Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1906-03-17
Kissing Susan Jones

contrary, her age was almost twenty
and her weight about 100 pounds. Had
| Susan been careless enough to sit down
| on me l should have been mashed as
fiat as single
Heavens, how | loved that girl! l
/ lost my appetite and my sleep over it,
and the doctor who was summoned
looked at my tongue and sagely shook
his head and said that | was going into
a decline. Being older and more of her,
Susan didn't have it quite so bad, but
it was limited throughout the school
that she was eating chalk to make her
look pale.
! At the beginning of winter a man
who called himself Professor Swift
came along and opened a writing aAd
, singing school combined. Susan and /
were among his pupils.
The seed of jealousy was planted in
my breast. | was forced to observe
that the professor was flirting with the
idol of my heart. AS we walked home
together | charged her with it, and she
made indignant denial. / simply call
ed her false and told her to go to grass,
and when she sank down in a snow
drift and pretended to faint away
walked on and left her to get frOstbit-
ten toes. The next night the professor
| escorted her home
After three or four days l thought
Susan showed signs Of relenting and
though the professor went home with
her from the school tagged along aft
er, in hopes she might speak to me.
She didn't. however, but when the
writing master left her on the doorstep
l saw him deliberately kiss her. l
thought she also kissed in return, and
was so furious that the white snow
looked red to me.
Harpersville was a peaceful. quiet
! village. Tramps and crime were I'M
known. One night a householder was
robbed of 500 in cash. The next night
, the professor, who was boarding with
widow, was robbed of $50, or claimed
; to have been. Then followed the rob-
j berry of two stores and two other
houses and, following them, that Of the
postoff1ce.
The robber had entered the postofice
by a side window and had left his
tracks in the snow. was among those
who saw these tracks, and took notice
! that the sole Of one of the shoes had
patch on it. There are people who
+ walk in a manner to wear a small hole
through the ball of the sole, and this
was a case Of it,
Saying nothing of my discovery to
citizens or constable, 1 sought out the
cobbler, and in a careless way asked if
he had repaired shoe in that fashion.
He had, and for the writing master.
That evening" for | still attended his
classes, l observed his shoes and found
that he was wearing one with d patch
on the SOLE
/ He had been received into the best
families of the village, and he had Of
fered a reward for the robbers, and it
would not do for me to make a mis-
take. / must watch until l had better
proofs.
! There were no more robberies for
week. Then l followed the professor
and Susan to her house after the close
Of the classes and again saw him kiss
| her. | was quite sure this time that
she kissed in return, and 1 drew in my
/ breath with a hiss and vowed venge-
ance of the most fearful kind.
When the professor left her he went
! to his lodgings, but had feeling that
he would reappear at a later hour. It
was not a cold night, and 1 hung
around the streets until midnight AT
that hour l caught sight of a skulker
/ and followed after. l followed him to
/ the wooden mills and saw him gain en-
trance with the aid of a skeleton key.
! 1t was the night before the weekly pay
day at the mills, and there would be
several hundred dollars in money in the
old safe.
| Using the utmost caution, crept up
! to the mills and through a window I
saw the marauder, whoever he was,
working away at the safe. Then l
withdrew and made haste to the house
of the village constable.
When he had been routed out he
awoke two or three other men, and in
a few minutes we were at the mills.
/ The man inside had made good use of
his time. The safe opened with a key,
and he had brought a key to fit. He
bundled up the bills and thrust them
into his overcoat pocket and was leav-
| ing the place when we arrived.
Realizing that he was discovered, he
| leaped from the platform and attempt
ed to pass me. Had he accomplished
this he might have outdistanced the
men, but as he passed L stuck out my
! foot, and down he came, and before he
could rise the men were upon him.
Only then were any of us sure that it
was the professor. He had on an old
suit Of clothes and a set of false whisk-
ers and might have passed about the
village at any hour in the evening with
out being known.
He fought hard to get away, but