Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1917-09-05

V
William Was Seated Upon the Pros.
trate Battle Of Gettysburg"
crash Of breaking glass and the loud
thump-bump of a heavily falling hu-
man body resounded.
Mrs. Baxter, alarmed. excused her.
self from the tea table, round which
were gathered four or five young peo-
pie, and fastened to the front hall, fol-
lowed by Jane. Through the open door
were seen Miss Pratt, Miss Parcher,
Mr.. Johnnie Watson and Mr.. Joe Bull
lit coming up the walk, laughing and
unaware Of the catastrophe which had
occurred. And little distance from
the foot of the stairs William was seat
ed upon the PROSTATE Battle Of Get
tysburg."
1T slid,' he said hoarsely. Il car
ried it upstairs with me"-he believed
this-"and somebody brought 1t down
and left it lying fat on the floor by
the bottom step on purpose to trip me-
l stepped on it, and it slid"
Get up Willie" Mrs. Baxter urged,
and then she beheld ruins other than
the wrecked engraving She stihed a
cry. willie, did the glass cut you?"
| He felt himself Nom"
1T did your trousers. You'll have
to change them. Hurryv
Some Of Williams normal faculties
were restored to him by one hasty
glance at the back of his left leg,
which had dismantled appearance.
A long blue strip Of cloth hung there,
with white showing underneath.
Hurry" said Mrs. Baxter. And,
hastily gathering some fragments Of
glass, she dropped them upon the en-
craving, pushed it out Of the way and
went forward to greet Miss Pratt and
her attendants.
Upward William sped unseen and
came to a GREATNESS halt at the top
Of the stairs.
As it were in a dream he heard his
mothers hospitable greetings at the
door, and the little party fingered In
the hall, detained by Miss Pratt's dis
covery Of Jane.
"Oh, tweetums tootums ickle dirl!"
he heard the ravishing voice exclaim
"Oh, tootums ickle blue sash!'
1T cost a dollar and eighty-nine
cents" said Jane. willie sat on the
cakes"
"Oh, no, he didn'tr' Mrs. Baxter
laughed. "He didn't gutter
HE had to go upstairs" said Jane.
And as the stricken listener above
smote his forehead she added placidly,
HE tore hole in his clo'es."
She seemed about to furnish details,
her mood being communicative, but
Mrs. Baxter led the way into the "liv-
ing ROOM" The hall was vacated, and
only the murmur Of voices and laugh
ter reached William.
William leaned upon the banister
! railing and thought thoughts about
Jane. For several long, seething mo-
ments he thought Of her exclusively.
Then, spurred by the loud laughter Of
rivals and the agony Of knowing that
even in his own house they were mo-
nopolizing the attention Of one Of the
noblest, he FASTENED into his own room
and took account of his reverses.
Standing with his back to the mirror,
he obtained over his shoulder view
of his trousers which caused him to
break out in a fresh perspiration.
Again he wiped his forehead with the
handkerchief, and the result was in
stantly visible in the mirror.
William began feverish examine
ton of the garments hanging in q
clothes closet There were two pairs
of flannel trousers which. would prob
ably again be white and possible when
cleaned and pressed. Beside them hung
his last years summer suit Of light
gray.
Feverishly he brought 1t forth, threw
of his coat and then, DETECTED by an
other glance at the mirror, began to
change his collar again. To quicken
the process he decided to straighten
the bent collar button. Using q shoe
horn as a lever, he succeeded in bring
ing the little cap or head Of the button
into its proper plane, but his final
effort dislodged the cap from the rod
between 1t and the base, and it dew
of into space.
Here was Q calamity. Few things
are more useless than q decapitatod
collar button, and William had no 9TH
Or. BE had made sure that it was his
last before he put 1t on that day: also
he had ascertained that there was
none IN, on or about his fathers Dress
ing table. Finally, In the possession
Of neither William nor his father was
there shirt with an indigenous collar.
At first he did not realize the extent
Of his misfortune. OF course William
searched his dressing table and his ia
theirs, although he had been thorough
" over both once before that day.
Next he went through most Of bis