and dirt. Til
front parlor was never open to tn
a family, and although Mr.. Skinner hat
1 furnished it he had never sat down il
it moment since. Its air was tha