ST. NICHOLAS SCRAGGS

"I have read some'ers," said Mr. Scraggs, "that some man whose name
was a durned sight more important to him than it is to me, for I've
plumb forgot it, said that he never begun nothin' unless he could
see the end of it."

"His wife's family must have owned real estate," suggested Red
Saunders.

"He didn't specify which end," excused Mr. Scraggs. "Maybe 'twas
the front end he meant; then the proverb 'ud read that he never
begun anythin' unless he could see the commencement of it; which is
a wise and thoughtful statement, because had it been otherwise, and
therefore essentially different, why, how could he?"

"Of course not," assented Red.

"I s'pose," said the visitor, "that you mean what you say and
understand what you mean, but d----d if I do. Is there any right
or left bower in this game?"

"No," said Mr. Scraggs. "But this is the twenty-fourth of
December, and I was thinkin' of another twenty-fourth of December.
I began something then that come out rather different from what
you'd naturally expect. That ain't so remarkable, for nothin' I
ever had any hand in ever come out as anybody expected--barrin'
Mrs. Scraggs, who, individuool, cool, calm, and collectively,
always says, 'Just what I expected, exactly,' and any man that says
any one or all of the Mrs. Scraggses bound to me by ties of