The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1903-05-05
HE HAD THE MONEY.
aid 1t to Fool Hts wife and Forgot
where 1t Was When He be-
came sober.

The almost preternatural foXiness
of some men who occasionally find
themselves considerably more than
half seas over is phenomenon
of which there are innumerable
instances. A certain Washington
citizen of more than fair ay-
erage sobriety afforded one of the
instances only couple of weeks ago,
relates the Star.
This man took an afternoon off
from his business and went out to
the Benning races on the first day
of the final week of the meeting. IL
was his first visit to the track since
the beginning Of the meeting. Mirac-
ulously enough, he won some money
considerably more than 500. II
was so miraculous that he felt that
he would never experience another
days luck on earth if he failed to
celebrate the extraordinary event.
So he celebrated. He celebrated 50
effectually that when he got home
along towards midnight Ito with
stand as best he could, of course, his
wife's reproaches) he had only $50 of
his winnings left.
After she had relieved herself Of
the due and proper quota of re-
stances, the mans wife went down
stairs to close up the house for the
night. Then the man, who was in
just the shape that man always
gets into who unwisely celebrates,
developed his foxiness. Unto him.
self he reasoned:
I'm my right hand trousers pocket
I've got 500 pure velvet. All right.
] want to maintain my personally
conducted clutch on that 500. But (
can't maintain any kind of a clutch
at all on it if / permit it to remain
in my right hand trousers pocket.
I'll no sooner fall into the deep, rest
full slumber as of a little che-ild than
my true and faithful wife will pro-
coed to go through my clothing, in
accordance with her invariable and
instructive custom under circum
stances like those of the present
She will grab out the $50 and never
say a word about it, and I'll have
forgotten about what l did with it
myself when wake up tomorrow
morning, and she'll be in undisputed
possession of my 500 to blow in OH
hats and boas and whole lot of I'M
necessary truck like that. VARY,
VARY well. Ill just fool her up
few. I'll just take this little $50 wad
and place the same behind this cute
little picture on the wall. So. There's
the $50 behind the picture. And. to
provide against my forgetting whai
has become of that little 500, shall
proceed TO make little memoran-
dunn in my notebook. All, here's my
pencil. I'll just write down here,
Dough is behind the picture and
when / see that entry in my little
notebook I'll be just 500 to the good
and she'll be fooled up quite a heap"
lie barely had time to get the
money behind the picture hanging on
the wall over the bed and to make
the little entry in his notebook be-
fore his wife, having closed up the
house, entered the room and resumed |
the reproaches, mentioning few
that she had overlooked and remem-
bered while downstairs Presently |
he fell into a sound slumber. He
never knew whether his wife went |
through his clothing or not after he |
fell asleep, but he considers it high
ly probable that she did.
When the man woke up, sheepish
nd hnr he L
remembered the money he had won
on the day before at the track, but |
there was a good deal of a blank after
he returned to the city from the
track. He remembered not a thing
of the $50 he had when he returned
home. The memory of having placed |
it behind the picture did not abide
with him at all. When he asked his
wife to go downstairs and get him
a cup of coffee he jumped up and
went through his clothes in great
hurry. He found 40 cents in change,
and nothing else. He asked his wife
when she returned upstairs how
much money he had when he re-
turned home, and she regarded him
ffiAh an dkkiltNSA HbdIt WDtn Sne
told him that the sum total of his
cash had been 40 cents in silver.
WELL" the man unused, as he rode
down town TO business in the car,
III my true and loving spouse didn't
get what money / had left of that
then / must have spent
heap down town last night, or else
was touched. It's one or the other.
However, wen forget It, / ought to
have 80 days in Jail, anyhow, for not
keeping the dough / got from those
bookmakers; it hasn't been often I've
hit them in recent years, heaven
knows"
1t was only two days ago that, in
over his notebook, he came
upon that queer scrawl, Dough is
behind the picture" 1t perplexed
him for few minutes, and he
scratched his head and gazed at !.
and wondered over IL. The handwrit.
ing was pretty rocky, and when he
took that fact into account the whole
thing came back to him. He remem-
bered having put the 500 behind the
picture.
When he went home that evening