Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1898-12-22

at his own door, his feelings had I'M
dergone an entire change. lie felt
ashamed Of his petulance, and especial
~ Of the slap he had given Robbie. He
determined TO find the little fellow and
make the best amends he could. He
also felt glow of kindly sympathy for
his wife in her care for the babies that
was somewhat unusual to the hurried
business man. Yet he shrank from
meeting his wife directly; he was not
quite ready to acknowledge the mean
ness Of his irritability and language of
the morning, SO he decided to go
through the dining-room, which was
still very cold, and make detour
through the basement and kitchen to
look at the furnace.
In the kitchen Bridget, who had long
been the faithful maid of all work,
stood gazing into the cooking stove,
where smouldered a few black dying
Goals. Her countenance wore an ex-
preston that was a mixture of distress
and anger. An hour before Mr.. Jones
would have begun at once to rate her
sharply for her badly prepared break
fast, but now he only said:
"Why, Bridget, what's the matter
with the stove?"
well, sir, sure there's no dhrait at all
at all, and whin thry to make a quick
fire there's the way it serves me. Sure
down that chokes the fire. poor CELL
can't do any cooking on that stove"
Mr.. Jones' conscience pricked him.
His wife had told him several times
about the broken CRATE; had written
down the name and number of the
stove and begged him send it from the
city, but he had forgotten it. lie saw
the impossibility Of doing any good
work with such poor instrument as
this, and then he said:
well, Bridget, believe the best
thing in this kitchen would be a new
stove entirely"
Bridget's face frightened. 20 sir"
she said, ''if only had a good stove, and
the pump fixed, sure Id stay. I.gave
the mistress warning this morning"
Again Mr.. Jones conscience pricked
him. How often had his wife asked him
to be sure and send the plumber to fin
that pump. But it had seemed very
small thing TO him that stove and pump
were out of order, and so he had paid
no attention to the matter.
Passing into the furnace-room his eye
fell on poor old Hans, the man whom he
paid dollar a week to take care of the
furnace. He was en- his knees in front
of the furnace trying with all his poor
old strength to shake the heavy CRATE
by means of the iron lever. 1t was pa
thetic face and figure the old man pre-
scented. Bridget had overheard Mr..
Jones' message about the furnace and
had conveyed it to Hans, who had re-
ceived it as the knell of his hopes; for
the poor little dollar that he thus earned
was all that enabled him TO keep peace
with the shrewish daughter-in-law who
gave him shelter and n bed. But for
some reason the shaking of the furnace
had been almost impossible for more
than a week. and old Hans was in de-
spair. When he saw Mr.. Jones he
thought the end had come, and the ex-
preston of his face as he looked up at
him was ludicrously appealing.
whats the matter, Hans? Has the
CRATE got stuckP Let me try it,"
Mr.. Jones was a strong man, but he
could not bulge the furnace CRATE. In
| stead, however, of calling old Hans a
fool and threatening him with dis
missal he only said kindly:
"Wcll, Hans, let me go upstairs and
get an old coat and we'll see what's the
matter"
When Mrs. Jones saw Mr.. Jones COM
ing up the stairs her heart sank within
her. She OWNED what was the reason
Of his return, but what with the baby
CRYING, Robbie still undressed. the
house cold and Bridget in a temper and
going to leave, she felt utterly over
wEelmed, and felt also that her hus-
bands presence would only add to the
perpIexity of the situation. She had
never been accustomed to special help
or sympathy from him in her household
troubles, aud so she regarded him as he
entered the room with eyes that were
half inquiring and half resentful.
Hello. Robbie. hurry up and get
dressed and maybe wen take sleigh
ride" was Mr.. Jones first rather sheep
ish yet altogether pleasant remark I'D
dressed to the little fellow who had
started 10 run 10 his mother on frst