The Republican journal., 1884-04-24
Mrs. SINNERS Experience

Mrs. SINNERS Experience.
1t was Sunday. Mr.. skinner was tired
and thought he wouId lie down on the
sofa in the back palIor and rest People
never learn by experience and be was no
exception to the common rule
He laid down and crossed his feet with
d parade hardly jnstliable under the cir
cumstances. His wife came in and saw
him
"Whv, Lot Skinner ," she exclaimed
If | ever heard OF the like, 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 are the most inconsiderate
man ever saw in MY life ~
Mr.. skinner got up and his wife
smoothed out the tidy and rearranged it.
"Jhe idea of any body putting a head
on that tidy said Mrs. Skinner, WHO
had no intention of using slang Il did
suppose you had more sense
II used to have" said Nh Skinner
good Haturedly. ''Ia-a-h. could take
a nap if could find place to drop down
Ga-a-h.f
''1ou had better read your Bible" said
Mrs. skinner. She was Il good, uncom-
Portable woman, 50 clean and neat and
orderly that She made hen family wretch
ed With her domestic drill.
Something called Mrs. Skinner off them
and when she came back Mr. Skinner
was gone. She sat down and took a
book, when 4 thought Struck her and She
bounded from her chair as if it had been
a cannon ball.
Yes, il was just rs she feared her
husband had gone upstairs, and She
found him stretched out on the bed on
top OF a white counterpane his grizzly
gray head sunk deep into white starch
ed pillow sham center
''Sleep sweet, beloved -
He was not only asleep but snoring
with look OF sweet content on his wide
open mouth.
''L-o-t S-k-i-n-n-e-r."
He got up in manner that would have
done credit to q gymnast, and stood
staring at the fearful hollow in the bed
and the wlinkled dent in the pillow
sham.
II declare ] forgot" he said, looking
very foolish. "Alice, haven't | GOT ii
place where | can lay NY head 2"
Don't talk nonsense, said 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 common
sense She said. "If you must sleep in
the day time, why there's an old lounge
down in the kitchen 10 one will disturb
You there, Or, suppose"-ungracious-
VI can take Oft the quilt, and the
sham and let you have your nap here,
though its wicked, that's what if is, to
sleep Sunday. It's bad example to set
to children, and you know it,"
bat | am 50 sleepy" answered her
husband, my head is as heavy as lead,
and cannot keep my eyes open"
"LaZiness sheer laziness" said his
wife sharply.
Mr.. Skinner went down stairs and dis
appeared. The last words his wife heard
him say were that there was no rest for
the weary, but she was picking up the
embroidery on the msused sham with a
pin, and did not heed him. When she
went down stairs he was not in sight,
and she busted herself in getting dinner.
which on Sunday took the place OF sup
per, and thought no more about him.
She was a distinguished woman: dis
tlngulshed III the town where she lived
as being the cleanest housekeeper in it.
No girl could be found neat enough to
live with her; all the notices III the
house were to the effect that cleanliness
was akin to godliness. She busted every
article OF furniture in her house several
times every day she scrubbed so often
that the children had chronic diphthtria
she scrubbed 50 clean that at last She
scrubbed through her kitchen floor into
the cellar, and was nearly lost to the
community. 1t was perpetual warfare
between her and dirt The front parlor
was never opened to the family, and al
though Mr. Skinner had furnished it, he
had never sat down in it moment since.
It's air was that Of a tomb. After it had
been opened to company for an after
noon, the children went round with
t1annels about their throats and drank
ginger tea. 1t was the handsomest
parlor in the community, too, and had
the family pictures and their marriage
certificate framed and hung mp there.
When dinner was ready-and it was a
good dinner, too, for Mrs. Skinner was a
notable cook-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 he say where he was going p
she asked, wonderingly, for Mr.. Skinner
never went out on Sundays without his
family.
"He said he was going where he'd
have more peace" said little Harry Skin
ner
"Well, we won't wait dinner for him, .
said his wife, and they sat down to eat.
But spell seemed to have fallen upon
them, and when the dinner was over and
cleared away, and they were in the sit
| ting room with their books, there was a
sense OF dreary loss, and Mrs. Skinner
sat with the Bible open on her lap, and
wondered why he had gone out and re-
membered that he had looked queer
| 1t was in cOnSOnance with her habits
of living that she got up in the middle OF
these speculatons to catch wondering
and belated fly and induce him to be an
initiated.
"Strange"' she said, as it grew dark
"Tll take the children and 90 down tC
his mothers and see if he's there, and il
he is, Pll just give him piece of my
mind"
But he was not there, and his mother
said that Lot had looked badly the last
time she saw him, and she thought he
seemed worried; hoped it wasn't business
troubles.
No, it wasn't business troubles Mrs
Skinner knew that, and she began tc
wonder if she had cleaned her husband
out of his mind. 1t came over her with
sudden force that she had been in the
habit of driving him from pillow to post
at railroad speed and at the end of 8
broom or dust brush. He actually found
no rest for the sole of his foot in his owr