The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1907-08-23
EXPECTING
THE WORST


terrible when il comes" remarked the
man with the lank hair and shrill
voice as the car swung around the
curve.
whats terrible when it somes?"
inquired the man in the next seat,
lowering his paper and glaring over
the top of il.
why, that what's bound TO hap
pen, replied the man with the lank
hair
And why's anything bound to hap
pen," asked the man in the next seat
impatiently.
Rain" breathed shrill-voiced
one, with a shudder. And snow!
Hail, too! Frost ALSO Fourteen kinds
of unreasonable weather, all in row!
1t means that something awful is
bound TO happen"
"Shucks!" snorted the man in the
next seat, slapping his paper in his
lap. you talk like a dizzy old dame
with the herb habit. Cut it out and
take a pill, for your liver's loafing.
Take pill"
You can laugh" said the man with
the lank locks, in a grieved tone, but
/ know what I'm talking about.
"But l don't mind telling about it, J."
resumed the man with the lank hair,
after some slight mollifcatory re-
marks from the red-haired man in the
rear, because it shows just what
we're up against on this part of the
big map. Grandfather was saying
last night that this year was dead
ringer for 1881, and you've all heard
about the awful thing that happened
then.
What! You're not wise? What
ignorance! Anyhow, according =
grandfather, 1881 started off just ..-te
this year. Along in March, when or
dinarily the sleighing was good here
in town, there came a bunch of heat
that made all the front doors in town
blister and peel. Then it got cold and
showed, then it hailed and then 1t
rained. And along in June and July,
when ordinarily Washington is like
a furnace, it was raining and showing
and hailing all in twenty-four hours,
and the water was SO deep on Pennsyl-
vania avenue and the thermometer so
active that one day the Mary Wash
ington could steam at full speed from
Alexandria to the Soldiers home with
out taking soundngs, and the next,
iceboat races would be in order. oh,
it was a fierce year, and we haven t
seen the worst of this one yet, You
listen to me-"
well, what was the awful thing that
happened?" inquired the man in the
next seat, with more Impotence.
oh" replied the person with the
lanl1 hair, 81 was getting down to that.
You see grandpa had just been mar
ried in January of 1881, and his wife
was a good cook and he was naturally
of an optimistic disposition, he didn't
take much stock in the calamity con-
versation that was going round. But
finally it began to work on his nerves,
and he got so he'd sit looking out of
the window for hours at a time, Won
dering just what form the impending
disaster would take, just like folks,
and particularly married men, are do
ing now So"
Look here said the man in the
next seat, glazing at the shrill-voiced
conversationalist, are you or are you
not going to tell us what happened in
1881?
Certainly" replied the lank-locked
individual, with an injured glance
around. Il was just getting down to
it. Well, as | was saying, grandfather
got so he couldn't eat lie knew
something was going TO happen. All
signs pointed to it and he'd never
known such signs TO fail. And sure
enough it did and it was terrible.
1t was worse than he had ever mag
ined. Grandpa was poor"
Say" shouted the man in the next
seat, you tell us right away what that
terrible thing was that happened.
don't propose to"
Certainly" interrupted the long
winded CALAMITY conversationalist
nervously, certainly | will right
away. As | was saying grandfather
was sitting in his Office this partic-
ular day in the summer of 1881, feel
ing sort of shaRy and blue, and he
heard a horse come galloping madly
down the street and stop in front of
his door And he just knew that
something terrible had happened.
The man in the next seat pulled
fercely at his cigar, but the lank-
locked talker doomed right along I'M
noticingly.
Grandfather rushed to the front
door of his office" he said, land out
there was a horse covered with foam
and a man just falling to the ground
from exhaustion. And grandfather
looked at the man and his tongue just
Glove TO the roof of his mouth. He
knew something fearful had occurred.
Good-day, Smith, he said, after he
got his voice-the man who fell off
the horse was a neighbor of grand
pastel me the worst at once Is
it bad?'
But the man on the horse Just