The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1897-01-23


wife alone AMI almost proved too much
Tar her. That was largely because the
safe seemed SO huge and so dignif1ed
as It sac ID majesty upon the truck that
brought it.
1lhat thing Decent come into my
houseln she exclaimed, indignantly,
when the servant al rushed up into her
room with the news that d procession
had stopped in front Of the house, and
showed il to her from the window.
"It's big enough for apawn shopl Let
him leave it in the front yard Il he wants
to.
Undoubtedly the escort made the safe
seem more formidable than It was IN
reality. The escort included two big,
fat, jolly Percherons, a truck with a
windlass, a complete outfit OF ropes and
tackle and skids and derricks, two red
signs with the warning, 4Dangerl" on
them in big letters, q stout man who
bossed the job, and two assistants in
check jumpers who jollied the servants.
1t caused a commotion in the neighbor-
hood and collected a crowd in front of
the house. Altogether it was enough
to arouse the ire of any housewife. But
there may be some affinity between
handling safes and handling women,
for the man who was bossing the job
seemed to have as little difficulty in
moving the one as IN cabling the other,
He told her what a nice safe It was and
Gained her approximations by assur-
ing her that It would not really be nee
essary to take the front wall of the
house down in order to get the safe in.
BY the time the assistant had rugged up
a derrick and arranged their skids and
their tackle she was able to contem-
plate the safe with more kindly feelings.
Then the men got the thing into the
house after nearly taking the front door
of its hinges, denting the hat rack and
smashing the globe of the hall lamp.
This damage was so much less than the
devastation she had expected that she
felt positive gratitude to the safe when
it was in position at last.
II don't know how we have got along
without it." she remarked.
The safe certainly had its good points
outwardly, whatever it's moral failings
as demonstrated by subsequent events.
Itwasb big, hand-painted in white, picked
out with fine gold lines, and had it's
proprietor's name upon it in gold let
tiers. 1t was fitted with a combination
lock, over which you could spend a
quarter of an hour proitably whenever
you wanted to open the door. In order
to prevent mistakes, the proprietor ex-
planned the combination to his wife and
his servant, and showed them how to
work it. AS a further ~precaution, he
wrote it out in large figures and posted
the paper in the most conspicuous place
he could think of. Then he considered
that both he and his valuables were Sc
cure.
"It's too blame easy to forget the
combination to take any chances about
it, be said.
The safe set out at ono to make its
presence felt. A spry young nan was
announced by the maid servant.
"Tm from the burglar alarm com
5 pany,n he said. Better let us put q
burglar alarm on hat safe of yours.
When you set out to make property Sc
cure, better spend a little more money
and be perfectly n Of it."
"Babl" returned the owner. sits a
safe, isn't it?"
Eyes," replied the burglar alarm man,
'sand so you don't want to be penny
wise and pound foolish"
t "And it's a good safe, too, isn't it?'
continued the man.
"That's just it, replied the burglar
alarm man, earnestly. ''The better the
safe the more it interests a good bur
glar, and the harder he viii try TO blow
it open with nitroglycerin.'
"Bahi" said the owner again, show
ing the burglar alarm agent out.
Next there anne a district messenger
boy.
1.-THE boss wants to know" he said,
will you have your house watched by
a special policeman"
"Wkat for?" demanded the proprie-
tor of the safe.
ITO drive away the tramps," said the
boy. "Tramps wll grab the safe the
, first thing"
"Go way!" said the owner, seornfully,
A little while later the maid servant
announced that the policeman would
! like to see the gentleman. The gentle
man told her to bring him up.
"Tm on this beat" the policeman said
by way Of introduction. sThat's a nice
safe you've been getting, but, as you
have it now, it's all in the dark. You'd
ought to leave a light burning all might
so as to shine on it. Then / can look il
the window once in awhile and see tina
it's all right"
do you think the safe is likely t.
) run away?" demanded the owner, ia
n ~cetiously.
The policeman nodded his head sober
" ~ and reproachfully.
Where there's a safe there's some
thing worth putting in it," he said
"and where there's something WORT
putting in o safe there's burglars"
"Hang burglarsl" retorted the mar
scornfulIy. isn't it a good safeP"
We'll" replied the policeman, mys
teriously, st was only for your ow-
good that I spoke about it" And h
departed in wrath.
The owner Of the safe thought for