The Winslow mail., 1901-03-28
Mrs. Jobson denied the impeach-

Mrs. Jobson denied the impeach-
ment, and said:
"Of course. you know that the chap.
very long, and that"
"Oh, that'll be all right. too," inter.
rupted Mr.. Jobson. II don't care il
each chapters as long as the Koran,
when [ set myself certain task, that
task l 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 1 of volume 1 of Glib
bon's Decline and Fall" He hadn't
got through with more than half
page before he struck number of
snags. By the time he had read four
pages he was in real difficulties. The
Latln quotations in the foot notes first
got him going. He bravely went at
them and spluttered them SO that they
sounded like mixture of ragtime and
FIJI, and he looked out the tail of his
eye to see whether Mrs. Jobson was
laughing at him. She was n 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
IL fO 'rIff o a
choke good deal, too, but he attacked
them all, and continued to regard Mrs.
Jobson slantwise, after misnaming
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.
Il 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 remember 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 Trajan, where
the real story begins"
well, that'll be about all for the
present" said Mr.. JoSson, closing the
book with snap. "You seem to know
the whole thing, anyhow, to hear you
tell it. However, 1 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, a bout half an hour later,
he was logged out in his best clothes
and primped up.
care you going out?" inquired Mrs.
Jobson.
DO | look like I'm on my way down
to the cellar to repair the furnace?" he
asked her.
But" said Mrs. Jobson, chow about
the reading from"
''The readings are all off," broke in
Mr.. Jobson. ''If you think you're go
ing to put up a job like that and make
it stick-bamb boozling me into reading
about a 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, a4d
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.-Washingt Star.