Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-03-01

Ere without Kin lling?" he muttercd.
Finally he lighted lamp and went in
10 the woodshed. I'm split some
lIindling in a jiffy," he said. SO say
ing, he chopped up a board and met
with no further mishap than to inJure
himself with flying splinter.
As he passed through the back yard
with the l1iadling he glanced toward
the east. II wonder where is the god
of day?" he remarked Then he start
cd the fire in the kitchen stove and put
| the kettle on 1t was SO dark that he
| was obliged to keep the gas lighted.
| Its funny the sun doesn't come up"
| he commented as he drew his SILVER
| ing form nearer the fire and watched
| the tea-kcttle, which was now emit
| ting steam and whispering the while
one of it's soft lullabics Between the
puffs, the kettle murmured: "Wouldn't
you like to go to sleep-whoO, whoa
nice early mornirg nap-puff, puff-the
| sweetest sleep of all the niTht?-whoo,
WHO'D" While this rhythmic measure
| was going on and he had nearly yield
ed to the influence, 4 bell rang out tue
| hour. "One-two-thrce Then there
was silence. The other bells followed
| and they all struck three times. Were
the bells mad? Three o'clock? Impos-
siblc! Had not the alarm clock gone
off and had not the clock been set for
six o'clock? Then why should all the
] bells strike three? Were they wrong?
Or, was it possible that the alarm
clock had gone off at two o'clock? 1t
| was more reasonable to suppose that
the fault was with the alarm clock. lie
had heard that they sometimes explod-
ed before their time. With many silent
| blessings on the clock he silently stole
upstairs and crcpt into bed. Mean
while the kettle downstairs went right
on murmuring: ''Whoo-Whoo-he'S go
ing to take his morning nap-puff -
puff!'' At the same time his wife whis-
pered: is breakfast ready yet, lovc?"
No." was the gruf response. Than
she sank into dreams and he followed
suit, his slumberS being broken by OK
ploding alarm clocks and the flying
splinters of kindling wood. Suddenly
there was q loud pounding lie started
up just as another clock had gone of
in his dreams.
"What is that?" he exclaimed.
cts the milkman, 1 think, DEAR"
said his wife.
At the same time, in confederation
of her statement, a sonorous voice
arose from below:
"Mi-ll1r'
"Why doesn't he come in the mid lie
of the night?" growlcd the husband as
he arose and threw blanket around
him.
{ My dear, YOU arc not going down
like that? You will catch your death
, of cold"
Il don't care" he answered, dcsr er-
, ately. AS he opened the back door The
, wind blow in upon him and the sn wv
, covered his bare feet. lie looked like
: u blcachcd Indian chief as he stood
there wrapped in his blanket lie
coughcd in Il funcrcal manner as he
. was roughly greeted by the wintry
, blasts. The lnil!iman, who was COW
cred with Snow and had iciclcs on his
: beard, regarded him in amazemcnt.
{ ''Movnin,'" he said.
9 "Ncvrr mind about exchanging any
eivilities, my FRIEND" returned the
other with chattering teeth. just
pour out your milk"
"taut."
"Why not?"
It's frozen. DuJ I'll leave a cylin.
drical chunk of ice in the jar, and you
can thaw it out" With that he clat
tered his pals and disappeared whist
ling blithcly as though life had nc
cares. The husband returned to the
); kitchen with the cylindrical chunk OF
frozen milk, intending to melt it near
; the fire. But to his CONSERVATION he
found that the fire had gone out. The
kettle was puflil : away despairingly
singing very softly: "Whoo-whoo-
you've got to build the fire again
whoo-whoo - pu1f-puff-" and then
; after eXulting q moment the steam
suddenly ceased coming from the
l spout. While setting and lighting the
!, fire once more, he soliloquized upon the
migratory propc nsity of servants anc
told himself that The next girl they en-
\ ployed would have to sign contract t.
:, remain at least a month. By this time
he was getting quite warm with in
dignation, and, although the atmos
phere was SO chilly indoors, he would
soon have been comfortable. He l1nel
on the floor before the stove and began
blowing at the fire, his temper not be
ing improved by his Intellectual at
tempts to fan the flame into promising
. proportions The flame wavered, flut
= tered, looked as though it might be
:. como q promising confagration, ant
. then-went out lie wrapped his man
u tie moro closely around his form ant
was about to give audible vent to hi
&c feelings when he heard light voice
behind him:
y "You had better go to bed, love, anc
allow me to make the fire."
y It was his wife, and there was a sus
( picion of laughter in her bright, blu
eyes.
II So saying she knelt in turn before thu
ID stove and soon cheerful fire was burn
IS :ag. Then the. kettle began to sputte
m