Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-02-21

Dack or ner mead was purely mecnan
zeal, and Mrs. Jamison did not really
know that she had performed that &C
ton.
Mr.. Smith noticed the movement.
however. and thought to himself what
a hollow mockery for some women to
claim that they had a soul. a heart or
any feeling of any kind, for that mat
ter. Here was he, he thought, plead
ing, as ~ might say, for his very eX-
~iStence, and there sat that monster
of a woman staring at him blankly
and arranging her hair.
Could anything be more outrageous?
What was her hair-it was probably
false, he thought-or the hair of all
women in the world, for that matter.
as against his digestion: Could it be
that Mrs. Jamison was really knocking
him, and toyed with her hair TO make
him understand that she considered
his digestion, his existence, of very
little account?
He had become quite excited by the
thoughts which flashed through his
mind. His hands began to shake and
his head seemed to whirl for d mo-
ment. He got in such a state of agita-
ton that he well night lost all control
of himself. AS it was, he thought he
said in ordinary tone, but shouted:
Its outrageous The vehemence dis
played by Mr.. Smith was so great, the
force which he made the exclamation
was so explosive, that it reused Mrs.
Jamison from the semi-stupor into
which she had been thrown by his
first words. She wondered how it had
happend that she had blundered so;
how it had occurred that she was not
so careful as was her wont was beyond
her comprehension. And he, poor
man, he must have suffered So, she
thought, because she had never seen
him quite so agitated. The agony his
words had caused her made her heart
beat audibly. And he had told her he
was going to leave her house! The
very thought of it made her feel limp,
and in the very agony of despair, and
not knowing what she said, she almost
walled:
"Good Lawd, Mr.. Smith, you're fat
ter row than you ever wus!'
Its a lie" shouted Smith.
He strobe toward the door. and in
dignation seemed to radiate from him.
On the threshold he whirled about so
suddenly that the baked apple, which
he was carrying on a small plate that
had been given to him by his mother
when he was a boy, flew from the
plate as if anxious to get away from
the center of so much excitement, and
struck one of Mrs. Jamison's newly
covered parlor chairs with a thud.
Under ordinary circumstances Mrs.
JamisOn would have been up in an in
slant to see how much ruin had been
wrought by the apple. Bat on this oc-
casion she did not even notice where
the apple had landed. Her eyes were
fixed on Mr.. Smith, as he stood in the
doorway, looking at her indignantly.
Like one in a dream she heard him
repeat: Its d lie, 1 say" And then:
81 was weighed this morning and
again this afternoon and [ was a
whole pound lighter than / was three
weeks ago" Then he was gone.
Mrs. Jamison sat quite still for a few
moments. Then the tears began to
gather in her eyes. She rocked her
self to and fro for a moment. AS the
tears began to roll down her cheeks
she got up, put out the gas and stole
quietly to her W apartments. When
she appeared in the dining-room in
tho ronrpipr che con,no1 70 harn o1y
a year older during the night. Mr..
Smith was there, and she greeted him
just as pleasantly as had been her
wont. She wondered if he was going
to leave her house for good after
breakfast, and felt faint at the
thought.
But no such idea was in his mind
at that time. Her remark that he had
gained flesh since he had been at her
house was a seed hat had fallen into
good ground in his brain, and -four
iShed during the night into the convic-
ton that he had really grown a little
stouter since he had been living at
Mrs. Jamison's house. He had been
awake most of the night thinking of
it and had consulted the mirror many
times, and had not arrived at the final
conclusion until after daylight in the
morning. But with that conviction, he
decided he would remain where he
was, also that he had done Mrs. Jami-
son a gross injustice and made up his
mind to tell her so at the first oppor-
tunity. So after breakfast he did tell
her so and apologized for his conduct
and language of the night before.
She, good soul, told him simply that
she was glad he was going to remain
with her. And when he was gone she
vowed mentally that thereafter, so long
as she had the senses of smell, sight
and hearing, she would never again
permit anything to go on the table for
Mr.. Smith that was not to his liking.
That was the situation at the time that
one of Smiths fellow clerks got
married.
Smith attended the wedding, and in
tie midst of all the j~oyousness he felt
a sense of loneliness. 1t worried him,
too, to see the guests eating all man
ner of CONNECTIONS aud pastry. He
would have substituted a patent pre-
digested food for the cakes which were
scattered about in such lavish profit
sion on the table.
Smith never realized his lone condi-
ton so much as he did after that we'd
ding. He was so much impressed by
it that when his fellow clerks began to
abaff him baoanSa hn had not rripd