The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1892-03-19
HIS UNLUCKY PLANET.
It Proved to Be a Lucky One
After All.

ooh, yes, I know it's all my OWL
fault" Charley Cleve said. Whose
else should it be? But I'm disinherited,
all the same. I've no more chance Of
coming into that fertile farm land than
than yonder Italian organ-grinder,
who is turning the crank SO p~ersever.
ingly under deaf Squire Homer's back
kitchen window"
''Oh, Charley" said Bess, clasping
her hands despairingly together.
Il didn't expect much else" went on
Mr.. Cleve, in a rollicking, light-hearted
sort Of way. 81 was born under an
unlucky star, Saturn, or Mars, or one
of those planets that never bring a fell
low any good. You can't expect a star
to reverse its order on my account, can
you?"
but, Charley"
Just wait until you heal the full ac-
count Of my atrocities. l wasn't so
much to blame for treading on the cat
don't think she laid that up against
me. And when l broke down the old
cherrywood chair that had belonged to
her grandfathcr-that was a mere
question of weight And / mended it
for her, too. But when h bro:led
ham for breakfast had such n queer
taste to It and l had to confess that
! had been smoking up the chimney
where it hung"
'Oh, Charley!'
"How was / to know hat she made
a store-house of the back-room chin
ney? Folks in Philadelphia don't do
that sort of thing. And she wouldn't
tolerate tobacco in any shape-she let
me know that, at the very outset."
Bess shook her head ~mournfully.
You know l told you. Charley ="
she began.
Yes. my dear little guardian angel
but l give you my word, I'll confine
myself to cigarettes for the future, and
never smoke one within a quarter of a
mile of the house. But listen. The
next thing l did was to upset her whole
churning of cream 1t hung half way
down the we'll, don't you see and when
l came nome, famished with thirst, and
jerked the bucket down-well, the
thtuS hCdEu was NouSlh DiICptd
screaming like mad. is it burglars?'
said l, Selling my blackthorn stick,
'or is it fire. And l had plunged into
the house, and put my foot-literally,
not metaphorically-into the old lady's
baking of custard pies, that she had
set on the cellar floor to cool, before
she could make ME understand. But
the last straw that broke the camel's
back was the old gray goose"
1.-The old gray goose Charley!
Surely, nothing has happened to
that"
Mr.. Cleve shook his head.
1.-The very worst has happened" said
he. I've shot it,"
''Oh, Charleyr"
The young man laughed bitterly, and
spouted the lines:
"'Why look'st thou SO? With my crossbow
shot the albatrosS!!'
Yes, ! did. Out wild duck hunting in
the marshes. l thought it was rather
n mammoth specimen. when leveled
the trigger; and when Don brought it
to me my heart sank to the very soles
of my boots l had half an idea of
burying the creature ont among the
salt grasses, and saying never n word.
But that would have been a sneaking
sort of dodge. The Cloves can do
plenty of shabby things, but they eve
lie outright So l brought it home
with the string of wild birds. I'm
very sorry, Cousin Sarepta,' said l,
but I've shot your old goose. I'll re-
place it with the finest pair to be had
in Salt Inlet Replace it, says she;
and then, to be sure, there ,ods a scene.
She set a good deal of store by that old
gray goose, you know"
"Yes, / know said Bessie, resigned
ly. at was nearly twenty years old
She raised it herself in a basket by the
kitchen fire, and it ate corn daily out
of her own hand. She wouldn't have
taken twenty dollars for that old
goose. No. nor fifty, l do believe"
$50" added Charley. with a particu-
larly expressive shrug of the Shout
ders, ''she has turned me out of doors.
She called NE a loafer and a shiftless
ne'er-do-weel, and l dare say she was
right. Icouldn't contradict her, SO /
didn't try. She recommended me to go
about my business, 30 l did. And
here l a m. I've ~telegraphed to Phila
delphia for the taxidcrmist. That was
all 1 could do. Do you suppose, Bess,
your father would take me to board
for eight days? I've just eight days
left of my vacation, and there1l be
such a lot of questions asked il l
come home in advance of time. l
wouldn't advise you to have a word to
say t o me. l dare say l shall set fire
to the house, or poison the family, or
shoot somebody by mistake. What
can be expected of a fellow that was
born under an unlucky planet?"
Bess Warden laughed cheerily.
Father will risk it, l am sure" said
she. 1--WE haven't a great deal of spare
room, but mother will make you up a
cot bed in the room with the boys, and
if you can put up with our plain way
OF living
He stopped her mouth with a kiss.
'You are an angel, Bess." said he.
The kindly Warden family did their
best to console old Miss Sarepta
Smiths discarded relation and to make
the last portion of his vacation a trife
p~leasanter than the first had been. But
DIR. Warden shook his frost-white head
Il don't like long engagements" said
he. "And Bess can't marry q man on
any twelve dollars a week"
But, father, Charley will do better
in time"
"If it pleases the unlucky planet"
i~nterpolated Charley.
well, wait until the better times
s'Oh, we don't mind waiting!" cried
BesS
Speak for yourself, if you please"
murmured Charley.
We've a lifetime before us" assev-
Grated Bess; land, in the meantime,
Charley, we'll 20 out duck shooting to-
morrow, and I'll row you through the
Silver Channels to the best ground on
al the coast" i