The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-08-22
A HAPPY FAMILY.

1t was Sunday. Mr.. Skinner was very
tired, and thought he would lie down on the
sofa in the back parlor and rest. People
never learn by experience, and he was no
exception to the common rule. He lay down,
and crossed his feet with a parade hardly
juSlifable under the circumstances. His
wife came in and saw him.
"Why, Lot skinner" she exclaimed. "If
/ ever heard of the like! Lying down on
that new sofa with yeur boots on, and oh,
my goodness! your head on that lace tidy
had done up only last week. You are the
most inconsiderate man l ever saw in my
life"
Mr.. Skinner got mp and his wife smoOthed
out the tidy and rearranged it.
The idea of anybody putting head on
tidy" said Mrs. Skinner. who had no in
tentlon of using, slang. Il did suppose you
had more sense"
81 used to have" said Mr.. Skinner, good
naturedly. ] could take nap II l could
find place to drop down"
you had better read your Bible" said
Mrs. Skinner. She was good, uncom-
Portable woman, so clean aud neat and
orderly that she made her family Wretched
with her domestic drill
Something called Mrs. Skinner off then.
and when she came back Mr.. Skinner was
gone. She took book and sat down, when
a thought struck her, aud she bounded from
her chair as If IL hat been cannOn-ball.
Yes 1t was just as she had feared; her
husband had gone upstairs, aud she found
him stretched out in bed. on top OF white
counterpane, his grizZly-gray head sunk
deep into white starched ptllow-Sham
with these words embroidered in the cente
sleep sweet, beloved" He was not only
asleep but snoring. with a look OF sweet
content on his wide-0pen mouth.
Lot S-k-i-u-n-e-r!'
He got up in a manner that would have
done credit to gymnast ard stood staring
at the fearful hollow in The bed and the
wrinkled dent IN the pllow-sham.
i declare l forgot" lie said, looking
very foolish. Alice, haven't l a place
where l can lay my heAd?"
Don't talk nonsense" said his wife
sharply. The idea of sober man going to
bed with his boots on"
Would you rather I'd get"
I'D rather you'd get some common
sense, she said. IF you must sleep in the
daytime, why, there's an old lounge down
in the kitchen; no one will disturb you
there. Or, l suppose, '-ungraciously-"I
can take of the quilt and the shauls and let
you have your nap here, though it's wicked,
that's what 1t is, TO sleep Sunday. It's
bad example to set The children, Lot, and
you know II"
But am so sleepy" answered her hus-
band; my head is heavy as lead, AID l
cannot keep my eyes OPEN"
"Laziness! sheer lazlness" said his wife,
in a sharp tone.
Mr.. Skinner went downstairs and disap-
peared. Tie last words his wife heard him
say were that there was rest for the weary,
but she was picking up the embroidery on
the mIsused sham with a pin, and did not
heed him. When she went downstairs he
was not in sight, and she busted herself with
getting dinner, which, on Sunday took the
place Of supper, and thought no more about
him.
she was a distinguished woman; distin-
gulshed in the town where she lived, as be-
ing the cieauest housekeeper in it, No girl
could be found neat enough TO live with
her, all the notices in her house were TO
the effect that cleanliness is akin to godli-
ness. She busted every article of furniture
in the house several times q day; she
scrubbed so often that the children had
chronic dlphtherIa; she scrubbed so clean
that at last she scrubbed through her kitchen
floor into the cellar, and was nearly lost to
the community. TWAS perpetual warfare
between her and dirt The front pRrlor was
never opened to tie family, and although
MIR, Skinner had furnished it he had never
Sat down in il 4 moment since. It's air was
that OF the tomb. After it had been opened
10 company for an afternoon, the children
went round with tiannelS about their throats
and drank ginger tea. Ii was the hand
soonest parlor in the community, too, and
had the family pictures anu their marriage
certificate framed and hung up there.
When dinner was ready-and it was a
good dinner. too, for Mrs. Skinner was a
notable coOk-she asked the children where
their father was. They did not know. Tnis
seemed strange; She questioned them
closely, but they mad not Seen which way he
went when he passed through tile room.
Didn't he say where lie was goingY
she asked, Wonderingly, for Mr.. Skinner
never went out Oh Sundays without his
family.
He said he was going where he'd have
more peace" said little Harry Skinner.
Well, we wont wait dinner for him."
said his wife, and they sat down to eat.
But a spell seemed TO have fallen upon
them, and when the dinner was over and
cleared away, and they we're in the sitting
room with their books, there was sense of
dreary loss, and Mrs. Skinner sat with the
Bible open on her lap and wondered why
he had gone out and remembered that he
looked queer.
1t was in consonance with her habits of
living that she got up in the middle of these
sleculations to catch a wandering and be-
lated fly and induce him to be annihiated.
Strange! she said, as 1t grew dark. "Ill
take the children and 60 down to his
mothers and see if he is there and if he is,
I'll Just give him piece of my mind"
But he was not there, and his mother said
Lot had looked badly the last time she saw
him, and she thought he seemed worried
hoped it wasn't business troubles.
No, 1t wasn't business troubles Mrs
Skinner knew that, and she began to won.
der if she had cleaned her husband out of
his mind. 1t came over her with sudden
force that she had been in the habit of driy-
ing him from pillar to pest at railroad speed
and at the end of broom or a dust-brush.
He actually found no rest for the sole of his
foot in his own house. 1t might have worked
upon his nervous system until he had be-
come suddenly insane. Horrible thought!
he might have committed suicide.
She hurried home with the children. All
was gloom. She went to his bureau 10 look
for his razor. 1t was the only firearms he
posseSScd-it was gone! Then Mrs. Skinner
broke down and cried, and the children
cried, and 1t was, indeed, a scene of desola-
lation, when suddenly the door of that hor-
Ilble parlor opened, and an Rpparation-no,
II was Mr.. Skinner himsef-stood before
them looking very sheepish.
Il OVERSIGHT myself, he said, in meek,
apologize tone, looking at the clock.
should say you did," answered his
VIE, and the dinner is all eaten up, but
III Tx you, up something nice" and she
went out, taking the children with her.
How much OF it Mr. Skinner ever knew
II Is impossible to say, but there was an i'm
mediate and satisfactory change that at first
smazed and then delighted him. He could
lie down anywhere when ne was tired. and
bis wife would throw a shawl over him and
leave him in peace. He has even been seen
TO lie down on the sofa in the parlor where
he took his Rip Van Wrinkle sleep, and no.
body disturbed him. Mrs. Skinner was at
heart woman OF sense, and when she real
ized that one hair of that grizZly-gray head
was worth more than all the plliow-shams
In the world TO her, she put the last one
away In the company of demented assort-
ment oil superhuous tides. And they are
really and truly. and not in any geological
sense, happy family" now.