The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-01-05

| With a gesture labeled determination
| from its start to the finish the old man
| clutched the neekband of his shirt An
| other impatient move and the 25-cent
! warranted linen collar slipped free from
! the two bone buttons and dropped to the
| floor.
Don't do it: oh! please don't do it,
sobbed the woman who stood watching all
| this, but the mans hearing appeared TO
be defective, and kicking chair out OF
| the way he STROBE across the floor tt.
| the family bureau. The woman buried
| hef lace in her hands as the man pulled
| open the top drawer. The sobbing con-
| tinued, but she did not see the flash of
! steel that followed the hand out Of the
bureau drawer.
Think of what you are doing" pleaded
the woman, but the mans hear still ap-
peared to bother him and without a word
ne attached strip of leather to the gas
! jet and began to strop the piece OF steel.
! Lawyer Brown encountered success the
day he turned down the street leading
| from the university. He was always a
| cautious boy and soon the bank book as
| sumed well-to-do appearance. Lawyer
/ Brown married and then drawing upon
| the pile in the bank he built a house in
| a right worthy neighborhood and equipped
1t with much fine goods silver, artistic
| utensils and then moved the family in.
Now all would have been well but for
| one thing.
In the near vicinity Of Lawyer Browns
| nome lived family which had been sore
stricken with the borrowing disease. Vac
| clnation had been tried, but It did not
| take. Brown and his wife soon learned
! OF the affection across the way
| Everything from the lawn mower
| TO the family plates went to satisfy the
MAD craving working at the neighbours
| house
| But, except in the night time, the sun
| is always busy behind even the darkest
] clouds, and Brown rejoiced for he had
| turned over almost everything not nailed
! down, and the visits to the back door
| looked at an end. For a time the family
| declared recess at meal time to enable
the girl to wash up the plates for the
! second course, but Brown worked hard
| smuggling new dishes in under his coat
and the days Of trouble were at an end
That is, Brown thought they We're
/ 1t was Christmas eve and all was ioy
| in the Brown household. The good wife
/ busted herself at the mince pie and
1 though the lights in the windows of the
house across the way told of the presence
| of the victims of the borrowing disease,
the Brown family lived on undisturbed
| by any fear of another night attack Lit
tie Fritzie chewed hts lump Of pIiable
| pepsin, very halo of peace about him
| as he reflected that there was no danger
| of the neighbors asking for it
Rap-rap-rap.
/ Lawyer Brown dropped the evening pa
per and STROBE 20 the door. He pulled
it open and down in front of him he saw
/ a small boy holding a note in his extended
! hand. Brown turned pale for the boy
| belonged to the house across the way
| With trembling hands he tore the end
| off the envelope and read:
Dear Mrs. Brown: Please could we
! borrow Mr.. Brown for our Sanity Claus.
! The Jones family has lent us a Christmas
! tree and Mr.. Browns whiskers will fool
the children
Crouched on the floor of the bedroom
| Mrs. Brown pleaded and sobbed, and
| sobbed and pleaded, but Mr.. Brown re-
fused to listen and with an edge on the
razor he started to work. Those whiskers
had been his pride and joy for many
| years. He could remember when they
started, when they turned to an iron
gray and from iron gray to white, but the
| letter from the family across the way
was piling one cook stove too many on
1 the camels back and when Lawyer
/ Brown returned to the sitting room the
baby refused to recognize him