Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1907-09-04
;7Rs7Eszs7Szs7Rs7FszslRRsl!
| IN Ills OWN
COUNTRY
Observation-Disclosures

B GlUUNTRI &
slS1S1s151s1s1sss152ss1s7E7s7s7S1s
It was long pest the usual bedtime
OF the household. The wooden clock
on the kitchen wall struck surprised
0nd aggressive 'ten," then proceeded
10 tick off the seconds with an en-
phaals in which there was something
bordering on disapproval. The crack
ling fire in the stove had long since
burned itself into a bed of silent Goals;
even the teahettle had tired Of Its
monotonous humming. and now the
6hin thread Of vapor which floated
from Its nose did SO in noiseless,
halfhearted fashion.
On one side Of the kitchen table
Sophia Bently. nodded drowsily over
the pile of socks she was darning.
Opposite her her husband pored over
che pile of old almanacs before him,
oblivious alike to the flight of time
and the suggestive yawns of his wife.
Presently he pushed back his chair,
ran one hand nervously through his
sparse gray hair and gave utterance
to an exclamation indicative, seeming
~, of deep satisfaction.
TITS comm, nigh as l can figure
out" he announced, somewhere be-
tween the eighteenth and twenty-siNth
Of next month"
Mrs. Bently tossed her pile OF socks
ON the table, and pushing her spec
tacles up. to her forehead, rubbed her
sleepy eyes. what is it now, father?"
che asked with gentle resignation. "a
dry spell or flurries O snow?"
"Tadn't either one of EN-" he as
serted, cts a tornado"
"A what?" said his wife, bending
over to peer at him beneath the lamp
shade.
"A tornado!" he reiterated, with con-
viction. Zone Of the kind that'll blow
down trees an bust in winders, an,
like enough, II onroof barn or two.
tell you," he went on, sit amt goin'
to be any zephyr. ! shouldn't wonder
mite If it vas worse than that blow
we had in the fall of 81. Pm goin'
10 write the papers about 1T tomorrow
and give 'em warmth"
Mrs. Bently did not seem duly i'm
pressed by the threatened calamity. In
deed, her smile, as she turned to her
husband, WIS more than skeptical
when was 1T you said it was com
in'?" she asked.
Somewhere between the eighteenth
and twenty sixth" he replied.
pass me the last almanac" she
demanded; and when he had done her
bidding, she slid the spectacles to the
bridge of her nose and slowly thumb
ed the pages.
you ought not to have your tornado
coming along that time" she remon-
strated. "The third Thursday in the
month comes on the eighteenth, an
that's the day the sewing circle meets
here. Then the twenty-third, which
comes Of a Tuesday, is the day that
Mis' Bragg is goin' to have her birth
day party. You couldn't have picked
out a more unhandy time for lorna
does. Seems to me, if were you l
should put it off till the last of the
month"
Harrison Bently smote on arm of
his rockingham. "Ain't that just like
women?" he burst out, in scorn. Don't
be so foolish, Sophy. You talk as If
/ held tornadoes in the hollow of my
hand and turned 'em loose any time
was mind to. hain't got anythin'
to do with maxim Of It, All can do
Is to warn folks that it's comm and
1t is, too. just as say" She did not
ask him from what source he drew
his knowledge of the impending disas-
ter, nor by what deductions he was
able to approximate the time OF its
appearance. Precedent cases had
taught her the futility of such a
course. She returned the almanac,
none too gently, to its place among
Its predecessors, and putting her ell
bows ON the table and resting her
chin in both upturned palms, she sur
veyed her prophet husband in a du-
bious silence.
'sOf course" she remarked, at last,
'most Of the folks won't pay any
attention to it, even it does come out
In the paper; but then there'll be 9TH
ers that'll be just fools enough to.
Folks like Liza Crowell, now, would
not stir out Of the house If they
heard a tornado was predicted. want
good full gatherin' when the sew
ang-cdrcle meets here, an / guess Mis-
Bragg wouldn't ever forgive you If
she knew you were the cause of keep
In any one away from her party.
Since you know it's comm, why can't
you tell Just what time it's goin' to
be, instead of keepin timid folks all
wrought up for eight days?"
The forecaster shifted scornfully. ~
should t(hink l was dom my part if
I came Within eight days of It," he
declared, although maybe can mar
row 1t down day or two by and
by"
THE best thing you can do is to
say nothing about It," Mrs. Bently
advised, tartly. "More's likely it'll
t11rn out like that KILN frost you
predicted the twentieth day of last
June"
At this open skepdcism her husband
brdstled. We'll, there was frost
that night out in Illinois, anyway"
he said in self-defense.
"And maybe that's where your tor
nado'S goin' to bel" snapped his syponse