Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1865-10-12

YIeWS instead OF Delng an economical par
allelogram, it was made up of angles and
eccentricities the architecture was of the
conglomerate style, the main building being
Doric, and the extension COrinthian the
former having q peaked roof 30 perpendicu-
lar that it seemed as if it never would come
to a point, and the latter being 80 fat that a
ball would hardly roll off the caves. The
whole was ornamented with an unlimited
amount of trimming and moulding, and there
were windows of all shapes and characters
There were stained glass in the front and
rear doors, plain glass in some windows aud
parti-colored in others there were windows
where no one would expect them, and blanks
where one would naturally expbet windows
II might have been called model of sur
prises. To a person who prided himself on
his ability to lay out plan economically
and advantageously, this was discouraging
but after all, TO philosophic mind, so long
as the necessary accommodations are obtain
ed, does the particular plan make much diff
ference.
Flusoing is small place, and any unusual
occurrence throws it into avid state of ex-
citement. Some one had been moving a
house down its main street in the ordinary
manner with rollers and windlass, and its
slow rate progression led to much animad-
version, and many of what in country vii
lagos, pass for jokes. One bystander want
ed to know if it had stopped at the corner to
take drink, another desired to inquire if it
was going to the city for visit, and third
sarcastically pointed out its rate Of speed as
an example for the railroad company to imi-
tate. The Flushing Gazette took the matter
up, and had an editorial every week on the
progress of the house. So the reader can
imagine the effect when the Flushingites
learned that stranger was about bringing
q house from Nantucket. The Gazette en-
tered into the subject with spirited hilarity
hoping that it would move faster than the
sspattern house." and wondering whether it
would sail down, or come by land. After
signing his agreement, Mr.. Sille disappeared
it was supposed to look up the house, and
the foundation was rapidly completed; but
neither he nor the house reappeared. Weeks
went by; the prophecies of the incredulous
were being confirmed, and it was rumored
that he, house and all, had gone down in a
storm on the Long Island Sound. In the
midst of these dreadful rumors, a vessel ap-
peared one morning at the dock near the
premises, and landed brick, beams and TIM
ber-evidently what had been a house and
what must be house again. The whole
aspect of things changed. Hilarity succeed
ed gloom; and the mason who was building
the foundation, engaged all the carts, trucks
and wagons in the village to transports what
he called sthe stuff" to my premises. He
drove down in a great state Of excitement,
only to find the gate of the dock closed and
INV ont hat mi mo-
named Barney-whetlfer it was something
Barney, or Barney something, no one ever
knew, as he was invariably called simply
Barney-had hired the dock, and demanded
his ssdamages" before he would allow the
'stuff'' to leave. Here was predicament-
my house landed, all the transportation ofthe
village ready to remove it, and an obstinate
Irishman named Barney barring the way.
He was immovable, however, and insisted
on ''his damages, SO that the carts and
wagons and trucks drove away, and the Irish
character came under lively discussion. The
inhabitants o. the Emerald Isle are certain
ly magnificent race, especially when one
wants to run for Alderman and if they did
not lie, steal, cheat, rob- murder, get drunk,
perjure themselves, quarrel, fight and insist
upon damages unreasonably, they would be
almost as good as other nations. Barney
was evidently superior Iris.lman, and as
no one had ever landed 8 load of house at his
dock before, and probably never would again,
he felt that dignity of tenants was at stake,
and must be sustained
When these facts were reported to me,
took down my law books, and prepared a
rod for Mr. Barney. There was the clear
1, Oh aI1 q fhn
clear wrong of aiming property belong
ing to another. Damages began to loom up
before my eyes, and very pretty case as an
to a lucrative legal practice in
the place of my newly intended residence.
Vistas of courts, and suits, and appeals, and
new trials, rose in my mind in graceful ar
ray, and thanked Barney who was reported
to be not only ''ugly," but responsible, with
all my heart. There were two difficulties in
the way of legal action first, that until the
suit terminated, the house could not be built;
secondly, that Sille, who would have to be
plaintiff, had disappeared from the sight of
man. Now, the house might be delayed, but
the damages would be thus increased; but a
suit without plaintiff was beyond ordinary
legal remedies, and was not provided for
even by the new Code of Procedure So
Barney, Irishman-like, in spite of sense, law,
justice, or hospitality, kept my house, or
rather, intended house, by 'force and arms"
and the cellar and foundation were completed
alone. cellar is a delightful part of a
house, it is so cool in summer and warm in
winter; it is such a nice place to store
.'things," as the housewives call them: but
to have all cellar and no house, is carrying
the point too far. 1t is pleasant place when
surmounted by the proper amount of beams
and mortar, but alone, is like an alligator's
untenance-altogethe too open. / am
not particular, and could have made out very
well during the summer months probably, if
the cellar had only been upside down.
The foundation was built, the mason was
out of work, and myself out Of humor, when
we were both again raised to the pinnacle of
earthly happiness, by the arrival of another
vessel which fortunately selected another
dock and landed another house. On inquiry
it appeared that this was my house. Lest
the reader may suppose that Nantucket was
so overlooking with houses that they foated
down the sound and drifted ashore any
where, it must be explained that the first
house was but the workshop. The carts and
trucks reappeared, and this time, carried
away the debris of what was once the house
of some bluff, seafaring man-timbers that
were shivered as he had no doubt often re-
duested that they should be, doors, windows,
shingles, pieces of roof, floor boards, posts,
mouldings and thousand other odds, ends,
bits and pieces, in the most admired confu-
sion-and deposited them upon my entire
FIVE acres, scattered hither and thither, as
though they were component parts of five
houses instead of one.
As Mr.. Sille had not come with the house
but was to arrive next day-for it appears
he had been storm bound in some of the nu-
merous "bights,' as the Yankees call them,