Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-04-23

to BE- r1oaGed ~ hds s1Ience.
Jim Long! she cried With grim
and portentous snin. IRA like 70 know
where he'd be II hadn't taken him up
and looked after him like his OWL
mother. But I'll pay him for this. I'll
turn him OF tomorrow morning, and
he and his mother shall move out OF
that house of mine, and nobody else
will take EN- in at this time OF year.
and they'll starve to death and freeze
by the roadside, and good enough for
'em.''
| Poor Walter stared at her with wide
eyes, his face growing pale. No Won
der the hired man had called her Tar
| tar! He began to think that Tartar
was very weak and meaningless word
when applied to this dreadful, cruel,
bitter, bloodthirsty old woman.
Besides, he doesn't know anything
about it." she went on with another
snap and bounce. Il have work for
you-plenty of it. You sit down there
and get warm while fix you bite to
| eat.''
| And that was how Walter came TO be
hired by Miss Patience, after three
months of idleness in the city, and
month of tramping through the coun-
try, looking for work. A seat by that
! glowing stove; something to eat;
regular feast, after fast Of twenty
! four hours; an opportunity To get warm
! and sleepy; was there ever anything
) like it?
After while, dark having fallen, the
fierce little old Tartar put candle into
the tired boys hand, and showed him
the way to- the attic bedroom. where
there was a real bed, with mountains
of covers on it. 1t had all happened SO
suddenly, and was almost past belief.
But then, there was poor jim Long,
who was going to lose his place in the
morning; who was going to be turned
out, with his mother, homeless and in
want, and all on his account In spite
of his fatigue and his comfortable sur
roundings, Walter could not sleep, but
tossed about his bed, and thought Of
Jim Long.
He was down early the next morning
but Miss patience was In the kitchen
before him, and the stove in the corner
was glowing again.
You look as if you had been awake
all night" snapped Miss Patience.
what business have young things like
you lying awake? Now, l don't sleep
either, but it's the mice. They run
through this house at night like a
drove CT horses If something isn't
done, they are going to carry me off
bodily one of these nights"
why don't you keep a cat?" cried
Walter.
"a cat!" shrieked Miss Patience,
glazing at him through those fierce old
spectacles. "Have a cat in the house,
sleeping on my beds, and up on the
table the minute my backs turned?
Not much! A cat came here once,
and Il
What did you do with it?" asked
Walter, feeling Mortified at the cruelty
of this awful woman.
ooh, settled that cats hash" she
replied, grimly and mysteriously
What had she done with that unfor-
Inn 10 CHI hon
she drowned it? Had she-horrible
thought-had she burned it? Walter
turned pale, and was half tempted to
fly from the house that sheltered this
hard-hearted woman. But then, work
was work, as he had found to his cost,
and was not to be lightly thrown
away.
IF you don't want a cat,' he sug-
gested presently, why not have a
trap?"
The old woman's eyes sparkled.
That's just what I'll do" she
cried, as though the idea had never
presented itself to her before. "You
shall go to town this very day and
get me trap; and be sure to get one
that will choke and squeeze them. I'll
kill every rascally mouse that shows
his head about this place. You won't
mind riding in the cold, will you? But
you've got to put on warmer clothes
before you stir out of this house. I
can tell you that"
So Walter found himself enveloped
in heavy clothing that was fished out
of some mysterious recess, and hurried
off to.town for a mouse-trap, as soon
as breakfast was over He would have
given much to know the fate of the
hired man before he went AS for
that cat, whose hash was Settled =
that would not bear thinking Of Ana
to be sent for trap that would choke
and squeeze" was there ever so dread
full an old woman?
But she had given him clothing, al
least, had let him ride one of her
horses, and had intrusted him with
money. Few people would have shown
| ~,