The Penn's Grove record., 1891-05-29

! lIIllN On hllt8l ~ iiihAt 49,
Carl sat the baby down on the floor and
stepped to the stove to removed the Kettle.
Meantime Grace was frantically trying
to cxtricate herself from the folds of the
dress her father had left enveloping her
head. Carl picked her up and said
s'pees-a-boo" when her head popped
from the interior of the dress, but the
tone in which he said it was not al
together cheerful, and when he buttoned
her dress he drew it together with so
much force that the seam at the shout
der was widely ripped. At this Carl's
teeth bore together harder than usual;
that was all.
After breakfast he prepared some toast
aud tea for Kate, and accepted her praise
with q triumphant smile. After the
dishes were washed and set away, he be-
gan to sweep the carpet. He had scarce
" begun this work when he found an
annoyance in the person of the baby,
who insisted upon gathering up the dirt
in her tiny hands and scattering it on
the carpet that had just been swept.
After several vain attempts to get Grace
interested in some other direction, he
finally picked her up with a muttcred,
"There, stay there, will your sat the
mischievous elf in her high chair with
rather more force than was absolutely
necessary. Grace was not pleased with
this arrangement, and began kicking and
screaming and rocking to and fro. She
swayed her body so wildly that she final
ly went over with a crash, aud Carl,
dropping the broom in the midst of the
room, exerted himself to quiet the screech-
ing child. He had succeeded in this
when it suddenly occurred to him that he
had not noticed Harold since breakfast,
and as the outside door had been left
open on account of the heat, it was prob
able that he had gone out, aud he might
have fallen into the stream that ran
through the field near the house. Hat
less, with his sleeves rolled up, and one
of Hates aprons fastened to him, Carl
rushed out in search of his boy. He
finally found him in the chicken house,
breaking the china nest eggs with a
Ratchet that he had picked up near the
wood pile. Carl was disposed to give
his son a thrashing, but, remembering
that 1t was the day of all days in which
he must be calm, he took up the child
and carried him into the house, where
he found Grace busily engaged in creep.
ing through the dirt that he had swept
up, and scattering it broadcast over the
room. At sight Of this, Carl's nerves
quivered, and he gave the broom a kick
that sent it flying across the room, and
the handle, coming in contact with an
earthern euspidore, Clipped a piece out
of the rim.
"What was that, Carl9" asked Kate
from the bedroom feebly.
"Oh, nothing at ALL" answered Carl,
gulping down his wrath, 'you lie still
aud don't worry about me. I'm getting
along splendidly." Picking up the
broom he swung it over the carpet a few
times, and gathering up the dirt, he con-
cluded that that was good enough to
suit him, and if other people didn't like
it, they could do it over.
It was an hour before lunch time, and
Carl sat down to 90 through the morn
ing paper. He mentally assured him
self that he had not found it very tire
some to do the morning work. He had
read about Il half hour when Kate dis
turbed him by asking what the children
were doing. He had not thought of the
children since he began reading. He
found them in the kitchen. Somehow
Harold had got a bottle Of mucilage,
and he was engaged in polishing his
sisters shoes with its contents when
their father came upon them. Carl
smiled in a weak, spiritless way, and re-
moving the baby's shoes, set them aside
"to be cleaned BY Kate"
After luncheon, when Carl came to
wash the dishes, he found that the novelty
of the situation had worn off, and he did
not move about tie room as actively
as he had in the forenoon. The
children were peevish and mischevous.
They wanted their afternoon nap, and
once, when Carl had stepped into the
dining-room, Harold climbed up into a
chair, and leaning on the kitchen table,
tipped it until the pan of dish water
slipped off and spilled over the floor.
By the time Carl had reached the kit
chen, Grace had crept into the pool of
water and her clothes were saturated.
Carl's calmness was seriously disturbed,
and closing the kitchen door, he pun
ished Harold severely. Grace did not
relish this treatment OF her brother and
the bowling of the two children fairly
made Carl's teeth chatter. He soon had
dry clothes on Grace, and tucking the
sobbing children into their crib, he went
about his work.
'Ill have a little peace" he thought,
"while they're asleep" and he became
conscious of a still small voice within him
which weakly asserted that after all Kate
had a good many things to contend with,
of which he had known nothing.
1t was three o'clock in the afternoon
when Carl had finished the work and he
had just seated himself for the purpose of
resuming his paper when the children
awoke. Gritting his teeth almost savage
ly Carl threw down the paper and gave
his attention to the children. There's
one thing that Kate does" he thought,
'that will not do, for I don't thiLk it
is right, aud that is to sit around the
house and hold the children, when they
might Just as well be taught to amuse
themselves" Placing Grace on the
floor and instructing Harold to play
with her, Carl took up his paper. The
children gradually found their way
into the sitting-room. Carl was
deeply interested in an account of the dis
covery of a rich silver deposit in Col
orado when a crash in the sitting room
brought him to his feet. With a bound
he was at the. door and the scattered re-
mains of a costly vase that he had given
Kate on the day of their marriage living
on the floor met his eye. Grace had
caught the covering of the table upon
which it stood and pulled it of. SILVER
ing with fright at the disaster Harold
had concealed himself behind the sofa.
while the baby, unable to conceive the
extent of the damage that she had done,
cot in tho nilvt IF tho la1,r;. oul ta.L-I