Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1902-08-06
"Ips my spoonp cried Mrs. Gears.
lily sprigw And she stretched OIL
/ hand as II to recover it, IL need be

ny SPTlS! Auu Bile STRETCHED Oul
i hand as II to recover it, If need be,
force.
"At any rate, it's not mine," said
Mrs. Wampler. Out of sheer confusion
she spoke curtly. She looked as If in
another moment she must collapse.
"Oh, it's mine, it's mine! should
know it anywhere" persisted Mrs.
Gears excitedly, and Wampler handed
the spoon over to her.
'It must be yours" said Mrs. Wam-
pier. II remember the design, and it's
not like any Of mine. I never saw 1t,
unless at your house, until this mo-
ment, and the turkey dressed and put
into the oven with my own hand"
Even with the precious spoon restor-
ed to her possession, and her owner
ship of 1t thus fully acknowledged by
Mrs. Wampler, Mrs. Gears did not
wholly recover herself. Until the com
pany broke up her manner retained IL
tinge Of pugnaclty, and she wore a
look rather hard and suspicious. The
other guests made a particular show
Of ease and gayety. They commented
little on the singularity of the in
cident and ventured to make joke or
two upon 1t. then dropped it from the
talk and were studious not to recur to
It. One and all departed, however,
with it still sufficiently In mind and
more than made themselves amends
ultimately for any self denial they may
have suffered regarding it in the pres
ence Of their host and hostess. Thus
very soon the whole town knew the
story, and Mrs. Gears holly sprig
spoon became celebrated.
Never did dinner party leave the
glyers Of 1t with heavier spirits than
theirs left Mr.. and Mrs. Wampler
Wampler would have been not little
disturbed simply at Il misadventure in
his carving and Mrs. Wampler at once
In her cooking, but to these occasions
of discomfort the affair of the holly
sprig spoon added, or at least seemed
to them to add, the possibility of put
ting in question their honesty, and the
sense Of this moved them finally to
find offense In the behavior Of Mrs.
Gears. The more they thought 1t over
and the habit of people In Osceola
was to think over things n good deal
the more offense they found, so that
the feeling of both soon came to be as
expressed by Mrs. Wampler, "She
might as well have said l stole her
spoon In SO many words"
In point Of fact, no such thought had
at that time entered Mrs. Gears mind.
For ten days she had fretted continu-
ally, suffering In her appetite and in
her sleep. over the loss of the spoon
and the consequent break in the set
When the spoon reappeared SO strange
ly, the sight Of it threw her into u kind
Of frenzy, and she felt that she must
clap hands on 1t at once or it would
disappear again. And when she had
got 1t in her hands her feeling was as
II some cruel prank had been played
on her and she must look sharp or 1t
would be repeated. How the spoon
came to be where it was found, which
was the question of first interest to the
rest of the company, did not occur to
her until later, and when it did occur
1t at first started no doubt in her Of
the honesty of the Wamplers. But the
crazy, dull sense of having somehow
been victimized continued to harry her,
and for that. she began imperceptibly
to hold the Vampires answerable.
Under a fortnight's pricking by these
fantastic grievances the next time Mrs.
Gears and Mr.. and Mrs. Wampler met
they barely knew each other, and the
next time after that they knew each
other not at all. Then 1t became Inn
possible to invite them into the same
companies, and through the circle Of
ON acquaintance there be.