The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-02-05
An Old llepr0l,atc.

"iou zee, Martha got into the habit OF
sitting up i"r ne 1T nn early age, aud
-hc cant break 1t of. ] couldn't per
.uade her Ia 90 to bed and mind her own
fusluCss, 70 ] studied ON the matter
We live in one nf the center houses OI n
block Uf five story and attic buildings
There's scutilcs IN the roofs OF iheuI all,
aud prr-u"dcd Mr.. Greenup, who lives
IN the ndJ"inlng house, 10 let me IN liis
house last night about o'clock, aud
wen; up through hi, Acutlle aud over to
mine, and NO down iutu our bed room. |
could see Martha, from the head Of the
stairs, sitting in the front room cycling
the clock viii, - look that WAS very tart
chrome. But l undressed and quietly
got in bed, aud there lay waiting de
,elOrmcnts. Every now aud then I'd
near Martha give short, iidgely cough.
Thcn l'd hear her get up and I,ranre
around the room little, and hy nn,l by
q 10 tic front windows and 4 am the
shut, e
''AEer I'd lain there about an hour |
head her get up aud 70 stand out on the
front steps inr II good five minutes. Then
she came in and slammed the duor and
Tucked it aud Commenced coming up
stairs Every other step she'd say On,
the wretch. Won't give it to him |
know where he is! lie needn't think to
deceive me! Oh, the viIIain!' Bout
the time she had nearly gnt to the land
ing think she must have seen the light
streaming out of the door that I'd left
ajar. ] could hear her stop, and then ]
commenced to snnre. | was afraid to
lnok, you know, but could lcel her eau
ti"nsly come up To the door aud look i'm.
Well, sir. l'd given my pension from the
war Of l77G To have seen her about the
time she SAW it was me. III bet it was
fun. But ] was afraid To do anything
but sn0rc. Then she came into the rUnm
and, by the way she hrcAlhed and stood
around, | hud TO nearly bite my tongue
oil 10 keep straight face on me. |
could feel that she sat down in n chair.
and was dumbloundcd. | never let on,
but kept on snoring like thunder but
when she kicked over chair turned
and pretended to wake up. kind Of daSed
like. and says:
Why, Martha, dear, amt you come
to bed YETI?
"'Jarphly,' said she, awful slow aud
>oeiun like, when did you cume in p
"'Why, must be four or five hours ago.
DON'T you remember when told you no,
L" go 10 sleep again in the rocker, but to
come up to b.d!' and turned over and
pro'ctsed to go lo sleep again.
"She never made any reply, hut acted
in n dnzed, bewildrrel sort of way, and
when shc got I" bed ] could tell she
didn't sleep II wink for three hours.
This morning it ~ns fun TO watch
Martha. ] could hardly keep straigh
face. At The breakfast table, and nll The
lime was about the hnu.e. she'd eye me
when she thought want looking then
when ID nntice her she'd turn away aud
be awiuily busy at something. She
caught me kind of grinning once, and,
by George, thought the explosion wma
ah"us to come. But it didn't, though
the look at blank, unfathonnbic suspi.
cinn rhc ow. re on her iare NIL The time
WAS the greatest show on earth. 1t near.
ly broke me up. and I've laughed till my
ribs ache ever since. / know it won't
last. | know there's day of repenting
u coming. and the thermumeter is going
clear out of sight in the Jnrphly family.
But who's going after trouble I'm
come soon enough without hunting it,,
and l'm going to enjny that scultle iu the
rmf until the explosion comes. y Chica.
40 Tribune.