Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-06-01

SNORT ot4tuke. Iuc COl00eI t0eU PAID
his compliments to the Jackpot, and
continued "Now, my idea Is that th<
stove heats the room better there than
on the floor. 1t Is only cooking-st0ve
to be sure, but when the. winter Is cold
1t makes this room comfortable. Being
up in the middle Of the space 1t heats
1t all equally well, which 1t could moi
do II 1t were down below"
The doctor greeted this theory with
a loud laugh. Colonel" he said, "you
are wild-'way CT the mark. Hot air
rises, OF course, and the only way to
disseminate 1t is to have your stove
as low as possible. According to your
idea, 1t would be a good plan to put
the furnace In the attic of house in
stead Of in the basement"
~ think" said the colonel, "that /
could appreciate your argument bet
ter II you would ante"
"The pot Is mine," said the doctor,
as he deposited his coin; you will all
adopt my idea the moment you hear 1t,
and Long Tom, who will be here in q
minute, will bear me out. This room
is very small; 1t has but little floor
space, and none of it goes to waste.
Now, If he had put the stove down
where we expected to find 1t, Long
Tom could not have made use of the
area underneath, as you will see he
has done. On all sides Of the
supporting posts you will notice
there are hooks, on which he hangs his
pans and skillets. Underneath there is
kitchen-closet for pots and cooking
utensils Of various sorts. What could
be more convenient? Under your Or
binary stove there Is room only for
poker and few cockroaches."
The judge, who had been listening
to the opinions offered by the others
with the same grim smile that occa-
sionally ornamented his face when he
announced that an objection was over
ruled now stepped forward and
dropped coin on the table. He then
rendered his decision as follows:
1T appears that none of you have
noticed the forest Of hooks in the roof
just over the stove. They are not in
use at present, but they are there for
some purpose. l imagine that during
the winter huge pieces of venisOn and
bear's-meat dangle over the stove, and
are dried for use later. Now, if the
stove We're on the floor it would be too
far from the roof to be of service in
this way"
Here comes cid Tom" shouted the
colonel, who had stepped TO the open
door while the judge was speaking.
The old trapper put down the various
articles Of baggage with which his
arms were loaded and came into the
kitchen-cabin where we all stood. He
glanced at the group and then at the
stilted stove in our midst.
II see you air all admirin' my stove"
said he, land I'll bet you've been a.
wonderin' why it Is up so high"
Eyes, we have" said the professor;
'how did you know it?''
people most allus generally jest as
soon as they come into the place begin
to ask me about it-that's how l
knowed."
well, why is it up so high?" de-
manded the stock broker, impatiently,
with a side glance at the well-devel-
oped jackpot on the table.
''The reasons simple enough" said
Long Tom, with grin that showed his
bicuspids; you see we had to pack
all the stuff up here from down below
on burros. Originally there was four
j'ints of that stove-pipe, but the cinch
wasn't drawed tight enough on the
burro that was oarryin' them, and two
Of 'em slipped out and rolled down the
mountain. When we got here and
found that there wasn't but two pieces
left, l reckoned that / would have to
kinder hist the stove to make it fit the
pipe-so jest in and h'isted her. And
thar she is. Say, what's all this here
money on the table for?'
There was deep silence, which
lasted so long that Tom ventured to
repeat his question about the money.
1T is all handsin,'" said the doc
tor, sadly, land as near as can make
out it belongs to you."-San Francisco
Argonaut.