Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-09
JOBSON SHOVELS SNOW

On the night when the big snowSstorm
began Mr.. JobsOn pushed up the shade
and glanced out Of his bed room window
before retiring.
IT'S. more than coming down. he OBJ
served to Mrs. Jobson. ''There'Il be a
job for me in the morning"
"Job?" said Mrs. Jobson. taking the
hairpins out of her hair and placing them
IN her mouth. What do you mean?"
Now. wonder what you think mean?"
inquired Mr.. Jobson. acridly. do you i'm
agine that I'm going to get out Of bed
before daylight and go down to Lafayette
Square and feed the squirreIs?'
But" ventured Mrs. Jobson. "you said
something about Job, and"
Well, shoveiing snow on sidewalk isn't
exactly like playing tiddledewinks or pick
ing petals or dandelions," remarked Mr..
Jobson.
"Shoveling snow?' put in Mrs. Jobson.
But you're not going to shovel the snow
of the sidewalk"
Is that so?" inquired Mr.. Jobson. IRON
ically. "Who told you I wasn't? Where
do you pick up all the material for these
prophecies? What line Of dope do you
employ when you make these offhand pre-
dictions?"
But" said Mrs. Jobson. you know the
snow will be deep in the morning. and the
walk in front of the house is sixty feet
long. and it's such hard work. and"
:. And md the crocuses will pop next month non Il,
cheese" broke in Mr.. Jobson. land Con-
gress will adjourn on the 4th of March,
and therell be bathing at the seashore
business, and a lot of other things like
that. You have got your old-time clutch
on the obvious, I see. The snow will be
deep in the morning, will it? Have l said
shallow? Our walk 1t sixty feet long,
then? Have you heard me say anything to
lead you to believe that it's thirty -seven
feet and two and quarter inches In
length? And it's hard work. shoveling
snow. is It? Have I ever compared shovel
Ing snow to eating floating island with q
spoon? It's q wonder you wouldn't buck
up occasionally and say something that
that's lived on earth since the era Of the
shepherd kings"
II was thinking. of course" suggested
Mrs. Jobson. "of the last time you started
and how you became overheated and caught
cold, and got rheumatism, and"
And the bubonic plague. and house.
maids knee, and Riggs disease Of the
why. and the creeping johnny. and the
African fever, and Justification of the Joints,
and necrosis Of the arteries, hey?" cut in
Mr.. Jobson. Il got EN- all that time
front of the house. didn't I? Madam, you
know just as well as you know that you've
got 492 hairpins crammed into your mouth
at this moment that have never shoveled
any snow of any sidewalk in front Of any
house we've lived in since I've known you,
and I've known you, and all Of your kinks.
Mrs. Jobson, for hull long time, remem-
Der that. I haven't put a hand to the job
in knee pants. That's why I'm going to
tackle the Job in the morning-the first
thing in the morning."
But" said Mrs Jobson. surely you must
you only shoveled OFF about three feet Of
the walk, and said that both of your ears
were frozen. and that"
mo. madam" CURLY interjected Mr.. Job
licked Xerxes at the battle Of Marathon,
ana I don't remember the time that I as
sumed the crown as emperor Of the French.
and I don't recall the time when I wrote
time when invented the telescope-you
see, haven't got memory apparatus that
works day and night and then overtime,
like some people am acquain ted with"
We'll. must be going crazy then" said
Mrs. Jobson, with sigh. as she got into
bed, but certainly do seem to remem-
Der
That's it-you seem to remember'-that's
you spring on me when you think you've
got me cOrnered," cut in Mr. rJobSon. Sup
posing we don't converse on this topic any
more tonight? I wish you'd wake me up
just as soon as you open your eyes In the
morning, no matter If It's still dark. I'm
going to shovel that snow Off our walk.
I'm tired of waiting for some weary black
person to swing along and ask me four bits
for scraping just a little bit of the top
dressing off my sidewalk snow. II there's
ever going to be any self-reliance in this
camp, I'm the one that has got to set the
example. 1 can see that and 1 might just
as well begin Immediately as at any other
time"
Mrs. Jobson emerged from sleep at her
usual time. $50. the following morning.
and glance out of the window at the
reminded her of Mr.. Jobsons final adjura-
ton Of the night before at the retiring
hour. She hated to do 1t, he looked so
warm and comfortable and was sleeping SO
soundly. but she prodded him awake.
Huh? Hey? What's all this?" he
grunted, as he slowly came out of slumber.
whats the racket
mo racket" replied Mrs. Jobson. but
and you know you're to shovel the snow
off the walk this morning. You told me
last night to awaken you as soon as I
awoke, you remember"
inexpressible reproach. 1t was a blue
hour of the morning. 1t looked mighty
cold out. The snow was more than swirl
ing and eddying in the strong cold blast.
The bed clothes were powerfully warm
and coy.
II rather hated to awaken you" pro-
ceeded Mrs. Jobson, "but you know how
firmly you stated last night that you in
tended to shovel the snow off the walk the
first thing this morning, and so L"
'That'll be about all O. that" cut in Mr..
Jobsen. you don't have to egg me on to
1t, you know, till you perceive some symp-
toms that I'm trying to renig. And I'm not
renigger. be good enough to remember"
whereupon Mr.. Jobson. with an immense
effort of will. bounded out of the warm
bed and proceeded to get his clothes on.
81 s'pose you thought I'd flag the job when
woke up, hey? Well, I'll come pretty
nigh showing you. madam, that I'm no
pollywog, despite your settled belief that
ann
Mr.. Jobson darted down the stairs and out
of the house. He went to the grocery
store q few doors away and borrowed the
grocerymans snow shovel and started in.
A lot Of people had tramped by the house
even that early in the morning. and the
trudge-path right in the center of the
sidewalk was pretty well packed. But Mr..
Jobson tackled the job bravely and worked
like horse for all Of five minutes. Then
he stood up straight and placed his right
hand in the small Of his back. where there
was apparently a crick. A couple Of Mr..
Jebsons neighbors stuck their heads out of
l.