Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1885-12-28

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"Why, Lot Skinner !" she exclalm-
ed. :'If I 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 that | had
done up last week. You are the most
inconsiderate man that [ ever saw in
my life"
Mr.. Skinner got up and his wife
smoothed out the tidy and rearranged
it.
"The idea of anybody putting a
head on that tidy" said Mrs. Skin
ner, who had no intention of using
slang. ST did suppose you had more
sense"
II used to have" said Mr.. SKIN
ner, good-naturedly. Ya-a-h. /
conld take a nap if could find a
place to drop down. Ya-a-h."
ssYou had better read your bible, %
said Mrs. Skinner. She was good
uncomfortable woman, so clean and
neat and orderly that she made her
family wretched with her domestic
drill.
Something called Mrs. Skinner off
then, and when she came back Mr..
Skinner was gone. She took book
and sat down, when "a thought struck
her, and she bounded from her chair
as If it had been a cannon ball.
Yes, it was just as she had feared
her husband had gone upstairs, and
she found him stretched out in bed
on top of white counterpane, his
grizzly gray head sunk deep into a
white starch pillow-sham, with these
words embroidered in the center ::
"Sleep, sweet beloved - He was not
only asleep, but snoring, with look
of sweet content on bis wide open
mouth
"L-o-t S-k-l-n-n-e-r
He got up in manner that would
have done credit to gymnast, and
staring at the fearful hollow in the
bed and the wrinkled dent in the pill
: low-sham.
81 declare forgot" he said, look
ing very foolish. "Alice, havn't a
, place where can lay my head?'
ssDon't talk nonsense" said his
wife, sharply. "The idea of sober
man going to bed with his boots on. "
"Would you rather I'd GET
"Pd rather you'd get some COM
mon sense she said. ''If you must
; sleep in the daytime, why, there's an
old lounge down in the kitchen; no
$ one will disturb you there. Or,
suppose" e"-ungraciously-"I can
= take off the quilt and the shams, and
S let you have your nap here, though
it's wicked, that's what it is, to sleeE
Sunday. It's bad example to sci
the children, Lot, and you know it. y
"But I am SO sleepy" answered
q her husband; "my head is heavy as
e lead, and l cannot keep my eyes
r open.''
s'Laziness sheer laziness !' sale
v his wife in a sharp tone.
l Mr.. Skinner went downstairs anC
disappeared. The last words hi
: wife heard him say were that there
was rest for the weary, but she wa:
n picking up the embroidery on the
If misused sham with a pin, and die
g not heed him. When she went dowr
. stairs he was not in sight, and she
busted herself with getting dinner
. which On Sunday took the place Of
n supper, and thought no more abou
,, him.
1t She was a distinguished woman
IT distinguished in the town where she
lived as being the cleanest house
- keeper in it. No girl could be foun(
= neat enough to live with her; all tn,
W notices in her house were to the eff
,e feet that cleanliness was next to god
illness. She busted every article O
20 furniture in the house several time.
d every day; she scrubbed so Otter
&c that the children had chronic diph
- liberia; she scrubbed so clean tha
at last she scrubbed through he
,r kitchen floor into the cellar and wa
at nearly lost to the community.
ut 1t was q perpetual warfare be
y tween her and dirt. The front par
= lor was never opened to the family
and although Mr.. Skinner had fur
10 nished it he had never sat down in
of moment since. Its air was that o
"a a tomb. After it had been opene,
Y! to company for an afternoon tn
= children went round with flannel
f. about their throats and drank ginge
tea. 1t was the handsomest parlo
ID in the community, too, and had tn
at family pictures and their marriag
e certificates framed and hung u
IS there.
u u When dinner was ready-and
= was good dinner, too, for Mrs
Skinner was notable cook-she ask
90 ed the children where their fathe
on was. They did not know. This seem
III ed strange; she questioned thel