Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-06-21
mR. AND MRS. eowseR.

I
evening as he suddenly looked mp.
mo. certainly not Do l look
bad?'
Your looks are all right. bnt You
seem nervous and uneasy. didn't
know but your corns had come back. "
IL"
''You-you-wha:!'
Il was wondering if you were GO
ing to York State to see your mother
this spring"
'And suppose l go''
.:rhen l shall clean house. 1t is
two years. you know, since VIC had a
carpet up"
..And if don't go?'
Twas silent.
Look here. Mrs. Bowser" said WY
liege lord in sharp voice. you cant
lay this on to ME! You want to pre-
tend that if am home through house
cleaning I'll prance around and raise
the old Harry. and you want to get me
into the papers rs raising great
| >,iss"
but wOn't yOu?"
Won't i! Don't know that house.
cleaning should come once a year!
Don't like it? DID nv mother ever
clean house without me?"
''And may 1 go ahead, and will you
help me?'
''Of course you can 60 ahead. and it
SO happens just now that I've four or
five days TO spare. I'll begin right of
now"
You are SO good. Mr.. Bowscr. that
must kiss you. There. take THAR
oh. pshaw! I'm good. of course.
but no better than hus band ought to
be. I'll get the step-ladder. and be-
gin by taking the pictures down"
Il suppose you could get a colored
man to do the climbing and lifting"
Yes. but / won't. want no stran-
ger rambling through our house and
picking up things"
He got the ladder and began work.
and from the way he whistled I think
he enjoyed it for about half an hour
In that time he took down q dozen
pictures and carried 'em up two flights
Of stairs to the store-room. but rs l
went up with the buster he said:
'Why didn't think to put an ele-
vator into the house? And the man
who made this step-ladder ought to be
shot! believe I've climbed mile or
more. What you got there?'
1.-The buster"
What for?''
ITO dust the pictures with
H m! Well. hand ii here!"
He came down twenty minutes later,
his collar all limp. his hair damp and
his face covered with dust, and as he
sank into chair with a groan l said:
Il thought it would bc too much for
you"
''Oh. you did! Well Iwant you to
understand that il is simply fun for
me. ri make this house look sick
before tomorrow noon. and before
.iight we IL be all through with house,
cleaning"
Not quite as soon rs that"
Won't we? See if we don't. This
taking a week or ten days to do lit
tie cleaning is played out. don't
propose to dilly-dally over this job"
That night when he went to bed he
groaned and sighed, and in his sleep
he muttered and scolded. and about
midnight he woke me up by saying:
You bet l will! I'll finish the
whole thing by noon!''
Mr.. Bowser acted sore and stiff next
morning. but after breakfast he put on
an old suit of clothes and began work.
We decided to clean the parlor first,
and he moved out all the furniture
with n whew. In his whew he tore
down the poles ut the bay window,
ripped one of the curtains two feet or
more. upset chair and broke the
back. and in pushing the piano out he
skinned all his knuckles and broke
his suspendcrs at one and the same in
slant. He jumped three feet high in
his Indignation, and as he came down
he turned on me with:
Where in blazes is the axe, or a
sledge-hammer or a maui. or some
thing to knock this Internal piano to
pieces!'
Mr. Bowscr. suggested that you
get man TO help you"
"Oh, you didi Why didn't you sug-
gest that set the house on fire and |
do the cleaning that way! Look at
that hand! And here these suspend |
crs gone!'
l Modified him after awhile, and he |
finally expressed his willingness to
take hold again.
Il suppose the carpets will 60 to
the beaters?" Iqueried.
Not muchr' he replied. Il don't
propose to pay out five or six dollars
to have some one pound this carpet for
ten minutes. I've beaten more car
pets than you've got hairs in your
head. and I'll show you job on
this!"
He set out to pull up the tacks. but
after pulling FIVE or six he broke out
with something about blazes and