The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-03-08
& The HOLLY-SPRIG SPOON. &
THE SINGULAR LOSS AND RECOVERY a PRECIOUS HEIR


Il had it in the oven four hours,
said Mrs Wampler.
The other ladies averred that, if your
oven was right, four hours was long
enough.
BY pushing and saving like an am
ateur with a dull blade, Wampler fin
ally cut through, and sought to re-
trieve himself by a special deXterity on
the other side. But again the knife,
after entering keenly, came to sudden
halt, and had to be driven on by main
force. Wampler finally wrenched off
the breast bone and resumed his chair
in 2 sweat and a pant.
There was perhaps more than the
usual movement of relaxing interest
around the table as he finished, but
there was less than the usual outburst
of talk. The serving of the plates be-
gan in comparative silence. In the
course of this office Wampler thrust a
large spoon deep into the mound of
stuffing. There came a metallic click
which everybody distinctly heard and
again fixed eyes on the host. Then, on
bringing up the spoon, he turned up
with it the handle of another, smaller
one, which everybody saw. Since there
could be no concealment, Wampler
sought escape from the misadventure
by popularity, and saying: Well well,
mother, you must have run short of
bread crumbs for your stuffiing," drew
forth the spoon and held it up III full
view.
It's my SPOON" cried Mrs. Gears,
fairly shriekfng, the one 1 lost-my
holly sprig," and she stretched out her
hand as if to recover it, if need be, by
force
AT any rate it's not mine.'' said
Mrs. Wampler. Out of sheer confusion
she spoke CURLY; she looked as if in
another moment she must collapse.
"Oh, it's mine. it's minei l should
know it anywhere persisted Mrs
Gears excitedly, and Wampler handed
the spoon over to her.
1T must be yours" said Mrs. Wamp-
Ter. L remember the design and it's
not like any OF mine. l never saw 1t,
unless a. your house, until this mo-
ment, and the turkey 1 dressed and
put in the oven with my own hand
Even with the precious spoon re
stored to her possession, and her own
ership of it thus fully acknowledged by
Mrs. Wampler, Mrs. Gears did not
wholly recover herself. Until the COM
pany broke uD her manner retained a
tinge OF pugnacity, and she wore a
look rather hard and suspicious The
other guests made a particular show OF
ease and gaiety. They commented
little on the singularity of the incident,
and ventured 10 make joke or two
upon it, then dropped lit from the
talk and were studious not to recur to
it. One and all departed, however,
with it still sufficiently in mind, and
moreathan made themselves amends ul-
timately for any self-denial they may
have suffered regarding it in the pres
ence of their host and hostess. Thus
very soon the whole town knew the
story, and Mrs. Gears holly sprig upon
the spoon became celebrated.
Never did a dinner party leave the
givers Of il with heavier spirits than
theirs left Mr.. and Mrs. WamDler.
Wampler would have been not little
disturbed simply at misadventure in
his carving, and Mrs. Wampler at one
in her cooking. But to these occa-
sions OF discomfort the affair Of the
holly sDrig spoon added, or at least
seemed 10 them to add, the possibility
of putting in question their honesty;
and the sense of this moved them fin
ally to find offense in the behavior of
Mrs Gears The more they thought
it Overland the habit of people in Os-
ceola was TO think over things a good
deal-the more offense they found; SO
that the feeling. OF both soon came to
be as expressed by Mrs. Wam0ler:
She might as well have said I stole
her spoon in so many words.
In point of fact, no such thought had
at that time entered Mrs. Gears mind.
For ten days she had fretted contin-
ualIy. suffering in her appetite and in
her sleep. over the loss of the spoon,
and the consequent break in the set
When the spoon reappeared so strange
", the sight of it threw her into kind
of frenzy. and she felt that she must
clap hands on it at once or it would
disappear again. And when she had
got it in her hands her feeling was as
if some cruel prank had been played on
her and she must look sharp or it
would be repeated. How the spoon came
to be where it was found, which was
the question of first interest to the
rest of the company, did not occur to
her until later; and when it did occur,
it at first started no doubt in her of
the honesty Of the Wamplers. But
the crazy, dull sense of having been
somehow Yictimized continued to harry
her. and for that she began impercept
IDLY to hold the Vampires answer
able.
Under a fortnight's pricling by these
fantastic grievances, the next time
Mrs. Gears and Mr.. and Mrs. Wampler
met, they barely knew each other; and
the next time after that they knew
each other not at all. Then it became
impossible to invite them into the
companies,
Gle Of their common acquaintance
there began to steal, like a line of split
oil across a floor, a separation out of
symrathy BY the time the separation
became fully defined. Mrs. Gears UNI
BRACE at the Wamplers had come to
positive grounds. She did not scruple
TO think and to freely say: I'VE have
no direct proof; but it's very singular
that the spoon should have been found
offered any explanation"
The Wamplers, too, had by this time
taken an open stand. On all conven-
lent occasions, and on some not con-
venient, they declared that they pre-
ferred not to have the friendship of
people who thought them capable of
stealing a spoon.
Thus the difference grew into an
open feud. Finally it was carried into
the church. A document was laid be-
fore the session, urging it to summon
Mr. and Mrs. Wampler to an eXplana-
ton. Their conduct, the document set
forth, in thus far refusing an eXplana-
ton, was neither brotherly nor Christ
ian; it savored, if not of guilt, at least
Of self-righteousness and pride: and in
either case they were amenable to the
session. There was prolonged argu-
ment in the session, and some plain
speaking and strong feeling. AT the
vote the lay members divided evenly,
and it devolved on the pastor. the Rev.
Cornelius Holt, to decide. He was a
man of rare humanity. but of a ready
sense of justice and an obstinacy in
ii that no amount Of ag-
gression could outwear. He decided
against the petition and in favor of the
Wamplers. He had talked with them
be said, frequently about the affair of