The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-01-18
BOWSER'S BREAK.
One Of His Old Fashioned Happy
Evenings.

All the afternoon Mrs. Bowser had
had a presentiment. Mr.. Bowser had
been real good for four or five weeks
and that presentiment was to the eff
feet that he was due to break out
again. He had left the house in the
morning laughing and joking and call
ing her his little girl" but like most
wives Mrs. Bowser had learned that
there is sometimes a wide and varied
difference between the going and the
coming of a husband. What added to
her feelings was the attitude Of the
cook She went about in a nervous,
uneasy way. and, finally, when asked
If she wasn't feeling we'll, she broke
down and wept and. walled out:
"Oh, mum. I feel that something
dreadful is going to happen in this
house tonight"
You don't think the roof is going to
fall in, do your"
"Wusser than that"
DO you fear fre?"
"Wusser-wusser."
But there can't be an explosion or
anything of that kind"
But Mr.. Bowser can come home,
NUM-
In due time Mr.. Bowser came home.
Mrs. Bowser stood at the window and
saw him as he dropped or the car at
the corner. Her heart fell like lump
of lead. His shoulders dropped, his
back was bumped up. and he scuffed
his feet instead Of lifting them up.
Things had gone wrong with him dur
ing the day, and he had probably had
a row with somebody on the car. He
came along down the street to find the
gate open. That was Its usual position,
but he stopped and looked at it and
then banged it shut and set his jaw.
Mrs. Bowser was waiting for him in
the hall to ask him IL he thought it
was going to snow. but he hung up his
hat and overcoat before turning to her
to say:
What in thunder do care whether
it SHOWS or rains! Woman, I've got to
have a long talk with you after din
ner. Things have gone on this way long
enough
whats wrong with things as you
call them?"
He made no answer, but headed for
| the dining room, and he sat down to
the table to find fault with everything
on It. The cook gave Mrs. Bowser a
| look of reproach and got out as fast
| as she could, and a thunder-cloud how
| cred over things for the next half hour
| It was evident that Mr. Bowser was in
| for a happy evening. and they had no
! sooner reached the sitting room than
he started in with:
Am I to take it that you have any
interest in this house or not?'
"Of course, I have.
Then, what about that gate? come
| home to find 1t yawning like the mouth
| of the Amazon, and you seeming not to
| care PUNK how many COWS got in and
| ambled around the front yard"
| IT have never seen COW wandering
around the streets Of the city yet
THAT is no excuse for your careless
ness. You have never experienced an
| earthquake yet, but who can say there
won't be one along this very evening?
! Had a COW got into the yard, Mrs.
Bowserhad a COW got into the
yard"
'she would have got out again with
out hurting anything"
| Don't talk back to me in. that flip
| pant manner This is a very serious
matter. 1t may lead to divorce be-
| fore we are through. AS near as
could make out from the street,
there's two bricks gone from one Of
| the chimneys. Who pulled them off /?
Where did they go to? Were you and
the cook using them to play handbaff
on the roof? Next thing I hear Of
will be dozen leaks in the roof. caus-
| ed by your galloping around"
| Mrs. Bowser felt too insulted to
| make any reply, and he walked over
| to the piano and examined 1t and then
broke out with:
piano. If you'd brought a jackass in
here and backed him up to the piano
and hired him to kick 1t could have
been no worse. There's fifty dollars
gone to get that scratch out"
Have you forgotten when you
made it?" quietly asked Mrs.. Bewser
at was one night six months ago
when you threw the hammer at the
cat
| He gIared at her for a moment,
worked his ears like a frightened
| horse and then concluded to drop the
| piano business and exclaim:
"And that crash on the front stairs.
stood in the hall tonight, and it's per-
fectly disreputable. I believe there
are as many as seven holes in 1t. and