Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-03-14
WHY THE GAS WAS BURNING.
Experience of Man Whose Wife
 Left Him to Keep House.


 Experience of Man Whose Wife
 Left Him to Keep House.
 He hadn't been married very long, and it was the first time his wife had left him. When she bade him good=by, upon starting for holiday visit to her own people, she gave him countless directions as to the various household matters which needed nightly atten- ton. Among other things she care fully impressed upon him the necessity of making up the furnace every night.
 q don't want to come home and find the house like barn." she told him, plaintively, just as the train pulled out of the depot. "and that's the way it will be with neither myself nor the girl to remind you, unless you attend to the furnace religiously every night. You will, won't you, dearie; now promise me-" she called back, and he shouted the required promise after her
 And oh! the burden which that prom ise became to himi Night after night he forgot it until he was comfortably in bed, and the chilly trip down the two flights of stairs grew to be regular nightly annoyance. The only thing more annoying about his housekeeping experience was his fear of burglars. For some reason or other he was far more nervous alone than when his wife was at home. He is wont to explain this by saying that it makes him nerv- GUS to have nobody to protect. It was through combination of this fear and the furnace that he met with the most trying experience of his life.
 He came home one evening several hours later than usual, and with his nerves and imagination excited by the enjoyment of pleasant little supper with two or three temporarily wifeless men. As he neared the front door of his suburban home he noticed that brilliant light was streaming out of the basement window. The fear of burglars instantly seized him. Of course they had entered the house and were in the basement searching for the box in which his wife had hidden the silver. And equally, of course, they would handle an intruder roughly.
 For a few moments he shivered idly; then he rushed to the house of his near est neighbor, half block away, and re- quested assistance. The man of the house was absent and his wife went into mysteries immediately. The nearest neighbor on the other side was at home, but his wife wouldn't let him leave her. The man across the street was laid up with pneumonia. It was evident that he must face the danger alone.
 The light was still burning when he quietly approached the house, after a desperate hunt for the solitary police man who patrols 11s miles of suburban property. The light was still in the basement. Evidently the burglars had heard of that box of silver and were still hunting for it. A bright thought occurred to him. He would slip into the house noiselessly, take up his stand at the head of the basement stairs, and shoot them as they came up. The idea of the unguarded back door never en- tered his mind at all, but he left the front door open in order to be able to call in the assistance of any casual pedestrian who might pass by.
 For nearly half an hour he shivered there, and no sound came from the basement. He hardly knew what to make of this strange silence. It became evident that he must descend the stairs and investigate further. But what if they had heard him enter and were also laying in wait? He fairly trembled at the very thought, and when the fig ure of a casual acquaintance appeared silhouetted against the light of the street lamp outside, he forgot all about caution and nearly fell on his neck and wept for joy. When he had partially recovered from his transports they softly descended the basement stairs, and found-nothing. He had simply forgotten to turn out the gas after his nocturnal trip to the furnace on the night before, and it had been burning all day long.
 And the worst of the affair is thatthe caller told the story far and wide, while the absent wife scolded about the gas bill upon her return.-Chicago Times Herald.