San Saba County news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1874-19??, 1893-10-13

which was affixed t. he bac; of the
chair, and motionel me to take ray
seat in the other one.
why do you strap rs in?' l said to
the man as took my seat
You'll know why, governor. by
/ the time you've earned that half dol
lar, said the man, with malignant
grin. Now, look here. he continued,
If yon want to sneeze, or cough, or
anything, get it done now. and don't
you go a-iarfng or larl1ing with the
boys at the window; if you do it viii
be deducted for.
Then he began to wind me up, and
I made my first appearance in Mr..
wilkins shop front to a round of
tumultuous applause from crowd of
idlers in the street who stared into
the shop window. Then somebody
carefully fitted hat on to my head
and gave it knowing cock.
And then a draught OF cool air be-
gan to flow through the holes that
surrounded my neck. Mr. Wilkins
really took a wonderful amount of
trouble to insure our comfort.
At first the novelty of my situation
entirely occupied my mind.
Then | took look at my fellow vic
tim out of the corner of my eve.
He was evidently already suffering
fsom the effects of his unventilated
hat His teeth were tightly set; he
looked anything but happy; great
drops of perspiration already stood
upon his brow. l didn't trouble my
self very much about him.
Tho ffvnn vacceI T,1aacanf1r-
and | heard the clock of Shoreditch
church at length strike 4. As 1 did
so | was startled to hear the wearer
of the unventilated hat give hollow
groan-
He had become CHASTITY pale; he
looked as if he were melting gradually
In fact, the poor fellow seemed very
i'll indeed. Strange that a badly ven
tilated hat should produce such
marked effects!
After awhile the clock of Shore
ditch church struck $3.50. I heard
footsteps in the room below, and at
the same time was deprived of my
ventilating hat a brand new hat was
placed upon my head and the show
cards which stood behind our Iespec-
tive heads were exchanged
The draughts of cool air which
came through the innumerable little
holes in the mahogany flooring around
my neck suddenly ceased. A current
of heated air supplied its place.
l looked out of the corner of my eye
at the other head; its face wore an
ecstatic smile.
Then an extraordinary thing took
place. The easy chair in which was
sitting suddenly began to grow warm;
it then became actually hot - IN
pleasantly hot.
1 saw through the whole fiendish
trick at once. l was to be tortured
tortured for a period of an hour and a
half, for the amusement of an idle
crowd-in order that the public might
be gulled into the purchase of the so
called ventilating hats of the fend
Wilkins.
l was being gradually cooked alive,
and l felt that concentrated boiling
gravy, not blood, was coursing through
my veins.
My features were contorted with
agony; the crowd in the street outside
gave me a tremendous round of ap-
plause
tried TO break loose As dld so
voice from the room below uttered the
following dreadful threat:
Its 1.2O now, my man, and if you
move I'll make it / 5Ur'
I endured the most dreadful tortures
for a whole hour and a half When I
left wilkins establishment was more
dead than alive.
1t is the dream of my life that and
Mr.. Wilkins, the inventor of the ven
tilating hat, may meet III some lonely
place l am not a revengeful man,
but l feel that l owe wilkins some
thing that 1 should like to repay
Black and White