The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1911-09-06

any more rats are seen nfOunu nero.
A week passed without another rat
being seen. o,l'hen two made their ap
pearanee. but Disappeared before th'
cook had time to get scared. On the
next day there were four rats and on
the next day one. Not n word was
said to Mr.. Bowscr until the other
evening after dinner. Then Mrs. Bow
ser carelessly asked:
Don't you think the cellar ought to
be- whitcwashed again"s
"Might be good tbing,Y was the re.
ply. - ...,4.
"Would you pay man So to do itF'
"Thrce dollarsl Three dollars! MOI
by the tomb of Allah! The man that
charges So for such u little job Is n
horse thief and n swindlcr."
"But If it takes him day and n
half?"
HE ought to do 1t In four hours. !
did It In three. I'll 20 down and take
look at things. and If there IS need
of another coat I'll put 1t on tomorrow
evening. I believe the pail and The
brush are down there"
Screams From the Cellar.
Mrs. Bowser had accomplished part
of the conspiracy she had entered into
with the cook. She had got Mr.. Bow
ser to 20 down cellar of his own ac-
cord. He got n match and went down
and lighted the gus and went looking
around for the whltewash outfit. He
was heard 10 whistle q few bars of Il
popular air. He was heard to hum.
He was heard moving about. then u
long. wild bloodcurdllng, scream-such
n scream as n woman utters when she
Is thrown oyer preciplce G000 feet
high because she VIII not marry the
leading man in the Boston Ideal Com.
edy company.
A rush and fall on the cellar stairs
another yell.
Then Mr. Bowser. with face as white
as the dead and his eyes rolling.
"Will you tell me what on earth is
the matter" asked Mrs. Bowser as
she came forward
IL saw something down there!
Some-something ran over my footr
he gasped.
"oh, something did eh? Well, you've
been told there are rats about"
"Of course there are rats" added the
cook. -4..
Would Not "Own Up.p
Mr.. Bowser had taken Il decided
stand on the rat question. He had pos
itively denied that there were rats
about. He must now own up or bluff
1t through. Mr.. Bowser is n man who
has never "owned up" over three times
In his life and was then sorry for II
within five minutes. He had got a bad
scare. but he got hold of his nerve and
turned on Mrs. Bowser to shout;
"Rats.I Idiots! fanatics. What u
saw down there was come stray cat
She took me by surprise and rutted
me for q moment. Kitty, kitty. come
up here. She won't come, but she's
down there" ~
But If It should be rats?" querled
Mrs. Bowser.
IF 1t should be Satan himself, why
don't you ask? You are just like all
other women. When you get a fool
idea into your head nothing can drive
1t out. ] say it's cat"
"Then you ought TO do down and
shoe her up. We can't have a strange
cat down cellar"
"Ill have her out in FIVE minutes.
That is, we will leave the door open
and she will come up and take a
skip"
"But If there are rats they will come
up"
woman, haven't said there wasn't
an Internal rat within four miles of
the house?' whooped Mr., Boyser.
"Yes, butt .a W 4s
Finds Big ceokroaehes.
He turned about and went down eel
lar. 1t was the only thing he could do.
He must hunt the cat or let the rats
hunt him. The gas was still burning,
and he armed himself with the fur
mace poker and went scufIiing around
and calling out "kitty' and "Shoo
therev .trAr aaa
Nothing developed for Ave minutes.
Then four big rats made dash for
him from behind barrel. He struck
at the nearest and fell down and rolled
over, and there was another wild yell
aud scramble up the stairs. The four
rats followed and whlsked out of the
kitchen into the back, yard before
either of the women could open her
mouth to scream.
Didn't tell you there were rats
here?" asked Mrs. Bowser
you did, but where are they?" was
replied. | saw three cockroaches sour
rylng out, but where were the ratsg 4
told you there were none"