The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1899-06-24
word to say against ms cnaracter

ida nearly all winter, and they had seen
much of this young man all the time,
and the consequence was that the young
man had told Mrs. Berry that he in
tended to marry her daughter. Mrs.
Berry said that must be as her daughter
chose to decide. Finally, so far as any
one could judge, Ethel herself was in
clined to favor the young man.
THAT was where the mice came in.
The cottage which the Bcrrys had rent
ed for the winter was very fairly built
sort OF affair, not at all old, and not
! troubled with such thingsas mice. They
had lived there from November to the
end of February without ever having
been obliged to think of mice. But in
February Ethel heard strange sounds
by night in her bedroom.
Mother she said, Il heard mice in
my room last night, and you know as
we'll as do that so long as there is any
chance of mouse being anywhere
about that room can't sleep in it,
Mrs. Berry knew perfectly we'll that
this was no exaggeration. The girl had
not slept more then one hour all the
previous night, and that would not do.
They rugged grass hammock for her
in her mothers room-she could sleep
all right in a hammock-and search
was made for mouse trap.
Nov, the town where the Berrys
were staying was nice enough little
place in its way, but it was not great
commercial center. You could buy most
things that winter visitors to Florida
are likely to want, but this did not in
clude mouse traps. The storekeeper
said he had never before thought that
there was any demand for mouse traps
among his custom rs. He would send
for consignment of the newest make,
however.
"But this plan meant waiting for,
perhaps, a week, and letting the mice
have their fling in the meantime. Ethel
said she could still hear them in the
next room at night, and they kept her
awake, although she felt more secure
in the hammock in her mothers room.
terminated, and she was young wom-
an accustomed to have her will obeyed.
This was a chance for the young
man to prove his devotion. He had no
mouse trap to offer the lady, but he had
a horse, and he could ride that horse
far and fast. He mounted ut dawn,
and rode to port % miles away, where
there were many ironmongery stores,
and at night he returned in triumph,
though little wayworn, bearing the
mouse trap.
sit was humble sort of mouse trap
one Of the wire cage kind, but the
young Englishman thought it would
do. So did Ethel. She rewarded him
with smiles and thanks; he was happy,
and the trap, baited with Goldfish, was
set.
"That night Ethel again thought she
heard STRINGS, but in the morning,
when her gallant came, early, to see
how his trap worked-she herself could
not face the chances of seeing mouse,
even in captivity-it was found that the
trap was empty.
"'To tell the tyuth,' said the young
man, Il never had much confidence in
this kind of trap. Sorry l didn't look
for one of the other kind-with Il
spring, you know. And, come to think
of it, don't believe mice care much for
Goldfish. Do you? Well, I'll just ride
over again to-day and see if can't get
one of the spring Sort
''That was very fair test of that
young mans devotion, think. He had
ridden about As miles the day before,
and here he was going to do it over
again, just to get a better mouse trap
for his lady love. I know it made a
deep impression on her at the time, for
she told me as much. She told me that
when the Honorable Tom-that was his
name--started out on his second mouse
trap expedition they had it all pretty
we'll settled that they should be mar
red two weeks later, in a quiet way.
He said that he wanted to surprise his
brother and 'all of them at home,' so
he would not say word about it be-
forehand-just send them cable to
say he was married. And 1 quite be-
lieve that Mrs. Berry would have given
her consent; she liked the way the
young man had acted in taking her into
his confidence from the first.
"Well, that second time he came
back rather earlier than he had the
night before. The mother and daugh-
ter we're sitting up, waiting for him on
the veranda. He had succeeded in get
ting spring trap, and with it he
brought great hunk Of cheese, saying
that cheese was the only sure bait for
MICE And if that doesn't catch EN-
he said, nothing will. You must pull
down the house, or get into other quar-
tiers. Only, don't go away from here
THAT night, when the trap had been
properly baited and set, there was a
great commotion in the next room to
Mrs. Berry's. Ethel described it as a
sudden loud click, Immediately fol-
lowed by sound as if some one had a
piece of wood tied to a string and was
whipping the floor and the walls of
the next room with it. In between the
raps and knocks the two women heard
sound like dried peas shaken in a
bag.
"Then they knew what it was all
about.
.And this was what showed the Pc
culiar makeup of that girl; she
wouldn't have gone into the room if
mouse had been there, but as soon as
she was quite sure it was rattlesnake
she put on her slippers, lighted a lamp
and led the way.
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