The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-11-05
In the oils

There certainly were flaws some
where In the screens. AS Mrs. Steble-
ton waved distractedly at the buzzing
pests that were interfering with the
reading of her morning mail she calcu-
lated that there must be at least a
thousand flies in the fiat. And Mrs.
Stebleton hates a fly as she hates a
rattlesnake.
II simply cannot stand this," she
cried In wrath. So she went to the
phone and ordered sent over at once
quantity of sticky fly paper When
it came she hated to spoil the looks Of
the place, but desperate measures were
imperative The yellow sheets were
scattered about through the rooms.
Then Mrs. Stebleton hung around
counting the first unwary victims and
rejoicing as she checked them OF.
Presently she got dressed and went
out to luncheon and shopping with
a friend. When she came back she
hoped that the last of the invaders
would have buzzed out his final pro-
tests on the sticky fly paper.
Hilda, the maid, some hours later
bore an armful of freshly ironed sheets
and towels as she tramped heavily
down the hall to the linen closet Then
she dropped her burden with thump
on a convenient table. When in the
course of putting them away she came
IN tha 1oC ch al cd
wrong with it. Hilda investigated and
then she said; my land." One Of the
pieces of fly paper was immovably
glued to the under side of the sheet.
With mutterings of disgust, Hilda
peeled of the sheet and tried to wash
1t out in the bath tub. Her efforts
proved 20 her how very useless 1t was
for a fly to try to get away when
once he got stuck to the sticky stuff
The fly paper she removed from its
dangerous position on the table, and
after aimlessly looking around for
an out of the wsy place, deposited 1t
upon the topmost sofa pillow on the
library couch
Linda Stebleton. aged 16, arrived
home from school little later. bring
ing with her three girls. They burst
in with a gust of chatter and dis
tributed themselves through two
rooms recklessly. Thereupon simulta-
neousiy arose wild shrieks. Guest No.
l had planted her elbow on one sheet
of fly paper and her endeavors to re-
move it glued it firmly to her other
hand Guest No 2 had leaned back
her head and brought down sheet
hanging over the edge of a bookcase.
Four puffs seemed inextricably at
tached to its surface Guest No. 8 was
trying to remove sheet from Lindas
back.
After the excitement had cooled
down trifie Linda gazed upon the fly
paper with hostile eyes. Mother must
nave put that horrid stuff around!"
she said. Il suppose she saw a fly!
You'd think that one fly was regi-
ment from the way she acts. Now,
where can we put the awful STUFF"
They prowled around with the sticky
paper gingerly held between their
thumbs and fingers and finally ar
ranged it to suit themselves Then
| they devoted an hour to soap and alco-
hol in an endeavor to rid themselves
! of the general sickness.
Tod" Stebleton, aged eight, Joined
| the procession when he rushed in and
sat down with a bounce on sheet
that had slid into chair. His objec-
tons were violent and acrid and 1t
| took the efforts of his sister and the
| other three girls combined to calm
him. Taking the fly paper in no gen.
tie hand. Tod hurled it out of his way.
Stebleton himself arrived home be-
! fore his wife. What's this? What's
| this?' he demanded in his nervous
| way, placing an investigating finger on
the pale yellow sheet on the hall
stand. 1t stuck. The other hand stuck.
too, when he hastily endeavored to get
it off. His son and daughter fastened
to his rescue, explaining that doubt
less mother had been waging war
against her enemies. the flies.
| When Mrs. Stehleton came in. tired
she was full of apologies for her late.
ness. she explained as she tossed off
her hat and her gloves and coat. I'm
simply deadw she ended. I've Just
got to rest few minutes before /
dress for dinnerl" Then she threw
herself among the pillows on the IL
brary couch.
But not for long. From Mrs. steble-
toms appearance az she ecra,nhlad 10
her feet wildly after a Mortified In.
slant it seemed that Linda and her
three friends, Tod and Stebleton all