The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1901-02-07

Mrs. Jobson denied the impeach.

MIS-. Jobson denied the impeach-
ment. and said:
of course, you know that the chap
ters of Gibbons Decline and Fall are
very long, and that
oh. thatll be all right. too inter-
rupted Mr.. Jobson. 81 don't care If
each chapters as long as the Koran,
when | set myself certain task, that
task ! perform in the face of every dis
couragement. just hurry the girl up
with dinner, SOS we can get at the first
volume right after dinner"
So, Immediately after the evening
meal, Mr.. Jobson planted Mrs. Jobson
in chair right opposite himself so
that he could watch and see if she
yawned or nodded. and started in to
drone chapter of volume 1 of Glib
bon's decline and Fall" He hadn't
got through with more than half a
page before he struck a number of
snags. BY the time he had read four
pages he was in real difficulties. The
Latin quotations in the foot notes first
got him going. He bravely went at
them and spluttered them SO that they
sounded like a mixture of ragtime and
FIJI, and he looked out the tail of his
eye to see whether Mrs. Jobson was
laughing at him. She wasn't laughing
outwardly, however no matter how
much she might have been inwardly
enjoying herself. The names of the
ancient provinces of the Roman empire
caused MIR. Jobson to sp.utter and
choke good deal. too. but he attacked
them all, and continued to regard Mrs.
Jobson slantwise, after misnaming a
long list of the provinces, to see if she
was giving any exterior manifestations
of glee. which would have afforded him
his opportunity to throw the book
down and refuse to play any more. Mrs.
Jobson, however. preserved her inter-
ested exterior.
81 wonder Mr.. Jobson broke off.
after reading many pages, where the
dickens the hot stuff, so to speak. in
this work begins? Where's the account
of this fellow. Nero. who used to burn
Christian maidens for torches and who
played on the fiddle while Rome was
burning, and
well, interrupted Mrs. Jobson, "you
will RENE mber that the work doesn't
include the reign Of Nero. The history
begins, believe. with the imperial
| reign of Augustus. and then hurriedly
passes on to the reign of Traian, where
the real story begins
well, that'll be about all for the
| present. said Mr.. Jobson, closing the
book with a snap. you seem to know
the whole thing. anyhow, to hear you
tell it. However. | shall resume the
readings tomorrow evening. right
after dinner
Mr.. Jobson did resume the readings
on the following evening. and he con-
tinued them for four nights, until his
voice grew husky. He really didn't ap-
pear to be enjoying himself very much.
Immediately after dinner on Thurs
day evening he went upstairs. and when
he came down. about half an hour later,
he was logged out in his best clothes
and primped up.
'Are you going out?" inquired Mrs.
Jobson.
"Do look like I'm on my way down
to the cellar TO repair the f,lrnace?" he
asked her.
But" said Mrs. Jobson, ''how about
the reading from"
"The readings are all off, broke in
Mr.. Jobson. IF you think you're 60
ing to put up a job like that and make
it stick-bamboozli me into reading
about million pages every night of
long-winded, dry-as-dust. dead stuff
about dead criminals with purple togas,
for the purpose of keeping me in the
house all the time. you're mixed, that S
all. I'm going downtown to pay bill
lizards and take in a variety show, and
if you want to wade through that Ro-
man rot, go ahead. There's nobody
going to stop you
And when he had gone Mrs. Jobson
smiled and smiled. Washington Star.