Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-17
or DECEMBER II, 1905

laughed Joyously. Then she said to me:
Well now, want to tell you that one
day about a week before Christmas
happened to try the top drawer of the
bureau in our bedroom. The top
drawer is Puffer's and he's awfu11y fussy
about havin it all to hisself. It's big
drawer, and he amt thing to keep
in it but his change o undertakings, a
clean shirt and pair O. socks and his
Sunday necktie; but let ME put so much
as Handkerchief O. mine in that drawer
and I'll find it flung to the fartherest
corner O. the room as a perlite and gentle
reminder that it's been where it ain t
no business to be. He got so upset
because | slipped collar O. mine into
the drawer few weeks ago that he got
key and has kept the drawer locked since.
81 don't know what made me do it,
but few days before Christmas l just
happened to try his drawer, and if it
didn't pull right out, and what in time
do you reckon there was in it? You'd
never guess, so / may as well tell you that
there was the greatest mess O. toys and
thingsl Yes'm, there was a doll more
than foot long and toy trains O. cars
and tops and marbles and blocks and
about two pounds O. candy and bag
O. nuts and lot O. other stuff. You
could of knocked me down with a |
feather l wondered what under the
sun the man had got that stuff for and
who it was for, and him all the time
jawin' about this Christmas tomfoolery
He'd no grandchildren 'ceptin' one away
out West, and knowed the stuff want |
goin' out there or it would be on the way. |
Z" was foxy enough to keep my mouth |
shut, but was bent on seem where all |
that stuff was goin'. Some women might
of got mad and had all sorts O. ugly |
s'picions, but amt that sort Still, |
| had enough O. the female curiosity O.
Lots salty companion to want to know |
who and what them things was for; but |
| made up my mind that / wouldn't |
even let Puffer know that I'd found EN-
l even scurried around and got a key
and locked the drawer so that Puffer |
wouldn't know that he had left it open.
Them things was still in that drawer
Christmas Eve, for l used my private
key and saw EN- there, and was awfully
befuddled to know what Puffer was
going to do with en-"
She prodded the clothes in the wash
boiler vigorously before adding:
Now I'm real sleepy-head l allus
go to bed real early, and Puffer he's |
kind of an owl, for he sets UP half the
night and is apt as not to go prowlin'
round with a lamp three OF four times
the other half l sometimes tell him
he must have something on his con-
science Or he'd sleep more and better.
I've walked up more than once at two
in the mornin' and seen that man settin'
before the refrigerator eatin' ANYTHING
he could lay his hands on. He's queer in
more ways than one. I go to sleep
almost the instant my head touches my
piller and | hardly ever know anything
until daylight. But Christmas Eve |
drunk good strong cup O. coffee
before | went to bed, and then it was
good-by sleep for me. You see l wanted
to keep awake to watch that bureau
drawer, but l possumed lot even to the
extent O. snorin' to make Puffer think l |
was sound asleep. / left him settin
by the nice hot kitchen range readin'