Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-05-21
MELoD,ous SNORING.
Tho Awe-Insplring Night Performances OK
MY Dearest Friend.

L nave u ltlcNu WIN ouoh0o' wy
friends snore is like himself, whole
souled, self-satisfied, unctuous, able
bodied-in fact, the kind of snore that
leaves absolutely nothing to the mag
nation. In my opinion my friends
snoro Is not equaled in this part of the
country, and l ought to know for I've
sat up with it nearly every night since
! it was a shrill treble in knee
| pants, watched over it with more or
less tender solicitudc during the trying
| period in which its voice changed and
it's mustache sproutcd, and celebrated
it's arrival at the fullness of its deep
baritone maturity by congratulating
the other members of my friends
family upon their fatal connection with
a steamboat explosion early in the
tifties. l say l have sat up with my
friends snore all these years out OF re-
gard for the truth. My friend and |
have always roomed together and
always occupied the same bed. but
never slept together; he slept, but l
didn't; l lay awake to hear him snore.
My temperament is artistic in the ex-
treme. Nothing inspires in me such
profound reverence as a thoroughly
perfect and artistic achievement of any
kind, therefore nothing could induce
ME to fall asleep during the progress of
h esymphony which my friend nightly
performs in his nasal organ. Symphony
is a good word. Itdefines the situation
exactly My friends snore is not, like
that of ordinary individuals, a series
of aimless vibrations of the uvula;
it has an object in view. 1t is a SYM
metrical and wcll-regulated perform
ance-curtain rises to slow music.
andwhen the climax is reached, curtain
falls in a blaze of green light with
plenty of thunder and lightning. Each
performance consists of one act only,
which invariably commences about an
hour after my friend has retired and
continues till his alarm clock has
awakened him to a remembrance of
those minor duties which the day de-
mAnds of him.
The steamboat explosion above re-
ferred to is the circumstance which
brought all these facts within my grasp.
On account of this painful incident, my
friend, at the tender age of three and a
half years, became an orphan Unable
to penetrate the misty veil of the future,
my father, who happened along at the
time of the explosion, did not leave the
boy to perish among the debris of the
Inflated boat and worse-fated passen-
gers, but fished him out and warmed
him in the bosom of his family. Thus
at a tender age we were thrown to-
gether, and despite the orphans in
trinity, which was not long in coming
I'd the surface, we became firm friends
The scenes of our youth were the
rolling prairies and virgin forests
of Minnesota, and our companions,
from necessity, chosen from the youth
of the neighboring friendly bands of
Sioux and Winnebagoes. Ere we were
out of our teens the pipe o fpeace we had
smoked with these bands was broken
into q thousand pieces and-he~ frae-
ments drcnched with blood. The blow
came without a moments warning. and
the day before it fell will still be vivid
in our memories where recollections of
other days have vanished. How dis
tinctly l recall each incident of that
memorable day as, now at midnight [
rccline on one elbow and gaze upon the
face of my snoring friend! The curtain
has just risen, and more plainly than
words, the pleased expression OH my
friends face, and the peculiar gurgling
cackle which apparently issues from
the neighborhood of his epiglottis, re-
calls to my minda wigwam on the bank
of a river. 1 am reclining in the shade
while my friend amuses himself by TAX
ing various liberties with the embryo
warriors in different stages Of nakedness
and dirtiness, who swarm about the
wigwam. At n a. m. the pleased ex-
preston is still on my friends face. but
he has drawn out another stop and the
windows begin to rattle cheerfully. AS
plainly as l can view the phenomena go
ing on in the region of my friends larynx
my minds eyesees him seize one of the
dirtiest of the young savages, and hold
ing him by the heels, souse him, kick
ing and w%hooping, in the river. AT
three a. m. the occasional bits of plas-
ter which fall from the ceiling, again
freshen my memory, and l see dis
tinctly the fast and furious fun my
friend is having with the little savages
on the river bank. For an instant
something seems to stick in my friends
throat. Heis pulling out another stop.
The pans and plates in the kitchen rat.
tie in sympathy with the result, and the
expression of my friends face becom.
ing more serious, l notice an ill-favored
squaw emerge from the wigwam brand.
ishing a huge knife. Another stop and
the loud pedal. Bless me, how the bed
groans and the foundations of the house
tremble! Then scowling braves follow
the squaw and draw their knives. M,
friend suddenly realizes his danger and
flies, pursued by the braves with drawn
knives. Good Heavens! My friends
entire anatomy must be lined witt
boiler iron! The savages are gaining
on nina chrome is shaken from it,
moorings on the wall. My frienl
stumbles-he falls--the savages az,
upon him!
The alarm clock goes off and the cur
tain falls.
II feel as though I'd been dream
ing my friend mutters, as he get.
into his trousers. l answer him not
word, but sink exhausted on my pillow
and sleep the sleep of the innocent til
the II is high in the heavens.-Curti
y. Dunham, IN Current.