The herald., 1913-08-21
By MARGARET BARR


considering him an enemy His wife
beckOned him to come into the house.
He obeyed and received u scolding for
his rashnesS.
Two or three days after this. when
Mr.. Hollingsworth came home from
business in the evening. as soon as he
opened the door he was greeted by
plaintive wall
"Oh, Fred"
For heavens sake, what is it. daE-
ling?"
why did you talk so to those Ital-
ians?"
What have they dOne?"
Left a bomb at the back door"
You don't mean it?''
"Oh, I'm so glad you've got home,
I've been afraid il would go off before
you came"
why didn't you telephone the po-
Iice?"
Il didn't know what to do. The bomb
was left about half an hour ago. Su-
san came upstairs and told me that
she had found it at the back door just
inside the she'd"
What did she say she found?"
"a basket How she knew it was a
bomb was that she heard a grating
sound like rusty machinery. She
didn't wait to hear any more, but came
right upstairs to me and told me
about it."
aI,ll bova n looE ot n a"
'Oh. don't go near it. Please don't!'
Notwithstanding this appeal Mr..
Hollingsworth went through the kitch-
en- to the back door. His wife caught
him by the cOattail and held him to
prevent his examining it. Making
virtue of necessity. he stopped and lis
tened. There was succession of small
sounds which NJ. HOllingswOrth at
tributed to the moving of some mech
anism.
do come away cried his wife, tug
ging at his coattail.
There's something going inside, but
| can't make out what it is" said the
husband.
The top of the basket was covered
with thin wooleh cloth, and at that
moment the latter was raised as if
something were passing under it.
"By Jove," exclaimed Hollingsworth.
1T looks as if the mechanical con-
trivance underneath were rubbing
against the cover-a concentric wheel,
maybe"
Mrs. Hollingsworth shrieked and
dragged her husband back into the
hall. The occasion Of her action was
a tiny puff as If a few grains Of gun
powder had exploded.
'This is all nonsense" said the head
of the house. Pm going to make an
examination"
At this Mrs. Hollingsworth slammed
the kitchen door and locked it. For
some time no threats or pleadings
would induce her to open it, but finally
she gave way. and the door was open
ed. The cover of the basket had been
pushed off. and pair Of baby legs were
mingled in confusion. the cover being
wrapped around the legs, which were
kicking in a lively manner.
by thunderr exclaimed Holdings
worth. Its a baby"
1.-The dear little thingw cried the
wife as she ran toward a child few
weeks old lying on it's back, its chubby
fists crammed in its mouth and making
all sorts Of noises. from the turning of
a rusty cogwheel to the Growing of a
young rooster. The explosion they had
heard was an infantile sneeze.
Lucky we didn't send for the po-
lice" said the husband. "till we found
out what it was. They would have
laughed at us. What in the world are
we going to do with itY'
I'm going to keep it," said the wife.
Going to keep it,
Certainly"
The couple. having been married four
years without children, had begun to
think that they would never have any
born to them. and after good deal OF
discussion 1t was decided to take the
little stranger in and give it home.
Being girl. they called her Bomba.
which Is the Spanish for bomb.
Mr.. HOllingsworth is still interested
in the labor problem, but rs more eau
tious in the expression of his opinions
to the laborer. True. his experience
with bomb did not turn out as dread
full as he expected, but it taught him
a lesson as to the might have been.
Little Bomba has been adopted by the
HollingswOrths and. strange to say, Is
beginning to take great interest In Ia
Dor questions.
Superlatives.
DR.. Johnson says in his Grammar
of the English Tongue" The compari-
son of adjectives is very uncertain and,
being much regulated by commodious-
ness of utterance, is not easily reduced
to rules"
Then he quotes passages from Para
disc Lost in which the words ''virtu-
ousest" and "powerfulest" are found
aud n passage from Samson Agents
tes'' which contains the word famous
est
Surely Milton had an ear.-London
Notes and Queries.