A NEIGHBOURLY FEUD.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 2956, 29 April 1898, Page 3

A NEIGHBOURLY FEUD.

\ffi -SSI hJ*5? 1 Frank, its got. I V* jllq_| jjjlrVT I *° the print \ flit*** m^ /<. where some-. ! I ffiix£ Ife? Kj""''''^ thing must be /'f'feSfciißa*/ nbar" / Mrs. Burnett, Jy*m spoke ahe rapped at the small knuckles that wero moving towards the sugar bowl. Morton, aged nine, jerked his hand out of the way and laughed at his mother, who pursed up her lips to conceal a smile. '* Don't da that, Morton," said Mr. Burnett Then turning to his wife he asked : •• TV hat have they been doing now ?" " That boy and some more of bis friends put tin cans aloDg the Cop of the fence, and then threw stones at them to knock them off. About every stone went over the top of the fence, and went sailing across our back yard. If one of them had struck anybody he wouldn't have known what hurt him." " What did yoa do F " What did I do ? I weat out and told them if they didn't stop I'd send for a policeman. 1 said to that Deakin boy * It's a shame your mother can't teach you to be a little better than a savage.' " " Maybe Bhe didn't know they were doing it." "I do believe she puts 'em up to it. That boy's enough to try the patience of a saint." " Next time he comes iuto our yard I'll bet I throw something at him," put in Mortoa, whose chin was dripping with a mild mixture of milk and coffee. " You leave him --lone," said the male parent. " You get into enough fights already." " Well, Frank, those boys are for ever picking ou bim," said Mrs. Burnett. " Boys are a good deal alike," responded her husband. " I'll bet when he gets out he's the same us the rest of them." Morton grinned aud said nothing. Tbe only member of the Buruett family who had not joined iv the arraignment of the neighbours was Alice, six years of age. She knew all about the feud, and shared in the suspicions of her mother, but at present she was too busy with her supper. The Deakins lived next door, and although there waa a dividing fence it had not kept the two f» cailies apart. In the year during which the two households had dwelt side by side there had been a growing enmity. Yet Mis. Burnett had uever spoken a word to Mrs. Deakin, and her husband knew nobling of Mr. Deakin except tbat he worked with his bands for a living and (-petit a grt at many of his evenings at home. It would have ' been rather diffioult for either tho Buruetts or the Deo kins to expliiiti how the feu.l started, but it was operated from the first through the children. There were two Deakin children. Lawrence or Larry, aned ten, and little Willie, who at the tender age of thrte had learnt to rega.nl tbe Burnett tribe with scorn i»nd hatred, and suffer, to some degiee. uiiiiei the indignities heaped upon his family by that arch fiend of juveuility, Morton Burnett. : For when the Denkius sab round the supper j table and oust up tbe accounts of fhe day it was Larry who posed as the persecuted and abused child, while Moitou Burnt tt waa pic- > lined as an infant of <'ark i.iteuts, headin« j sti sight For the bridewell. I "If I was a man, Tom Dt •.akin," said hie j wife, '• I'll warrant you I'd go over to that I house i>nd give notice tbat tilings sic Mmply I going too lar. To-day that hoy got up on tut ! fence and c»lltd L»wrenct all kinds ef names.' | " tie said that his mother s&id that ma j didn't have clothes (it to near,"' suggested Lawrence, who had heguu to breathe hard during ti:e lecitsl of Lis giitivaueug, " Any way, I don'b try to make myself look ike a peacock every time I go to church," said I Mrs. De»kin. j This comparison of Mrs. Buruett to a pt-a- --! cock tickied the children, and they laughed immoderately. Tom Deakiu restrained them '. with a quiet " Tut, tut,'' aud said tbat tbe j ptoper way to get aloDg waa to pay no attenj tion to tho neighbours. | " I'd like to know how you can help it," said i hto wife, " That boy is up to some mischief : every hour of the day, snd his mother seema tc I encourage him in everything he does. Hf i throws things over into our yard, teases Willie, j and makes races at him." •• N< xt time I see hi n pick ob Willie, I'll ! give him another licking," observed Larry. I " You'll do nothing of the kind," exclaimed his mother. '* Don't you remember the talk ing to 1 gave you the other time you ha.d that tight with him ?" Lawrence remembered the mild rebuke, t*nd his inward resolution was not changed. Torn Deakin went for his pipe, oppicsacd witli the thought that he had been vety unlucky in his selection of neighbours. These conpUint*had come in to him duy after day from the down-trodden members of hia family. The feud bad jjrowH from a thousand aggravating cii cu instances. Suppose Morton Burnett to be on bhe fence. His mother would open the back door and cay. loudly enough to make herself heard through the open windows of the Deakin house : " Morty.net riown from tbat fence ! Haven't I told you about that ?" Mrs. Deakin would hear and understand. She would then wait her opportunity to appear and retaliate In summer tim-e, when both women were out of doors much of the time, they occasionally exchanged glances which were more -significant tban anything ihey could have said. When Mrs Buiuett put out her waahiDg she knew that Mrs. Deakin w»s watching her and counting the number of table-cloths aud pillow slips. When Mrs. Burnett came to the back door j and called out : " Come, Alice, dear, and • practise ycur music lesson," it was equivalent to saying to Mis. Deakin : "' Aha, we havo a cettaj/e organ in our bouse, but you haven't any in yours." Mrs D.- akin 'bad frequently informed Tom that tbe Burnett organ was a cheap, secondhand thing. One day, when Mra. Deakin came home from a funeral in a covered carriage, there was Consternation in thtu Burnet family, aud accounts were not lauly haJanced until a new coat of paint wss put on the* Burnett house The Deakiu children told the Buirit-ttchil-dren all that their mother had ssid about the probable character of Mrs. Burnett. Likewise the. Burnett children repeated bo the Deakiu children all that Ihey heard at the siippei table. Mrs. Burnett knew that she was being repotted to Mrs. Deakin, and Mrs. Deakin fol t it Io be htr duty, to learn what the viperish thing had been spying. Frank Burnett; and Tom Deakin became conviuced thst the* other*. I family ..was 1 probably mdstj'to blarue. - Ahd thus j matters>tobd, when Alice Burnett started to i run serosa the- t.(r*et one day in fronts of a J waggon." She fell, scrambled to her feet again] ' and the horse's kr.en struck her in tho. back. She fell on the* pavement Hr.dlay quiet., tii-v-v > Mis Deakin f-aw it all from hrr front win--1 dow. She. rau into the street and gathered the muddy child in l.ci arms. The. frightened driver lad let his waggon, and he followed her timidly H il c frrnt 'c^r q" \h» Burwtt house.

: ': . ■■ -■ -! -> "• ~ ' '" .-" ■ , -y . '."-t ; Wl9. Burnett screamed- and then began to cry. --■-■,•■ " Run for a doctor, you loorjy,* said Mrs. Deakin to the driver, as she plaesd tbe limp little body on a bed, und then ran for cold 'water and cloths. -■- - When the child opened her eyes afce foanrt her mother on one side, Mrs. Dusk-in oa the other, while a reassuring physician noiiled at ber over tbe footboard. ' , She's a little jolted up, and L-mnped her he*d when she fell, but it w&3 mostly shock,' ho said to the women. ■'* Lnw me !"• gasped Blra. Deakin. M "hen I saw thab child fall my heart just went inbo my throat. Don't cry, Alice, you -ain't a bit hart. Tho doctor says I can pub some more poultice on your bad old bump." " I'll get it," aaid Mrs. Burnett. " No, you sit still. You are *s pale as i ghost." That is how it happened that Burnett, coming home fiom the works by the back way, found in his kitchen the hated vixtrc, the trainer of criminals, the woman without character — Mrs. Deakin. Sho told bim what had happened, at-d btcged him not to frighten his wife, aa tht-ro wasn't any real danger. Mr. Deakin waa likewise surprised on reaching home. Supper was not raady, and bis wife had gone ever to the enemy. He went after her and waa taken in. Mrs. Deakin told bim one coolda t come home because Mrs. Buruett was all upset, und someone would have to take care of the child. So Mr. Deakin aad his two boys ate a cold lunch with Mr. Burnett and bin boy. Mr. Burnett sent Murton out to get two cigars, and while the women sat by the b<-d in tbe front room the men eat in the back room and smoked, while the three boys, awed by tbe revolution, kept very quiet. " If Morton ever bothers you, Mr. Deakin," said Mr. Burnett, " you juat let mo know, and I will attend to him." " I was just going to say to you that Larry's apt to be boo g%y vow and lien, ar-d it I ever hear of him picking on your phildu a I'll racks him remember it." In the front room Mrs. Burnett was thanking Mrs. Deakin, who was hoping that her children had never bothered Mrs. Burnett very much. The little girl went to sleep, nnd the Deakins went home. That was tho end of the fend. In each household there wai? a general order that iv case of a neighbourhood riot punishment should be visited upon thoss neatest at Laud. Th>>.-e two houses, bide by side, bee-ims the peace centre of tLe town. Tha Deakiu children were at liberty to go over and thump on the Burnett cottjgo organ. But who er-d'-d the feud— the mcp, women, or the sis year-old 't