Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1884-09-03
Tn. ONCE Stove and Its Contents.

This is the Office stove. All winter ..
bss elowed and reared and dispensed
Senlal heat-except when the porter
happened to overlook il, when he
mostly did. especially on cold days.
When the thermometer was down shout
ealf-a-ysrd below zero, that stovr wasn't
worth much a. stove; but, ysrded in
the light Of refrigerator, had no
equal. But there were days when
glowed and roared according to pro-
gramme-mild, spring-like dars, when
there was soft fog On the .njow-panes,
aad IN the brains of the busy workers
days when you felt like lesnlng back and
dreaming of the innocent flirtat'ons of your
boyhood, and the hours that you used to
loaf swsy In the spring woods, just when
the birch was young, and the sweet sap
began 10 move, and the twlgs were sharp
and pleasant TO the taste, and the opal
mist lay over the far-of river, and when
you grew up you were going TO sall all
over the world, and marry a more beauti-
full woman than Scheherazsde's husband
ever heard of.
Those were the dsys when the porter
heaped the stove full Of wood and coal,
and raised blaze that would even make
the youngest ard freshest man in the Office
dry up, which nothing else could do. The
stove is cold snd silent now. It's useful
ness has departed and no one but the man
who sold It TO us ever claimed for 1t that il
was beautiful. Most of the islnglsss is
gone; the knob is broken OF the top, one
of the doors won't stay shut, and those
foxy spots OF cOTroslon on its sides-those
spots that trail downward from one big
spatter-tell US that civilization has not
absolutely and unequivOcally succeeded in
the Job of refining the human animal and
softening his manners. Let US look at the
contents of the stove. You may push the
ioosely-hsngIng door wide open, now. IL
will not burn your fingers and seriously
incline you TO put your immortal soul in
jeopardy. No glowing sea of flame and
coal gas hesves snd bubbles within. But
yet there are lots Of things IN there. They
appear to have accumulated since the early
spring. There is the core of an apple, for
instance. The Ofiice-bOY only could eat an
apple down 10 such a core as that There
Is absolutely nothing edible left on this
core. Still there is the core. There
is enough core 10 make it useful as q mis-
sile. In fact 1t probably caromed on some
other otiice-bOy's cheek before ii went in
there
This Is the blade Of your pen-knife, thst
you broke in trying to open the drawer of
your desk, that day you came down late
and found that you had forgotten your
keys. Yes. here Is the blade; but where
Is the profsne language you used? Down
In the recording angels entry. hook, my
boy, and don't you forget 1t. These
httle white-brown things are not colony
Of cs.erpillaTs. They are only the butts
Of 8 few OF the cigarettes. you have
smoked since last March. Remember
what the doctor said, eh2 Just rap thst
left lung Of yours bit, will youl Kind
of mU tfisd, ehl And WHAT'S thail Only
a little faded flower, tied up to q wooden
iOothpIck with florists wire. All, yes,
you pick It up ard csress it, and press
1t TO your lips. Wei you may! She
gave II to you at the ArIon bali. that
girl In pink-that lovely little thing with
the great. pleasant eyes, and the SIMPLE
air OF coE.rsdeship, and the high, sweet,
bell-like voice, and the small, small
hand that could rest so lightly and yet
so clIngingly on your arm-the gIrl who
ran away at three o'clock, Ike belsted
Cinderella, ard left you to memory.
And what is that limp dark thing, like
section Of snake that has been through a
roIling-mIIll That, my boy, is the lining |
band Of that hat you tried 10 wear next
day. 1t was good band; but there was
no loom for you and it IN that hat.