The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-03-13
Sideboard

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by It,"
The professor stirred delightedly. Il
can just see it," he said. my grand
mother had one"
After that" Rimbey continued.
with an approving smile for the profess
sor. 1T might Just as well have been
stones and bullets that Newton was
eating. He had only one thought-to
become immediate possessor Of that
sideboard.
We'll, you know how it is, gentle
men. Because the sideboard was en-
tirely beyond his clutches, his very
mortal existence seemed to hang on
getting hold Of It, He ate with It,
rode with it, slept with it, when he
could get any sleep at all. Most of his
nights were spent pacing the floor try.
ing to think of some new way OF per-
suading Miss Cynthia to let loose OF
the treasure. AT first he went openly
to her and made all sorts Of rash and
wild propositions for the sideboard.
One day, however, noticing a fash Of
gunpowder in that lady's eyes, along
with the smile, Newton gave up going
himself, and sent his Harvard gradu-
ate partner to see what he could do.
while he mounted the high stool and
kept books-something he took to az
pleasantly az youngster does Its
castor oil.
Then 1t was that poor Newton found
out that the sideboard. had brought
him into still deeper waters than Co
vetousness. Instead of a proper row
of figures, pink cheeks and dropping
lashes danced all along the ledger
pages in a most bewildering and fam
tastic manner, as over his benumbed
senses there dawned the conviction
that, come what would, he must let in
the thoughts Of q woman, foremost
even to his upholstering and renovat-
ing.
The crisis came one morning when
|; Newton called Barrick, his partner, to
the once and had long business talk
with him. In 1t. he sought to prove to
that Harvard mathematician that one
or the other of them must marry Miss
Cynthia in order to come into posses
sion of a sideboard that 1t would not
do at all for their business to lose.
Newton argued that the immense num-
Der of acres, which went along with
Cynthia Browning, proved, beyond the
shadow of doubt, that only born
mathematician should cope with so
great an honor. The proofs were not
conclusive. Barrick rebelled openly
and stubbornly. representing himself
to be too well pleased with the rosy
present to feel the need Of Miss Gym
thia-even with her coveted sideboard.
1 imagine Newton must have felt con-
siderably nettled at this point, for he
bridled up and declared he'd propose
| to Miss Cynthia that very day, even
II 1t was like pulling an eye-tooth--
and show his partner what proper in
terest in the business was, and how
much good the sideboard would really
bring them.
1T must have been the hustline
quality Of Newton which took her fan
cy, suppose. Anyway, she didn't
make any bones about marrying him
They drove over to DERBY that very
afternoon. and were married.
THE rest of the afternoon they tool
honeymoon ride all over Cynthia's
own hills, and when the shadows fel
she took him home, and straight into
the dining room, to their honeymoon
supper. Wen, gentlemen. the minute
Newton entered that room he had t.
lean hard against the wall to keel
from falling in a dead faint. For. i
you'll believe me, that sideboard, To-
which he had paid the neavy penalt,
of marrying Miss Cynthia, was gone
Not one single brass claw or knob of !
left to mark its tracks"
The minister from Michigan leanet
|, forward with the interest the athlet'
! displays in the last touchdown Of tn
football game. "Where?" he Ques
. toned.
. Rimbey chewed the end Of q tooth
pick with an attempt to suppress tn
. twinkle in his eye "Of course, Mis-
, Cynthia never guessed for an instan
, that Newton had any particular fee
ings about that sideboard," he SAID
easily. so It went out for littl
wedding present. Barrick gave hi
, partner the slip, and got in his wed
: ding Just two hours earlier. The
, were already over the getting
part-Miss Cynthia's pretty niece an
, himself-so 1t didn't take much pei
{ suasion on his part to get her to d
. her sewing afterwards. Then Mis-
. Cynthia showed her approval of th
!. union, and her determination to kee
, 1t on her side of the family, BY bestov
ing the sideboard upon the niece. Ho'
> they got it out Of one house so Quicl
!. iy into the new one rented by Barrie
!, is a puzzle. But guess Miss Cynthi
: managed it in the same inexplicabl'
: smooth way with which she manage