Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1891-04-18
..nidn,t Rats foll,n comA2r

folks want TO be writing to make folks
traipse round after them for like this
all for nothing. Anybody been for the
mail?"
mo, but mans been here to buy
the old gray, and he said he guessed,
seeing that neither you nor the horse
was here, he'd back down"
"Jiminetty! If didn't forget I'd set
the dayl There's the last chance gone
to get rid of Bob. ! tell you, S'liny,
those Pcrltinses ought to pay mo for
thisl I'll be out nigh three dollars be-
fore get through with thatwheel busi-
ness!" he groaned. "And all because
they didn't come up to their word"
Next day, after the squire had dis
tributed the mail, Jacob Perkins en-
tered the store.
Hello, squire! What's the matter
with uncle Sam this wcck?"
"Uncle Sam?" the squire asked, some
what agitatcd. Did Perkins know any
thing about that postal?
"Ycs, he's powerfully behind time.
1 didn't know but Uncle Billy d had
the apoplcxy or his horse d got cholSed
by an extra oat, and government he'd
stopped accordin'ly. | ought to have
had postal from nephew Raj last
Monday"
perhaps it got delayed. Lots of new
men in the service, and Darby's out in
the country. Maybe that's it."
He handed out the card with an effort
at unconccrned Indifference.
"I should say 'twas-and the day
after ther fair. If I'd got it when
ought hD wouldn't We had to got a
livery and express wagon to bring 'em
all up and their trunks"
"Hey! Raj Gomez" the squire ex-
claimed.
bag and baggage, Tuesday, just as
he wrote he would"
"Tuesdayl You sure it was Tues
day?"
The squire's surprise had got the
better of his discretion.
"See for yourself It's plain as day
light"
why, isn't that an h in there?" The
squire pointed to the word as he viewed
it through his glasses
mo, sir! You amt so used to RATS
writing as we are"
Perkins laughed, knowing the
squire's curiosity. "As I was saying,
if I'd have known it in time I'd have
got you to go after 'em-I was working
so like beaver, and thesroads are bad.
| You might as well have had that ten
| dollars Raj threw away on the livery
| fcllers-an' better, too. told him So"
"Sliny."
"Why, what's the matter, Dan'l?"
his wife asked in rising accents of
alarm as he put his head in at the door
| n few moments after Perkins de-
parture, woe-begone expression on
his face. "One of your attacks COM
ing on?"
"Sliny, the Perlsinses have come
the whole family"
Land sakes!" She bounced up in
dignantly. "Whcn?"
Tuesday" he answered, slowly and
solemnly. Just what that postal said,
too. Here we both of us had that thing
here since Monday, and read it Thurs
day every time. And if I'd been at
tending to my own business I'd "a
made ten dollars. AS it's I'm out of
pocket instead of in"
'lt's mortal shame!" she exclaimed,
.sympathetically. Folks ought to stop
writing cards if they can't write 'em
plain enough to be read straight"
well, l can tell you what's right
now" He sat down ilnpressively on
the nearest nail keg. "If this govern
ment expects I'm going to spend my
time making out it's postal cards to get
news, it's going to find itself much mis-
taken, that's all"
He went back to the post Office with
his new determination and detected
air. His perquisite had lost its value,
F., and such open communications in Uncle
Sans mail were thereafter passed by
unuoticcd. When his lessened stock of
| information became matter of COM
ment, as occurred very soon, he had
but one explanation.
| News" he declared, isn't to be de-
| pended on"
But to S'liny he remarked: "It's los
ing business attending to other folks
affairs without being asked"
So it is Il question whether his dis
astrous speculation ever forced upon
him conviction of the truth in Jake
Perkins opinion, delivered to Raj with
knowing chuckle:
1.-The squire hain't got as much of a
nose for news as he had fore he got his
consequences. l reckon he's learned
that his 'pcrkisites pay best when
they're taken on the square. Sarah
| Bierce Scarboro ugh, in Youths Com
panion.
II rSr~ NHfI