River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1907-02-07

from the office, found May waiting at
the door in a state of intense excite
ment.
Fred she screamed, before I got
to the gate, where is that ticket?"
What on earth is the matter?' I
asked.
ooh, you have lost it, 1 know you
havel And l shall never get anything
again wanted so much"
AS she seemed about to dissolve in
to tears / made dash up the steps.
/ hate scenes above all things, and
felt instinctively that our neighbor,
Mrs. Marley, was peeping at us from
behind the curtains next door,
Now dear" | began, when had
closed the door, you mustn't excite
yourself, you know you mustn't"
But Fred" she sobbed, we've won
prize-a magnificent mahogany
suite; but we won't get it now you've
lost the ticket"
| suddenly remembered. In spite of
my objections May had bought tick
ct in the grand Hibernian Lodge lot
terry, and the suite she talked about
must be the second prize. | ran into
the dining-room, and few minutes
search unearthed fiaring red ticket.
After the first joy of gaining some
thing at the expense of other people,
the question arose, what was to be
done? Our house of five rooms and a
kitchen was fully furnished. The fur
niture meant my savings for two years
before our marriage. We really had
not room for anything else. l timidly
suggested that we should try and get
the suite changed into money. May
turned on me with a fine scorn in her
eye.
"You never want to have things look
NICE" she cried. why we have moth
ing decent in the house."
This was rather hard on the furni-
ture l had given up cigars and the
theater for. But it doesn't do to argue
with May. So it was soon settled, and
that evening we proceeded to the Met
ropolitan furnishing store to view the
suite. The sight of it made my heart
sink. 1t would have done for a pal
ace. May was in raptures.
She hurried me home, and we were
soon in our room arranging where the
things should be put Our room was
IA feet square. 1t had two small win
dOws side by side, and even with the
modest furniture in it there was bare
ly space to move about. But the mat
ter presented no difficulties to May.
aYs5 IRo mil CT nd nil
ly; and the washstand there, Freddie"
she said (She always called me
Freddie when pleased). "And the
dressing-table will fit in beautifully
between the windows"
| had my doubts, but said nothing.
There was little breakfast next morn
ing, for May and the girl had been en-
gagged from daybreak in clearing out
the old suite and devising places to
store it away. She secuted my idea
that we might sell it, and said it would
do for the spare room when we got
one.
When l arrived home at three
o'clock found the van already at the
door and small crowd of onlookers
around it. May was standing, flushed
and excited at the gate.
"Oh, Fred, what shall we do?" she
cried; ''they can't get the wardrobe
in"
AS it was, there were four men on
our narrow staircase wrestling with
the washstand and using the profanest
Ian guage. They had smashed the lamp
in the hall, and the plaster all along
was furroWed like a cornfeld.
BY some miracle of handling, known
only to furniture men, they negotiated
the turning, and the washstand had
reached it's destination. That was the
top landing. The men tried coaxing
and violence, tilted it on end, ram
med it at the bedroom door in all sorts
Of impossible angles, but it would not
be put through. So it was left where
it was.
We held hurled consultation in the
garden over the fate of the wardrobe.
1t was out of the question to attempt
the stairs with it. The head furniture
man announced that it would have to
be hoisted in by the window AS the
apparatus to do this was not at hand,
it was left all night in the garden COW
cred by tarpaulin.
May was in ecstasy. She had seen
Mrs. Markey's face, green with envy,
at the window.
In the morning we were invaded
early by a gang of men with ropes and
pulleys, and the wardrobe was soon
dangling between heaven and earth.
All the people in the street were at
their windows, for the man directing
the operation had voice like a fog
horn.
What an idiot the fellow was! 1t
had never struck him to use his mea-
surfing tape. When the wardrobe was
got up to the balcony, it would no
more go through the window than the
washstand through the door So it
had to be lowered over again. May
was half crying with vexation.
Bring it into the dining-room," she
said; I'VE will make that our room,
Fred, and have meals upstairs
Mrs. Marley and her husband were
enjoying it immensely. l could have
strangled them.
l ordered the men to bring the
thing in by the front door. and caught
one of them winking at the other, as
he said: "All right, guv'nor."
Of oO,1rSo fbo th;v, drovu Yr,1 ~, II, q