, 1885-02-11
OU1WITTING HIS WIFE:
How a Business Man Worked a
Scheme.
A Misguided Victim of the Prevail
Ing Craze.
Exciting Midnight Adventures In a
Dry Goods Store.


Not every man can successfully make
time turn backward in its Eight. The
author of "Peck's Bad Boy" has shown
that results more or less disastrous gem
orally follow when n mature and portly
gentleman cndeavors to deceive himself,
and his friends. by showing them how
they used to do it when he was a boy"
This sugar coated philosophy is pro-
voked by a little experiment made the
other evening by one of Cheyenne's most
staid and worthy citizens. It all came
about in this way:
In an u~nguarded moment he contracted
a surreptitious desire; when he little
dreamed of the lurking danger, he was
stricken with the roller craze. Not slow
ly and little by little did the fell disorder
steal upon him, but suddenly and swiftly
like the demonstrative caress of a
lettering humble bee, the mania marked
him for its own.
hn. o. L. Cowhick has often visited
the roller rink. Without much effort she
learned to skate, and after she had ac-
quired a mystery over the rebelllous and
vindictive little wheels she quite naturally
e~ndeayored to tempt Mr.. Cowhick to
taste OF the dissipation, the old, old
story Of the Garden of Eden, with a
modern application Now MIR. Cowhick
has a well developed bump on his head
which the students OF ~phrenology call the
organ Of ca~utiousness, and stored
somewhere about his person Is
a dash of quiet humor- his
WIFE request that he Just Try 1t once,
was declined with thanks and her assert
ion that it was Just as easy as 1t could
be- was received with some evidence Of a
lurking doubt In an evil hour MIR. Cow
hick became the proprietor Of a scheme.
He would skate; but he would not make
a spectacle OF himself he would surprise
his wife by putting on the skates some
evening and gliding around the hall with
the grace Of a man who had acquired a
fortune OF forty or fifty million dollars by
his patents on roller skates he might be
foolish enonghto go out on the hoor ofthe
rink now, and be carried home on asshut-
ter-and he might not. He knew OF more
ways Of killing a cat than choking 1t to
death with pudding.
Cowhick x Whitcomb's store was
closed for the night The doors were
locked and the curtains were drawn.
With a h~alf-guilty' half-triumphant AR a
mar who weighs about 200 pounds, and
who tnds 1t harder reach his shoes than
he did twenty odd years ago, drew a.oun-
die from a hiding place. The man
was Mr. Cowhiek' ano me bundle was a
pair OF roller skates 10 the assembled
and astonished clerks he unfolded his plot.
de would practice every night at the
store until he had mastered the skates
then he would surprise Mrs, Cowhick-
With the and OF " clerks The skates
we're strapped to his ieet and he was
turned loose Just as he was larry
started down the aisle the skates seemed
to slip somehow; he felt tina something
must be done and done quick, Too.
large desk seemed to be the most available
support at hand lie seized 1t with all
the enthusiasm OF a sudde emergency
but 1t proved as treacherous as the
skates
1t IS not intended to intimate that Mr.
Cowhick fell, but it Is asserted Thai he IN
~cidentally sat down with a dull sicken-
ing thnd and neglected to release his
hold OF the desk. Down came the furni-
ture: n clock rolled across the floor, an
inkstand emptied its contents in his face;
a lamp was smashed and chaos reigned
supreme.
After the debris and Mr.. Cowhick had
been tenderly gathered up and collected,
and after he had rested, he vowed his de-
termination to succeed or ignobly perish.
This time he suddenly collided
with a revolving stool in front Of the
counter. The stool was screwed to the
floor and it countered Goke) on his sbins.
Never before did Mr.. Cowhick realize how
securely those stools were fastened, and
for the coming six months he will care
fuiiy avoid hen