Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1909-01-07

MI 9 T. 1 n T. Z. ( , S
w Az II
~ ONE are born
achieve" Lucy
I Some achieve
victims and some
-s ! have victims
ess& thrust upon
~ TIL M" finished
,$NSSs. II Miss Haywood,
9 gssAssSS promptly III YOU
M5sSS. }SSsySSsSsss are going to para
~ >>as sSssS phase, paraphase
s&s to the bitter end.
WsSsasaN But why this pes
%SsasssM SINH tic out
~ burst?"
sSgA 'Oh, have vic
ES& ES Tins thrust upon
<.G$@ EG me-" said Lucy
sshf SaEgaS laughing. "Of all
the easy marks-to quote my brother ,
Franll-my mother is the limit-still I
quoting my brother Frank. We never
know what portion of our belongings
have been handed out to some one
who asked for them Frank kept his
closet locked until the day he was in
vited to spend the night at Glenwood |
and forgot to give the key to the
porter when he sent for his clothes. /
Mother had always felt injured by I
the locked closet and you should have |
seen her face when Frank came home !
in a state of foaming wrath. She |
looked like the cat that ate the !
canary. He hasn't locked it since
then. though he runs big risks.
Last week when came home l
found mother in tears. She refused |
to explain for some time, | think she !
had made UP her mind never TO tell |
but she crayed sympathy. 1t seems
that young man in uniform-she |
dwelt upon the uniform as an eX-
tenuating circumstance-ha come to
the door with an express package
from New York upon which there was
charge OF $1.55 She said she told
him she didn't know any one in New
York and she thought it queer any
one would send Il present with a
charge on it and she thought $1.55 too
much and she had only $3.50 anyway.
The messenger refused the reduced
rates and was going away with the
package when mother managed to
,;x.l,l
copied
81 can just imagine her look of
pleased expectancy as she opened the
package, and the awful realization
when she saw the cake of soap and
the lot of tissue paper she drew.
We'll, she pledged me to secrecy.
She pretends not to mind Franks
teasing, but she does A few evenings
later Frank was looking over the pa
per and said, after making various
ordinations all bearing on the in
credible gullibility of women: 'Trot
out your gold brick, mother No gay
deceiver ever missed you and this
fellow must have sold you one
Poor innocent mother said with
great dignity that it wasn't a gold
brick but a cake of soap, and that
she knew she didn't know much, but
she knew enough not to buy gold
brick and that any one would have
been taken in by his uniform and that
she always thought she could trust me
to keep my word.
Nothing that Frank or | could say
hon tbat bar Fl
dence was not betrayed.
One Saturday she was in perfect
fever, hunting for two cents. She re-
fused all offers of dimes and nickels
with the mysterious remark that she
did not want to give him SO much. /
naturally suggested that if he hadn t
the change she might tell him to call
again, but she paid no attention to
me. went out into the kitchen to
see what manner of tradesman the
man was On the edge of a chair sat
a brisk-looking old man twirling his
hat very impatiently. After mother
returned triumphantly with the penny
she remembered to have seen in the
bottom of a drawer and | had dug
one out of little Jim's bank with the
edge of knife, he said: God bless
you, but you've been a long time,
and departed.
Frank came in then and she said
apologetically that he was poor old
eg'ssA man to whom
&eeaY several women in
n the neighborhood
paid a weekly