News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-08-07
STORY OF A KLEPTOMANIAC.

STURY UF A KLEPTUMANlAC.
A bright June sun was smiling sum-
mer's greeting upon little seaport
town which we will call "Breen."
Reference to this circumstance would
seem trite were itnot for the fact that
during this particular June there had
been so great discrepancy between
the mercury and the calendar that
Mrs. Blount, who opened her houseto
summer boarders, feared an "off' y
season.
But the twenty-second of June ush-
cred in the tardy season with it's long
arrears of caloric with an intensity
that inspired Mrs. Blount with hopes
of full house.
The latter found her kitchen un-
comfortable as she sat shelling peas.
The young trailing vines which were
climbing upwards on the even row of
tightly-stretched strings had not
reached high enough to serve as an
awning over the window, so the kitch-
en- was flooded with sunshine.
Missy" said Mrs. Blount ad-
dressing a girl who was ironing by
window, 8 Missy" she repeated in
a higher key, for the girl was hum
ming and had not heard her, ''just
draw that curtain a leetle | don't
think a body can complain it amt
hot to-day; pears like"
Business, interrupted Mr.. Blount,
who had justcome in in time to catch
the drift of his wife's words. He was
mopping his face with one hand while
he handed her letter with the other.
Yes" answered Mrs Blount, "it'll
be spry's we like now, it's aptto with
the comm of the
Sweat" again interrupted Mr.
Blount. 1t was one of the latter's
peculiarities to anticipate his wife's
periods. Whether this tendency was
the result of halt on his wife's part
when she neared the end of her SEN
tences, and which stimulated an ami
able desire in him to help her out, or
whether she, like a dutiful wife, reined
in her tongue at the proper time to
enable him to crafty the singular
propensity, can only be determined by
their early contemporaries. One of
their facetious boarders always spoke
of these dialogues between thepair as
" the litany."
The chant was resumed, Mrs. Blount
taking the lead.
I'm most sorry now
THAT you have that new boarder
on hand"
Eyes; the Denning's friends will
want"
"To come down for a month or
So"
cam it won't be-
"Clear sailin'."
"She'll be a snag that'll upset
their"
"Ristocratic spleens."
Mrs. Blount always preferred to fill
her house with "reg' lars "-the half
dozen families which for a score of
years had been a part of her summer
household-and such friends as the
latter might recommend. The reg
lars" could always be depended upon,
but the state of the weather made a
difference with their friends. In the
event of their not coming several va
can't rooms were upon their hands,
and thus a more meagre eXchequer at
the end of the season. 1t was when
this condition of affairs threatened
that Mrs. Blount yielded to Mrs.
Barton's opportunities for board.
At present she was the only guest in
the house
There was in her a tendency to
gaudy toilets and a profusion OF jew
elry which keen-sighted Mrs. Blount
saw would brand her with people of
taste even were she otherwise inoffen-
sive, which she was not.
She was a woman of proportions so
ample that had she been man in
stead of a woman she would have
been described as aldermanic Her
complexion was extremely ruddy and
she carried herself with an air of self
consciousness, throwing herself so far
back-in her effect to be straight !"
that rear view of her earthly tab
ernacle suggested the leaning tower
of Pisa.
"Well," exclaimed Mrs Blount,
when she had finished reading the let
ter her husband had given her, "we
are in a pickle now-with this Mrs.
Barton on our hands, an the Swim
burns comm. If | hadn't thought
them on the other side of the water
you wouldn't have caught me takin'
in Mrs. Barton.
AS the Swinburns-a family num-
bering seven members-were expected
at five that afternoon, there was a
' deal of work to do, as Mrs. Blount
expressed it.
Missy" said the old lady, you
run-right quick-an' tell the Oldest
mind you-the Oldest Hackeldorn
girl that / want her
"Right away" supplemented Mr..
Blount, as he left the room.
80 Missy" called Mrs. Blount,
"have YOU tidied up Mis- Barton S
room vet? She was fussin' bout it a
while ago"
"Yes'am an, mother, just want
TO tell vou.'' She had retraced her
steps and stood before Mrs: Blount.
"You know them earbobs Mis- Bar
tons been wearin' well they're moth
in to what | see this mornin' on her
dresser Pom my word, the stuns re
bigger than marrow-fat peas-my,
how they did shine! | did want t.
know how much they cost-'bout s
much IS a fat shoat, wouldn't you
think?"
Il don't know, an what's more, !
don't care-not to give you a short
answer-do be quick, MISSY, times
pressin'"
But MISSY seemed not to have