Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1884-12-18


Agnes. land then this terms salary
will be fifty more
ssAnd Mrs. Rogers owes for that
twenty-pound crock of BUTTER" Aunt
Betsey observed.
swell, the long and short of it is that
we shall have to make about two hum
dred dollars in six months. We've got
to do it, solemnly: eve must cut
down every expense.
And so the summer wore away in
hard work and self-denial, for, on
counting the bills and coins in the old
gray stocking, we found that we had
at last the requisite sum. And in three
DAYS the mortgage would be due, and
on the morning of the day Ruth was
going down to the city to pay off the
dreadful burden.
But how we did worry over that
money! For fear it would get stolen,
you know! We were very foolish, for
everybody knew we were poor, and not
at all likely to have so large sum
about us in our humble dwelling. But
our alarm was mainly caused by the
fact that there had been of late several
daring robberies committed in the
neighborhood.
Lawyer Griggs, down at the village,
had his house entered and large
amount of money distracted. Mrs.
Peters gold watch and Widow Par
sons earrings were also taken. Anoth-
er night the thieves broke into the
house of Mr.. Elias, the mill proprietor,
while he and his wife were away at a
party, and took rich silk dress and a
set of furs Smaller robberies were
constantly taking place, such as spoons,
preserves, poultry, clothing nothing,
in fact, escaped the hands of the preda-
tory rascals. The universal opinion was
that there was a gang of them who
came up nightly from the city. There
was talk, too, of their selecting various
houses and making certain mark on
the door or gate-post.
Eyes, they do make a mark-regular
tramp STYLE" said Miss Tabitha Tuck
er, the village dress-maker, to Ruth
and me, when, one day, we had stopped
in her shop to borrow a pattern. Il
seen the mark myself on Miss Perkins
gate-post. 1t was great big x. 1t
was when went over to cut out her
new polonay. My dress ketched in the
gate-latch when went in the yard, and
as l stopped downto get it out my eyes
lit on that ere mark, and / says to my
self, SAYS [, L wonder what that's furp'
but l furgot all about it when I got up
to the house, cause Miss Perkins little
Tommy was jest took with an awful
nose-bleed, and everything was in a
hubbub fur one while. But that night,
sure enough, Miss Perkins cellar was
broken into and two dozen jars of pre-
serves-best kind of sass, pu. down
pound fur pound-was stolen. And a
quarter of beef taken out of the pickle,
too! Tell you what, folks has got to
keep lookout for marks nowadays.
You'd better take care, Ruth, you 1--we
in sech lonesome place"
We laughed at her warning; still,
think we all felt little bit timid, and
I'll venture to say that after this there
was not one of us who did not occa-
sionally examine the gate-posts.
And at last, sure enough, on the
morning before Christmas jamie came
running in, her black eyes wide with
excitement, as she exclaimed:
ssOh, girls!' she cried, ''there's
mark on our gate-post-truly there is!
A great white chalk X"
At this we all rushed out of the
house, Aunt Betsey even leaving her
pancake griddle with batch of cakes
on it, and ran down the frozen path to
view this new and startling discovery.
And there it was, sure enough! A
big white X, freshly made, too!
.'Well," said Ruth, after we had
stared while at it, ''it's lucky we
have seen it," for now we can be on
our guard. But, for goodness sake,
don't say anything to mamma about it.
She would be so frightened that she'd
get one of her low, nervous spells"
''Shall we have the constable come
over?" asked Aunt Betsey.
Nor said Ruth, detiantly. sFor
you see this mark may be nothing, after
all; passing school-boy may have
scratched it on the post. And if we
were to make fuss about it, and send
for an officer, and nothing should hap
pen, why we should be laughed at like
everything. No; guess we can take
care of ourselves; there are enough
of u.s."
That's so!' Aunt Betsey exclaimed,
Touring the pancake-turner which all
this time she had held in her hand.
eff them burglars come we'll jest give
them fits!'
OF course we were in a f1utter of ex-
element all that day. When night-a
cold, cloudy, windy night-set in, we
began to make preparations for our de-
tense. Every door and window was Sc
curely fastened. A pile of tinware was
placed on the cellar-steps and a tub of
water at the foot of the Understands, so
that any one ascending or descending
would produces either rattle or as plash!
The woodshed dood was braced by
an ironing-board; that of the back en-
try by the clothes-horse, while the front
door-knob supported the coal-scuttle.
Circumstances had compelled us to give
an inkling of what was expect
ed, and she bore the news much more
calmly than we thought she would, and
had bravely begged to have the dinner
bell placed beside her pillow so that if
need be she might give an alarm Our
though somewhat formidable,
were certainly of great variety. Ruth
had fished out of the garrett an ancient
Aunt Betsy armed herself
with club of applewood; Agnes had
the poker; jamie the carving-knife,
while l, like feminine George Wash
ington, brandished a little Ratchet.
we nau maze arrangements that
Agnes was to be sentinel for the first
half of the night and Ruth and 1 the
latter.
But it was some time before we could
get to sleep. The rats made such
noises in the garrett, the wind howled
around the chimneys and ratified the
shutters-these and dozen other noises
made us wide awake and eager to scent
danger.