The Kenna record. (Kenna, Roosevelt County, N.M.) 190?-1924, 1916-08-04
THINGS WENT WRONG

Things ana particularly peO-
ple-that young ladies OF eighteen Of
ten do. SO that accounted for her
gins down into the basement where
Thomas w.t. was clearing away the
ashes from the fufnacs and making
his acquaintance.
Thomas was a sort of odd-job man,
Of English birth, almost elderly and
Of squat figure. He had made his
appearance on the street early in the
sunihef With a little push-cart, sickle
and rake and he tfifBthed the lawns
I (Which are not large) on the stfs6t fSt
minimum consideration of fifteeh
cents. With the approach of winter
he asked such of his patrons as had
furnaces 10 allow him TO tend them
shake down and feed IN the morning,
faed and bank at night. seventy-five
cents per As6kl and ashes removed
an extra twenty-five cents. Miss
Edith's papa engaged him for tfs full
program and Miss Edith at the first
sound Of shoveling went down and in
terviewed him.
She asked him o fine variety OF ques-
si6ns:. He did "fairisb 10 middlin, az
yysS might say, with his furnaces.
mo, miss, RftPt married, q course"
he said in response 10 the next Dues;
ton. mot as yet. 'ope to Be, bne
I'm not we'll enough orr. Hive got a
lydy back in the hold country as
walked hout with, but she ses to me,
she sesi "'fhemas, wen marry Him
g6in' to stop tskit' in t1ahelin'. Him
EoiiP To- ave a 'ouse o. me b5Wh an
'dsbdh' SO as got is bit O. money
in the bank. So Some hover ere,
but someow l never seem to ave no
lack"
For sons weeks the family heard lit
tie else from Misc Ettt4 than accounts
of Watts and his touching romance.
Her name is Sarah Jane 'iggins Rtd
she as carroty air" said Miss Edith.
"1sht II perfectly lovely? And they
have been engaged now for more than
ss4sif 5eafs-as long as Jacob worked
for what s-haf-hame."
She did help him Sse8fdiHg to her
poor little means.
"Thankee kindly, MISS" he would
say, as he pocketed her donations. 1T
shows your feeling art an hevery lit
Tie clips, as the sayin is. Him a-goin'
to- tell Sarah JAMS shout this"
"bon't mind about that Thomas"
said sIsss Faith. ''But you might give
her my love ana teri hef that l think
you are-a-a nice man and that She
ought not to insist upon house. Of
her own If you could take her to nice
little fiat"
mo fear, miss. Hill tell 'er that"
said Thomas.
One lay very rich man came to
Miss l9diths house. He was so rich
that he owned an entire fiat building
sif BY himself, Miss Edith told him
about Thomas n her enthusiastic way
and he seemed Interested sHd when
she had finished he said: "WeIij my
janitor is going to leave me at.the end
Of the week and l wouldn't wonder if
this friend Of yours suited me very
well, my dear, He would have nice
coy little set Of rooms in the base
ment, big enough fot Sarah Jane and
him, and he ought to save enough out
of his wageL to put a bit in the bank.
Send him around to see me-"
OF course, when Thomas became the
janitor of the Arethusa he could not
attend to Edith's fathers furnaces shy
more and Miss Edith had to go to see
him about Sarah Jane. For some time
Thomas talked to her very freely, but
he said that he would have to wait
and put by BIT o. money before he
sent for his sweetheart. Then as time
passed it seemed to Miss Edith that
Thomas rather avoided her He vas
evasive in his replies when she did see
him. She taxed him with his unfriend-
liness and he protested ferYently that
it was imaginary on her part.
"You see, miss" he said, "owso-
never l might wish to ave bit Of
chat I've got job O. work to do an
the work as to be done. Howin' to
your kind Instrumentation I've got
/ this siterwation han I've got to show
as 'ow 1 deserve IT,"
Miss Edith thought that was very
nice of Thomas, but she was not sure
that it explained why he was so ret
icent about Sarah Jane. The explana-
ton of that came one morning when
passing the Arethusa she saw Thomas
coming out clad in new suit of CLOS
sy black, stiff new hat ana a necktie
as blue as his eyes. On seeing Miss
Edith his face instantly became as
red as the brick in the cottages oppo-
/ site