The sun. (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1905-1908, 1905-12-23


straight from China. You know I can't
afford tea like this" said the landlady,
lowering her voice to whisper and
throwing furtive glance toward the
kitchen-fOr the bOarders. This | keep
for my own private use, and, of course,
for my friends when they drop in for a
chat"
"TO he sure" naively assented the
other, "and besides, those rough, hard
working fellows wouldn't appreciate a
tea of such fine quality, anyway"
mot bit of it, One of my boarders
who has been sailor, says he'd rather
have tough steak any day than ten,
der one; gets more lasting satisfaction
out of it. But talking about tea. If
those yellOw-skinned Celestials know
anything at all it's tea! What u pity
there's so much trouble in China, for
what in the world should we poor women
do for a cup of tea if they go and break
up the Chinese empire? That's some
thing for women's clubs and temperance
societies to think about now"
Indeed it is" affirmed the attorneys
spouse abstractedly private trOu-
bles were mountainous in comparison to
the ACKNOWLEDGMENT of China neverthe.
less, "but we never think of anything
until it's too late"
Every, very true" returned the other,
as she slipped the tea from the cup held
in her right hand, while the saucer was
poised in the left; "and exactly what |
say about mortgage. We should think
about the outcome before we get tangled
up in the web, for tell you, Mrs.
Smudge mortgage is for all the world
nothing but spiders web, spread out
to catch poor little innocent flies like
you and me- Now, just let me tell you
what know about mortgage. You
may imagine my information doesn't
amount to much about such things, but
wait till Pm through and then say if |
don't know something. People may
think, when they see me up early and
late. fretting and fusssing my life out to
get three good square meals day for
seven or eight big, strong, hearty men,
as they file in from work hungry as
polar bears, that my acquaintance is
very limited with such trifles as mort
cages, but listen moment. l knew
mortgage once" went on Mrs. Horror.
struck, in the storybook style, depositing
her cup and saucer in the tray-"one my
uncle put on his farm-uncle by mar
riage. A blanket mortgage it was, COW
cred everything like total eclipse, and
when it collapsed, and, mind you, Mrs.
Smudge, every mortgage is bound to col
lapse sooner or later. just see the antics
it kicked up. Watch close now. You
ought to have a piece of pencil to lot
it all down. Well, in the first place,
that mortgage swallowed up hundred
and ninety acres of beautiful rolling
farm land, land which had been in the
family for generations; then an elegant,
ro0my house, II regular mansion, in fact,
with bay windows and great elm trees
shading the verandas; two big barns and
COW sheds, twenty cows, Jerseys they
were, pure breed; just think! Four
great, broad, glossy.backed horses. Oh,
just splendid animals, Mrs. Smudge.
Clydesdales, uncle called them. What
lovely harness they had, all silvered and
shining like, you know, Oh, dear! dear!
but wish you could have seen them com.
ing in from the meadow on summer
evening, with the last load of hay, all
smelling so sweet. Tom Watson, with
his brand new whip driving the Clydes.
dales; uncle with hay rake over his
shoulder, his shirt all unbuttoned about
the neck, and his face as red as fresh
boiled lobster marching along by the
side of the team as proud as fiddler,
we children riding clean on top, rollick-
ing and having all kinds of fun. Oh!
those were just lovely summer days."
sighed the good lady with n far-away
look into the dreamland of the past.
"All. all, wiped out by a hungry old
mortgage Mt one fell swoop. And then,
mind YOU" resumed the narrator with
renewed fervor, "there was my aunt's
little pony carriage and Bob, the jet