The semi-weekly messenger., 1905-08-25
stopped short when the dealer an
&


why, the usual width for door"
my dear sir, there is no usual width
for door. There are half q dozen
widths. Besides, what about the
length?"
What business have they to make
doors Of five or six different widths Z"
demanded Mr.. Bowser, with some heat
"You must ask somebody else. ALI
know Is that they do"
Then they ought to be shot for it.
I'm not going to tramp all over this
town after little wire. The door must
be about thirty inches wide, and I
s'pose | want about seven running
feet"
The dealer knew that there were
twenty chances to one against the Gus
toner, but he cut off the wire without
a word, sold two papers of tacks to go
with It and turned to another Gus
toner. Mr.. Bowser made for home
and the first thing he did was what
ought to have been done at first. He
measured the width of the frame and
found it was forty-two inches wide,
instead Of thirty. He stood there with
his mouth pursed up when Mrs. Bow
ser came out. She at once detected
the discrepancy and said:
"You didn't measure the frame be-
fore you went after the wire'
"Are you running this business Or
am ~ he demanded.
"But why didn't you measureT'
"You go right into the house and
read your novel. This court knows
what it is about"
He took the wire under his arm and
started Off The store where he had
bought was the nearest, but he lacked
the moral courage to go back and ad-
nit his mistake. He had to walk six
blocks farther to reach another, and
when he got home he was mad enough
to kick the old frame to pieces4 He,
however, got it up On two old chairs
and began to tack on the wire. He
had the job half completed when Mrs
Bowser came out TO say:
''That doesn't look to me like the
frame for this door. Are you sure
about it?''
''It may be the door to a henhouse,
hOgpen or a stable!' he sarcastically
replied.
''Im going to measure and see'
"You are either going into the house
and stay there or do this job yourself.
Mrs. Bowser retired, and Mr. Bowser
took squint at the frame and the
doorway. A very big doubt entered
his mind, but was at once driven out
Not on his life would he admit that
there was mistake. He finished tack
ing on the wire and then set the frame
in the doorway. The next moment he
was splitting redhot English under his
bl cath. The frame was a foot too tall
and at least six inches too wide. He
had his foot raised for a kick when
Mrs. Bowser appeared beside him and
observed:
ST told you I thought it wouldn't fit.
If you are going to do carpenter work
you must measure things"
woman, what are you doing here?'
he shouted at her. ~.
'I-I wanted to see the door,"
"Well, you get inside, or you'll see
stars! You changed the frames on me
while was gone, but you can't come
out here to exult over your villainyr'.
you know I never
But Mr.. Bowser jumped at her, and
she fed. The door was ready to be
fitted, but the only way to fit it was to
saw off the surplus. It took an hour
OF hard work to do this. A hasty
measure had been taken, with the re-
suit that straight lines were not fol-
lowed, and when the door was set up
there was almost an inch to spare all
around it. In place Of cutting down
1t must be enlarged.
''By thunder, but have I got to be a
fool?" exclaimed Mr.. Bowser to him.
self as he saw his blunder.
Like an echo came the voice of Mrs
Bowser, saying:
II told you you ought to measure"
Mr.. Bowser's face grew as pale as
death, and he gasped for breath.
''It may not keep the flies out, but l
don't believe d COW can squeeze inr'
Then human figure swung its arms
and jumped up and down, and half
stif1ed voice uttered whoops and
shouts Then human hands seized that
old frame and tossed it on high and
kicked it as it fell, and of a sudden
there was a crash and sound of rip
ping, and as the dust settled Mr.. Bow
Ser was seen all tangled up with the
rent and broken wire and in a coma
tose state
Poor man." sighed Mrs. Bowser as
the cat and the cook came running out.
"He meant well, but he didn't know
what it was to tackle screen dsorv'
NJ. QUAD.