Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-10-02

poem, Id ought To be able TO dream
out Il common rag carpet pattern"
Thus reasoning TO herself, Mrs. Huff
ate her pie and cheese and went TO bed,
and, being very tired, soon dropped
asleep.
She was sleeping heavily when her
husband called her in the morning.
Her first words when she arose were
We'll, il didn't do any good. !
didn't dream anything about that car
pet, although | did dream of forty
other things. must hurry up my
work, and have Gideon take me and
the rags over to the Widow Watts,
and see myself hat she understands
just how that carpets got TO be wove."
But when, two hours later. she went
into her little sewing room TO get her
rags and chain, they were not to he
found.
Gideon, she called to her husband,
who was putting the horses TO the
light wagon in the barnyard, have
you carried them rags out TO the
wagon
No" called back Mr.. Huff; II amt
seen your old rags. I'll be glad when
have seen the last of EN-, and you've
done a-scttin' up o nights a-puddlin'
over EN-, aud underminin' your con
stltution and your health"
Well. they amt here" said Mrs.
Huff, ''and | left them here last night,
all ready To be carried out. Hammer,
We You seen them ragsl'
No" replied Hannah, the hired
girl, Il amt seen a solitary thing of
EN-
That's queer. said Mrs. Huff. irri.
tably. They never TUX legs and
walked off of theirown accord. Sam,
don't s'pose you've seen anything Of
my ragSf"
Sam, the farm hand, happened TO
pass the open window at that moment.
Your rags, Mis- Huff What rags"
Why, my carpet rags"
Didn't know you had any," re.
piled sam, briefly, as he went uncon.
cernedly on his way.
Then began AN active search for the
rags. Mr.. Huff was called in, and so
singular was the disappearance Of
such bulky articles that he joined in
the search with considerable interest.
Its the queerest thing!' said Mrs.
HUFF. for the fifteenth time, as she
looked into places in which the bags Of
rags could not possibly be. Its my
opinion She said at last, that some
body has stolen those rags. They must
have done il, They never got away
alone; any oue with common SENSE
knows that"
No trace of a thief could be found.
but one could easily have come and
gone without the family knowing it,
as the doors and windows were seldom
fastened. In fact. some of them had
been left wide open the night before
to admit the cool air al the close of a
hot day.
After an hour of %unavailing search
Mrs. Huff dropped YEARLY into a
chair and said, in a choking voice,
We'll, They're gone, and gone for
good, and SOS my chance of getting
the prize at the fair next week. Some.
body must have stole EN-. / reckon
now hat Calisty Horn will get the
premium with her carpet"
We'll. well. what il she does9" said
Mr. Huff. consolingly. You've had
it three years hand %runnin', and you'd
ought 10 give somebody else a chance
anyhow"
They all have just as good a chance
as I've had replied Mrs Huff. And
the premium amt nothing at all com
pared To the loss of that carpet that ]
had callated sure on putting down in
the settin' room this fall"
The rags were not found in the days
that interviewed before the fair. and
Mrs. Calisty Horns carpet did get the
first premium.
And such a looking carpet as il
was. said Mrs. Huff, somewhat spite.
fully. The rags was half an inch
wide, and she'd got too much copperas
in her coloring. and the stripe was
nothing to compare TO what mine
would have been
Her loss and defeat weighed heavily
On Ms. Huff, and she lay awake a
long time thinking the whole matter
over after she had gone TO bed, when
she came home from the fair.
Sometime after midnight Mr.. HUFF
awoke to find himself alone in bed,
and as he opened his eyes he fancied
he saw some u pass the door lead.
ing into the hall.
Harriet he cried, 'is that your
There was no reply.
II wonder, he said. IF that woman
has got up in the dead of night to be.
gin ON another carpet. She shan't do
it! Harriet, what are you doingi
You sickt'
Still Harriet did not answer. Mr..
Hut arose, wrapped a quilt around
linn. lighted a candle and started out
to investigate. As he stepped into the
hall he heard a noise as of some one
moving around in an unused attic
room above him, a Don that had not
been entered for weeks. and which was
now filled with all the odds and ends
of things that will collect in a house
rs the years go on, and which a great
many people save, under the impress
sion, usually a delusion, that they will
-yuletlme come handy"
Among the useless rubbish slowed
away in Farmer Huif's attic was the
frame Of an old carpet loom on which
Mrs. HUFF had woven many n carpet
in her younger days; but years had
passed since the loom had been in use.
The moonlight streaming in through
II window showed Mr.. HUFF that the
attic door was open. but there was no