Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1911-02-08


Something had gone wrong with the
!, telephone and Mr.. HARRISON was fuss
ing over it with a screw driver and
pair of scissors-all the tools he
could find. Flanagan was lifting rugs
to shake them on the roof-Bella's or
der.
Wash the table linen!" he was
grumbling. "Tll do what I can that's
necessary. Grub has to be cooked,
and dishes has to be washed-Pll ad-
nit that. If you're particular, make
up your bed every day; I don't object.
But don't ell me we have to use 33
table napki- day. What did folks
do before napkins was invented? Tell
me that! "-triumphantly
whats the answer?'' Mr.. HARRISON
inquired absently, evidently with the
screw-driver in his mouth.
used their pocket handkerchiefs!
And if the worst comes to the worst,
| Mr.. HARRISON, these roIks here can use
their sleeves, for all 1 care-not that
the women has any sleeves to speak
Of Wash clothes 1 will not"
"Well, don't worry Mrs. Wilson
about it" the other voice said Elan
| nigan Strengthened himself with
grunt.
Mrs Wilson," he said "a lot she
would worry. She's been a disappoint-
ment to me, Mr.. HARRISON, me think
ing that now she'd come back to him,
after leavin' him the way she did,
they'd be like two turtle doves. Lord!
the cook next door"
But what the cook had told about
Bella and Jimmy was not divulged,
for the HARRISON man caught him up
: with jerk and sent Flanagan, gruen-
big, with his rugs to the roof
1t did not seem possible to carry on
tho deception much longer, but If
be when Aunt Selma learned she had
been lied to, made ridiculous, general.
~ deceived? And how would l be
able to live in the house with her
when she did know? Luckily, every
one was so puzzled over the mystery
in the house that numbers of little
things that would have been absolute
ly damning were never noticed at ALL
For instance, my asking Jimmy at
luncheon that day if he took cream in
his coffee! And Max coming to the
rescue by dropping his watch in his
glass of water, and creating a diver.
sion and giving every body an oppor-
! tunity to laugh by saying not to mind,
it had been in soak before.
Just after luncheon Aunt Selma
| brought me some undergarments of
Jim's to be patched. She explained at
length that he had always worn out
his undergarments, because he always
squirmed around SO when he was sit
ting. And she showed me how to lay
one Of the garments over a pillow to
get the patch in properly.
1t was the most humiliating moment
of my life, but there was no escape I
took my sewing to the roof, while she
went away to find something else for
me to do when that was finished, and
l sat with the thing on my knee and
stared at it, while rebellious tears
rolled down my cheeks. The patch
was not the shape of the hole at all,
and every time I took a stitch I sewed
it fast to the pillow beneath. 1t was
terrible. Jim came up after a while
and sat down across from he and
watched, without saying anything.
suppose what he felt would not have
| been proper to say to me. We had
both reached the point where ade-
quate language failed us. Finally he
said:
st wish I were dead"
$50 do IT, l retorted, jerking the
thread
Where is she now?'
Looking for more Of these" I in.
Dictated the garment over the pillow,
! and he wiggled. please don't
| squirm," 1 said coldly. "You will wear
out your-lingerie, and I will have to
mend them"
He sat very still for five minutes,
when I discovered that I had put the
patch in crosswise instead Of length
wise and that it would not fit. AS
jerked it out he sneezed.
"Oh, sneeze," l added venomously.
You will tear your buttons off, and /
will have to sew them on"
| Jim rose wrathfully. Don't sit,
don't sneeze," he repeated Don't
stand, suppose, for fear I will wear
out my socks. Here, give me that. If
the fool thing las to be mended, I'll
| do it myself
He went over to a corner of the
parapet and turned his back to me.
He was very much offended. In about
a minute he came back, triumphant,
and held out the result of his labor.
I could only gasp. He had puckered
up the edges Of the hole like the neck
of bag, and had tied the thread
| around it. "You-you won't be able
to sit down." ventured
i Don't have any time to Sit" he re-
torted promptly. Anyhow, it will give
some, won't it? 1t would if it was tied
with elastic, instead Of thread. Have
you any elastic?"
Lollie came up just then, and Jim
/ 4.