Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1866-03-30
rom the Dubuque Times.
House Hunting In Duhuuue.

we might illustrate it by examples
innumerable. But we will for the
present contine ourselves to the fact
which caused us to indulge in the re-
flection. #.a. .rr.s .a .... .... ..
Our resemblance to st. Paul l. prin.
cipally manifest in that, like him, we
have abode two years IN our own hired
house. Others might come and go,
move and remove, change from pillar
to post, from river flats to bluffs or West
Dubuque or Seminary Hill; hut We
had generous landlord, kind and
| pleasant neighbors, and had no idea of
casting ourselves from Il pan i'm which
we were subjected to no serious frying,
into the fire.
But the sword Of Damocles fno pro-
family intended was suspended over
our devoted head, and we knew it not.
y aim rumor reached us that rents
were rising in Dubuque, but we had
faith in our landlord that he would do
the fair thing 10y us, and no more than
Keep up with the general advance, and
so We let not our heart be troubled.
! But the enemy finally routed us by n
! flank movement A person, whom the
iise in rents must have rendered des-
perate, came and bOugiR the place on
which We were living, aud in language
very aftable and polite presented to us
suggestions, the substance of which. if
! plainly spoken, would have been en-
bodied in the brief but imperative
! phrase, "clear outn
Then it was the iron entered our soul
/ The season of the year was inauspicious :;
no changes were being made the pop
ulation of the city had gone up n thcus-
and or two during the year, but no
tenant buildings bad we had our reg
ular fifteen hours work out of twenty
! four to do, with no respite of day for
house hunting; but we were obliged
/ to move, and that Immediately as the
( hoy said in a ease the contrary. c.
! when his teacher would not let him go
out Well, but must -
\ happy thought struck liz, We
had one tage-wc could advertise.
We advertised for week, aud found
that though everybody read the adver-
! tisement no one had II house to rent.
The second week we made friends OF
the various agencies in town. We set
B Torbert upon the scent; we subsidized
Bradley; we prosecuted Allison with
Perseverlng inquiries; we wrestca
promises from the entire brotherhood
of agents that the first vacant residence
any ofthem heard Of would be reported
! TO lis.
/ The third week VIC made agents Oi
every acquaintance in town. We were
determined to compel our friends TO
find house for us, to get rid OF our i'm.
portunitics. Every man we met we
asked, "Iou don't know of any vacant
house anywhere, do you ?n in the true
Yankee style Of stating fact and top
ping il of with query. Our friends
soon borrowed our style. and rctortcd,
by inlt'cting upon Us the everlasting
inquiry, " l0u haven't found n vacant
house anywhere yet, have you?"
That question has been put to us (iGSt
four hundred and sixty. eight times
within the last ten days, aud ii Is to
put stop to any further inquiries that
we take this occasion TO state--but we
/ will not anticipate,
! lhc fourth week, since neither agents
nor friends Knew OF any house TO lot,
"" let them alone, and mad" 4 thorough
exploration of the city for ourSelf.-
We continued the process till we learn
ed the cause of our previous failurcs.--
There is not an empty huuse ft e
live iii, TO rent at living prices, from
the railroad depot to Eagle Point, from
{ the shot tower TO West Dubuque. w,
! found scores on the lockout for houses
and those who were not werC in the
! condition of the embarrassed farther
+ left alone with the hungry habe--they
| hadn' { the article ti.at was called for.
In commercial language, the demand
exceeded the supply.
I True, we found houses. One, within
smelling distance Of the Central Mark
ct, was quite cOnvcnient--especiali to
the market The only Inconvenience
was--S.1 Il month, two months pay in
/ advance. We HADN'T the $50
! One suit of four rooms was offered at
Il price that quite charmed us there
were only two draw backs They Were
| all up stairs, and all leaked like sieve
with every rain or melting snow.
! Another good chance was Offered,
/ nearer the icvee; but the stencil of the
slough steamed up with sixteen skunk
power, and from the distflIerics foaled
up hundred and eighteen distinct
odors. We were assured they were
healthy, but it was more in accordance
to Our taste To receive them mt n greater
distance, and after they had become
mDlG uiXcd.
! The best residence we discovered for
rent was that OF n widow lady, good
natuIed and galrulous, whose house
had dgJecn sadly nlarred 10y the previous
tenants - eight children, cncumbered
by n father and mother. Her house
was ior rent, but only to n couple who
shnd no children. AS we came within
one az being in that list, we tried to
Persuade theold lady that qu.et eight
year-Old girl would not do much dam
age about q house, ii well watched !:
after earnestly urging our cause, and
answering all kinds of questions as to
whether we ever had any other chill
dren, ever expected to have any more
and II so, when, and how many, we
were obliged TO depart, almost in de-
spair.
As "A Gernier resort, another plan Of
malagGmeHt suggested Itself to U.s. In-
stead OF seeking for empty houses, we
sought for families that were intend
ing to move withiil'tw0 or three months
to come. We discovered half n dozen
or SO OF such cases, and hastencd TO the
owners 10 get the refueai of the houses,
when they should become empty.
Car first essay under this plan wa-
with another widow lady, who showed
n sharpness in her conversation for
which we could not account. She re-
fused to rent lis the house; so we sent
N friend there, who was also on the
look out for a residence. On his incl
dentaily referring to us, the old lady
gave her reasons for refusing to rent to
us. She mad seen in our local coianins
comniendataTy notices al DR.. Dunn, the
spiritualis; physician, which indicated
that we leaned that way; and ms Iahe
asSertedl spirtua.ists were all frce-lov-
ers, site would not have us about the
house - on account of her daugter. We
had not especially observed the daugh-
ter, but have IL dam recollection OF a
mossy-headed, unkempt creature, rick.
city .jointed and fabby, with African
lips, nose a cross between Roman ana
Ceit, modified by two lateral twists
given by nature, and one by accident.
and eyes that would have been OF
"heaven's own blue " but for soft,
sentimental, sickly expression. that
made them more resemble the deeply.
darkly beautifully bluen tingu Of Sc
verely skinned, slightly soured swill
milk the rest to match.
One house that we learned was soon.
to be vacated, we called at with the in
tontion ofexamining. On ringing the
bell and mentioning our purpose, tile
lady of the house opened the door two
and half inches, said she could tel.
us oil about the rooms of the house,