The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-10-13
MEETING
Il MONSTER
tFFom Central News and Press Exchange.l

IeaunS the leEteES when 0dA- arrived
by the last mail
Some from my Old home 50 vivi5ly
revived precious memories that letting
them drop into my lap. gazed dream
sly out of the open French widow into
the mirage of a Surrey landscape
whose boWery lanes and ivy-clad cot
tages, clustering round a venerable
church, fashioned themselves out of
/ the gray monctony Of the treeless Aus
tralian downs among which my lot had
been cast for the last few years.
Then. at the stroke of four from the
little clock on my wrttiag-table, 1
| reused myself from my reverie IN order
to get through the rest Of my budget
before my husband came n Tor his
five o'clock cup Of tea For It was my
custom on mail days to have 3 precis
of my letters ready by that hour
which he always reserved for ME whea
at home, however busy he Right be !.
called it instructor combined with
amusement" He was an energetic AMI
hard working sheep farmer. AMI rad
but scant time Cor the writing CT read
| ing of any but business letters.
I found little worthy of remark in
four of the five remaining epistles, and
/ composed myself to the reading of the
hfth-a bulky one from an old friend
and schoolfellow, a cousin of my hus-
bands, Maria Thelson, who. like my
self, had married and settled in Aus
tralia, and now lived many miles off in
a more populous district. She was the
kindest of women.
Maria's style was diffuse and her
habit of undermining every other sen
tence impaired fictitious air of en-
phasis to it which, as rule. evapor-
ated on perusal.
But in spite of its being doubly in
terlined, one passage of her letter
reused me to keen interest. Reduced
from Thelsonese into ordinary prose it
was to the effect that a neighbor Of
theirs-a Mr.. Froghart, an eccentric
and solitary old bachelor, who had
| long been in the habit of keeping pet
snakes, kangaroos, and monkeys-had
recently added to his collection a ba-
/ boon of huge size and strength. This
| creature had within the last fortnight.
turned upon his master, and after
hugging him to death, had battered
the body with a club in a shocking
1 manner and had then escaped into the
woods. But this was not all While
| search parties were busily hunting for
the brute news came that, with huge
/ bough of a tree, it had attacked a
/ lonely woman-the widow of a shep-
/ herd-and her little baby, and had
killed them both. Every effort was be-
I ing made 10 capture the babOOn, but
! hitherto, owing to its swiftness and
| extreme cunning. without success.
Here I was interrupted by the pit-a-
pat of little feet on the yeranda. and
Fluffy" our only child, aged eight,
I
window.
His shock of tousled fair hair
which defied the reforming influence OF
brush or comb, and had gained him
the nickname which had utterly ousted
1 his baptismal appellativeS, AlgernOn
/ Felix-surmounted a round face of Sc
raphic innocence out of which his
fathers intensely blue eyes wandered
round the room in quest of me
! Where is your cap, Fluffy %
loci Cd f-ftrr ha of ny.
FIuffy's right fist was tentatively ap-
piled to the tor. Of his skull.
well, now, mumsie. I shouldn I
wonder if it wasn't lying by the lower
poOli'
He uttered the Devonianism-inhe
tied from his father, the younger son
of a Devon squire@with a philosophic
calm which utterly ignored the per-
sonal bearing of my question.
And how came it there sonnie -
He twinkled all over.
"Oh, mumSie dear, it was such fun.
! purtended the old turkey-cock was a
I kangaroo and rOded Jumbo after him
as hard as hard! And the old turkey
1 he did not want to purtend that and he
| gobbled awful! oh, dear."
And Fluffy wiped tears born of
laughter with the back Of his chubby
! hand.
1t was impossible to resist Fluffy in
4 these moods, and by this time I was
shaking under the infection Of his mer-
riment
! "And you know, mumsie, there is a
! long sheep-trough by the lower pool.
/ So turkey he gets behind that and I
could see his old red head peeping over
/ the edge So
And my son, who had a strong dra-
matte turn, enacted the scene with a
chair for the trough.
$50 1 made Jumbo jump over the
/ trough just where his old eye was
pee-eeping and he gave a regular
scree-eechi Oh. dear!"
At this point words failed the mar
rator and he lay on his back at full
length on the floor. which he tapped
with his heels in an ecstacy of mirth.
In a few moments he recovered and
sitting UP with an air Of portentious
gravity cooked his head on one side
Must have spilled my cap just there
| mumsie."
well, my bov. off with you and send
Tom for 1t and then go and have your
! BATH
When Fluffy had disappeared 1 once
| more read the passage of Maria's letter
which described the finding of the bod
les of the widow and her infant child
Both were inside the shepherds hut
the door of which had been broken
/ open, and clutched in the mothers
dead hand was a tWo-Dronged stee
table-fork, evidently snatched up fol
| her defense. while her left arm was
still round her baby.
pictured to myself the poor souls
terror at the awful appearance of thai
demon-face glaring IN at her window
1t was then no doubt that she hao
strained her infant to her bosom and
had armed herself with her particu-
larly inadequate weapon. Oh, the an
guish that must have torn her hear
| while her door was being battered il
by her terrible visitant!
And the thought came to me-
Suppose my darling Fluffy tomor-
row. straying by himself in our alb
sence-''
I hid my face in my hands.
Amy. dearest, are you ilI2''
looked up to see my six-foot hus
! band, the picture of health and
strength, standing at the open window
I instantly determined not to worry
| l,i-,, LII, NJ ,,anr.i,fl far,clas