Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-08-14
PROFESSOR MsYERLIEG.
[BY AUGUSTA LARNED.]

Will oudtCA Vi A1Aoh COhS Oh AAS4
when there came heavy pounding with
thick stick on the floor of the room above
"Oh, bother" said Mary, letting dow
her tidy sleeves, for by that token sh
knew that the lion was in his lair, and
she did not hasten up stairs with all specs
he would soon issue forth with terribl
roar.
When Mary opened the study door tn
professor stood in the middle of the room
his thick name of gray hair tossed abou
in wild confusion, and his face apoplecti
with suppressed wrath. Mary was reaIl,
frightened for moment. She had neye
seen the professor quite so angry. HI,
waved toward an empty space on the
shelf of an open cabinet, and shouted in
tremendous voice:
"What have you done to those glas,
jars? Have l not said to you many {
time and oft, lay not impious hands on my
experiments
A wave of conscious guilt passed over
Mary's broad, fresh-colored face.
- -"And sure thought them dirty messes
could be of no use at all. They wasn't fiji
to be about. They had begun to SMELL"
Smell p' cried the professor with terri
bic emphasis. "When have not told you
to keep your death-dealing and destructive
hands off my work? Those jars contained
the preparation from an inoculated rabbit
from which to obtain malarious microbes.
The experiment was just on the point of
success. 1t would have made me a great
man in the scientific world, and you have
swept it all away with your damnable in
reference. Have | not told you to keep
your accursed brush and broom from my
part of the house. And now | say to you
pack, pack Henceforth | will dispense
with the services of your troublesome ig-
norant, unscientifc sex. | will live alone
in peace and quietude. And now 1 say,
again, pack !"
Mary softly closed the door in the mid
die of the harangue. She could not spend
the time to hear it all, and she walked
quietly away to the kitchen and resumed
her work at securing the dresser until it
shone white as milk, just as if nothing
had happened. She had been told to pack
so often during the eight years she had
lived with the professor that it was an old
story, and had she once thought of taking
him at his word she knew he would be the
most miserable of men. Soon the low
grooming Irish song began again, and Mary
was sorry for her master She knew he
suffered when he had given way to temper.
He would have to humiliate himself be-
fore the day was over, and it panied Mary
more to go through one of those peniten-
tial ordeals than to take a dozen seedlings.
1t was all too true The Professor sat
up in his study-half museum, half Ii
brary-feeling very much ashamed of him
self. He was Eliminating on the unseemli-
ness of wrath. A philosopher should never
give way to passion. ''He who ruleth his
spirit is greater than he who taketh
city"
He looked around dejectedly at the ana
tomical specimens in the glass cases, some
of them curiously hideous; at the litter of
books, manuscripts and papers that covered
his chairs and tables and were heaped in
corners. A recess at one end of the large
room was screened off as laboratory and
smeIled of chemicals. 1t was here the
Professor kept a tank for his pet alligator,
Ptolemy. His tame crow, Copernicus, was
sitting on the window summing himself
Seeing his master detected, he came and
perched on his shoulder and began to nib
BILE quietly at his left ear. But the Pro-
fessor did not take notice of Copernieus or
his tender little overtures. He was in the
depths of contrition, and soon Mary, who
was dreading the summons, heard three
rather timid knocks on the floor.
"Oh, bother" said Mary again. "Now
he'll be all for maxim up and buyin' me
off" and she again let down the sleeves of
her dress and smoothed her apron as she
went lightly up stairs.
"Come here, Mary" said the professor,
all meekness, as Mary put her head in at
the door. at was just now striking me,
In my mind, that you have had no holi-
day for long time past. A circus and
menagerie will be coming to the town to-
morrow. ] have seen it advertised on the
fences and barns hereabout. Such abom-
Unable drawings of animals with no anat-
omy, but they please the unscientifc eye.
Now, you shall have one holiday to-
morrow, Mary. / am to take my meals at
Mrs. brakes clearinghouse, and you may
be gone the whole day, and here is silver
dollar to spend as you please"
"Thank you" said Mary, in discon-
tented tone, as she fingered the big silver
dollar. 81 amt that fond of circus's sir,
as you might think. l never was fond of
'em, for | am a quiet body, and we have
circuss enough at home All ask is my
regular afternoon out"
"Well, my girl, l thought you would
like to go. But please yourself. Keep
the money to buy some kniek-knack.
You can take the day off to go and see
your sister"
81 amt a-going to have you take your
meals at Miss Brakes" returned Mary,
her brow furrowed with disapprobation of
the scheme "You will get dyspepsy and
bile and / don't know what with her
greasy cooking, and | can't have it.
shall stay at home and cook ycur three
regular meals. | amt a-going to have
YOU eat none of Miss brakes messes if
know it"
swell, Mary, just as you may please
sighed the Professor 81 thought 10 give
you little pleasure, but you are perverse
like the most general run of women.
cannot manage your sex; know not how =
The professor spread his two large hands
before him as sign of powerlessness. Csc
/ suppose | must rest content to be man
aged. Now, wish you would step over tc
Mrs. Haskeths, with Professor Meyer
ling's compliments, and ask for the loan O
her baby for half an hour"
Mary shifted from one foot to the other
and having turned the silver dollar ovel
in her hand several times, slipped it down
on the study table.
~ don't know about Miss Hasketh,
said Mary slowly. ''She got set agains
Copernicus cause she dreamed he hac
pecked baby's eyes out, and since She
heard of that alligator sent up from Floridy
she's worse than ever. / tried to make he
think he hasn't cut his milk teeth ant
couldn't swaller the baby whole, but She
mortal horror Of them cold, shiny things
and for that matter so hrve !, as | onc'
had to live with them, says |. puts m.
hand unbeknownst into masters slipper
and felt something cold and clammy
Jiminey, Mary, sez she, Ican'tstand snakes