The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-01-15
an hour out OF the twenty-feur dress
ing and undressing.

~S ~aCd u tClb IuE
house not to invest In chickens. pigs.
cows. autos or winter tonics. Wen.
right out with my head up and able to
look the world I'm the face. How
have stood Mrs. Bowser's sarcasm aa
long as I have Is a mystery to me.
"Saturday.-Changed my clothes aft
er l got home and had dinner and
went to a poker party. 1t vas what Is
called a stag party-that is. you drank
as many highbalis and gin fzzes as
seemed proper and lost all the money
you wanted to.
"very pleasant lot OF fellows and all
surprised to see me- Heard some of
them limiting that Mrs. Bowser must
be dead.
Talked politics and played poker.
Talked Cuba and played more poker.
Talked Panama canal and had a
flush.
"Held threes and straights and big
pairs and never once thought Of Mrs.
Bowser. Free as air and feeling like O.
four-year-old.
Men Fools t. Marry.
"What asses men make OF them
selves when they marry! Just let Mrs.
Bowser give me one sassy word when
she gets back and
II have an indistinct recollection of
dropping something at poker, but
whether it was a cent or $40 I shall
new know - in fact. | don't care.
When I set out to have a good time
there's nothing stingy about me.
81 remember speaking about 60
ing home at 2 o'clock in the morning.
but some one asked what's the use,
and l said no more. Don't remember
getting home. Don't remember a
policeman kindly unlocking the front
door for me and calling me a regular
Jim Dandy. Can't remember the cook
finding me lying in the front hall
hen she came down. The first I
knew 1 was up and dressed and pity
Ing the man who ties himself to a wife.
policeman met me at the gate as I
started for the office and wanted to
know if I was going to pay for that
window. 1 didn't even ask him what
window he meant, but when he said
the damage was 81 l pulled Out the
money and paid it like a man. Cook
brushed feathers off my clothes and
picked straws out of my hair before T
sat down to breakfast, but she was
discretionary discreet. She said she
used to pick up feathers and straws
when she went to sacred concerts.
"Sunday.-Woke up with a recollec-
t~fon-several recOllections; also a sore
throat and q headache. Breakfast in
bed. More rncolIectiOns and headache
han breakfast.
~SympathixeA In His Loss.
Cook very kind and thoughtful. Dis
covered that | had lost my watch and
sympathiZed with me.
discovered that l had lost my wal
let and said it didn't matter as long as
[ had had a good time.
81 don't think l came home In ALI
ambulance. Neither of my legs are
broken, and why should | have lone
so? I don't think 1 slept on the front
steps. When a man has a house he
sleeps inside instead Of outside of it.
I sort O wish Mrs. Bowser was home.
Cook says I have quite q fever. She
attributes it to political excitement.
Mrs. Bowser is one of the best hands
in case of fever I ever heard of. I
might reach her by telephone, but
monday. Doctor has been here.
Says I have had q narrow escape.
Says a man Of my age ought to have
q wife to hold him down. Says there's
no particular harm in moving pictures.
vaudeville shows. sacred concerts.
poker games. gin izZes. highballs. rab-
bit clubs ard sleeping in the front hall
If taken in moderate doses. but that !
seem to have OvardOne the thing.
Cook is kindness itself, but she isn't
Mrs. Bovser.
81 now begin to understand why men
marry and Why a man is an ass who
doesn't. There is something sacred
about home. There is nothing sacred
about Il sacred concert.
"COok continues her kindness. She
has just limited that she has nothing to
tell Mrs. BoWser. who will arrive early
tomorrow morning. am counting the
hours. I shall explain to her that it is
a hard cold. but she will suspect the
truth and forgive me.
"Dear Mrs. Bowser, Durn highballs
and a life OF freeG2n." VI. QUAD.
AnfT4c+@d Enn1i-nates.
Mr.. Bottle-The~p comes that clock.
He's oottirr 50 stuck ID that he wears