River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1919-01-23

Can you beat that 2" he exclaimed,
dashing the paper TO the floor and
rushing from the den. "Can you beat
it? A flood on our hands and the very
night Winslow is out" WinslOw was
the sole male servant employed in the
household.
Papa Bennett rushed to the cellar
steps and peered down. He could hear
swishing and scattering that were
not exactly pleasant to his ear. 1t was
cold down there in the cellar and 1t
was warm in his den. Furthermore,
that switching and scattering did not
indicate that the temperature of the
cellar was rising.
'B-r-r-r!" he shuddered, trying
to huddle his corpulent form into his
rather tight smoking jacket. "Wel,
suppose somebody has got to stop the
leak in the dixie, and it looks like I'm
elected"
He turned the light switch and start
ed gingerly down the steps, but halted
on the second one from the top ana
shouted back:
Marion, call plumber, and tell him
to violate the rules of the profession
and get here quick"
Then he continued the descent, but
he took only a few steps. The stairs
were somewhat uneven and slippery
and Mr.. Bennett was nervous. The
two conditions combined to accelerate
his progress and he slid gracefully
into a foot Of water that had aCcumu'
lated on the cellar floor. Somewhat
dazed he scrambled to his feet,
gasped for breath, shook the water
from his head and wiped it from his
eyes and shivered:
where's the-the-b-~&1ame leakW
he groaned in despair, his teeth chat.
tering.
The swishing sound, now much loud
er and more foreboding, guided him,
and the dim electric light showed MIN
fountain squirting from the WALL
Grooming, chattering and shaking, he
attacked the stream head first, slipped,
almost lost his balance, and finally
managed to get his hand over the leak
in the pipe. He stopped the fioW con-
siderably, but could not entirely dam
the torrent.
An hour later the plumber appeared
and found a very badly drenched and
discouraged Papa Bennett up to his
knees in water, holding with freezing
fingers to the water pipe.
Quick! Fix this some way. Get
this water out and repair the leak. Do
something quick, no matter what it
is p called the frantic man, dancing
up and down on his toes to keep his
submerged legs from freezing. The
plumber surveyed the situation.
"There's two things to be DONE" ne
asserted. zone is to open that door
yonder and let this water out into the
back yard. The other is to turn off the
water outdoors where the branch pipe
from the main enters the house."
Papa Bennett glared at him, his
teeth clicking desperately.
"Why don't you do it, then" he
roared, getting a respite between chat
tering spells.
The plumber stood on the stairs,
near the bottom of the flight, making
no move to carry out his own in
structiOnS.
"It's like this" said the plumber.
''You once told me that I could have
Marian if I proved that could hold a
Job and that I could do the world some
good by my work. Now, the question
is, does this plumbing job fill your ex-
pectations of an honest job, and do
you figure that by stopping that flood
and letting it loose in the yard
would be doing some good in the
world?"
Papa Bennett almost lost his hold on
the pipe, to which he was clinging now
more TO support himself than to stop
the leak. The ordeal had been severe
on him and he feared he would sink
to the floor from weakness and be
drowned in the miniature flood.
"My dear young man, he managed
to gasp, eff you will get me out Of this
predicament you will be performing
one of the noblest deeds in the history
of this planet; and you can have Mar
ian tomorrow. I consider plumber a
godsend to humanity"