Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1904-09-14
the addition this year, and I dislike to
perform my additions in a wash-tub

"Oh, 1 have thought that all out. ="
replied Mrs. Loomis, smiling, land l
have such a nice idea. We will buy
a handsome tub-just such as we will
want for our new bathroom-and set
it up back of the kitchen range. There
needn't be any plumbing, except the
exhaust pipe, for it will be so close to
the range that one can dip the hot
wafer from that, and by turning the
top of the rain-water pump in the sink
around, cold water can be pumped d.
rectly into the tub. We can have a
nice broad shelf on hinges to let down
over the tub, and that will make a
splendid kitchen table, and nobody
need ever know that there is a tub
there"
While this ingenious arrangement
would have been very inconvenient
for some families, it was perfectly suit
able for the LOOMS menage, free from
even kitchenmaid. Down behind the
range proved an exceedingly cosy,
warm spot in which to take leisurely
bath. The new tub was beauty, and
when the broad shelf. practically
amounting to a folding table, was
dropped down over it, supported by
two swinging legs at the right height
for a work bench, Mrs. LOOMS said it
was the most convenient for washing
dishes on that she had ever seen, and
it was not at all uncommon for Mr..
LOOMS to assist her in that employ
%ho% t1,n;~
all their evenings might be longer.
Mr.. Loomis was member of the vii
lage board of trustees, which held its
sessions on Saturday evenings, and it
was his custom, on returning from
these meetings. to enjoy thorough,
leisurely bath before retiring. Then
he had the kitchen all to himself and
could take his time.
One particular Saturday night the
village council had held such a pro-
tracted sitting that it was actually
Sunday morning when MIR. Loomis
stole into the kitchen, swung up the
portable table, and as silently and
rapidly as possible filled the tub. A
flood of moonlight came in through the
windows, and he did not trouble to
light the gas, but was soon soaking
placidly in the warm and comfortable
bath.
A heated discussion over the pur-
chase of a road roller had wearied Mr.
Loomis considerably, and while re-
viewing the arguments as he lay in
the tub, he fell asleep. This he him
self denies, asserting that he heard
the first touch of the burglars hands
on the window fastening. This latter
statement there is no means of con-
troverting, but it is positively known
that Mr.. Loomis did not enter the
kitchen later than quarter past IL
o'clock, that the intruder's presence
was not observed much before two,
and that it had never before taken
Mr.. LOOMS an hour and three-quarters
to battle.
However, when he did hear the fun
bling at the fastening, his first i'm
pulse was to leap from the tub and
repulse the invader. His second
thought was merely to flee. What he
did, in the excitement of the moment,
was to reach upward, grasp the swing
ing shelf and pull it down just as he
heard the kitchen window gently
raised
Either the water had cooled a great
many degrees since he entered it, or else
Mr.. LOOMS was very much frightened
Che leaned toward the former theory,
or the two reasons combined to cause
such a shiver that it was with diff
Guilty that he prevented an alarming
smashing in the bath. Peering eau
tiously over the rim of the tub, he
shivered more violently than before.
A man was crawling through the win
dow. The moon had now nearly gone
down, but the solid black silhouette in
Dictated a rogue of monstrous size.
The suspense was horrible.
Before the intruder dropped quietly
to the floor he shot tiny searching
ray of light into every corner, and the
head of Mr.. LOOMS slid out of sight
as startled turtle slips off log. In
an agony of apprehension the house.
holder heard the burglar tiptoe across
to the pantry and back. Waiting as
long as he could restrain his curiosity
and alarm, he again peered cautiously
between the table-shelf and the tub
rim.
The burglar was sitting in the mid
die of the room, with his back toward
Mr.. LOOMS. By the faint light of the
tiny lantern he could not see what the
man was doing, and wriggled little
higher up. AS he moved his feet there
was slight disturbance in the water,
and Mr.. Loomis realized only too well
what it meant. Pending the perma-
nent location of the bath-tub, he had,
with his accustomed ingenuity, utilized
a large cork as an exhaust plug, and
this, loosened by his foot, had bobbed
to the surface. The water was running
out rapidly. When 1t was nearly all
out the exhaust would make a hideous,
gurgling wall, startling the burglar,
Mr.. LOOMS would be discovered, and
in his helplessness probably MUIR
dered.
He fumbled wildly for the cork, but
it eluded every clutch, and he dared
not make noise. He tried to check
the flow of the water by inserting his
toes in the orifice, but this only slight
ly delayed the end. Nothing could
stop the water-his moments were
numbered.
Discovery being inevitable, it were
better to be prepared for defense, he
thought, before the alarm from the