Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-08-10

Tor the benefit Of his weaker neigh
bors. Presently, after they had 90
well TO work again, Mr. Middlerib came
by. He shouted:
"Chicken-house in the front ward
Murzle?'
Mr. Murzleroot, who always resent.
ed this familiar and slangy style of sal
Utation, and was additionally incensed
at the coarse allusiOn to his summer.
house, was inclined to resent it by
calling his neighbOr, Mid, but he swal.
lowed his wrath and maintained his
dignity and meelzly explained what he
was building.
"Summer-house, eh p said Mr.. Mid
dlerib, kindly, Looks more like a
four-story wind-trap. What under
the sun are you making it so everlast-
ingly high for?''
Mr.. MurZleroot explained Mr..
Blanchard's idea, at which Mr.. Mid
! dlerib snorted his most reliable and
scornful snort, completely putting Mr.
! Blanchard'S shifts to shame. BOShr'
| he said, It'll look like a derrick case.
or the Hoosac Tunnel set on end.
/ Blanchards an ass, anyhow. Thinks
nobody has any taste but himself. Now
/ you dom t want ShOt-tOWer here on
your lawn; you want a summer
house, sweet, cunning, easy little
grOtto, with low doors that you creep
into; a little fairy bower. Cut it
/ down to not more than seven feet in
the clear, and shoot that pagoda roof
MISUNDERSTANDING thing. Put on a
low, arching dome; that's what you
want. Build something that will
show little common sense in itself"
And the old gentleman snorted and
laid down the law of taste and utility,
and talked loud and long until finally
Mr.. Murzleroot got the impression that
Mr.. Blanchard, since beginning the
summer-hOuSe, had become involved.
and been closed out by Mr.. Middle
rib, who had taken possession. And
under this impression the unfortu-
nate builder at last acquiesced in Mr..
Middlerib'S plans, and when that adj
visory council saw that he had pre-
vailed, he went on his way, looking
like vision of common sense and be-
nevOlence. The carpenter swore few
blessings after his departing figure,
and then the work of constructing the
Summer-hOuSe, revised and corrected.
went on. Presently old Mr.. Throop
came along.
Good land, Murzlerootr' he
shrieked, "what's that %
Mr.. Murzleroot calmly, but firmly,
explained.
Summer house?" echoed Mr..
Throop. "Looks more like runaway
brewery. Too wide entirely; too wide;
too wide. Spreads out too much.
Want to draw it in all you can before
you finish it. Roofs awful bad, too.
Miserable combination, dome and pa
CODA. Want q flat roof for a summer
house like that; flat roof every time.
I'd burn that thing up before L d finish
it that way. Draw it in, close and mar
row, and make the roof fiat"
And Mr.. Throop labored and argued
and scolded and derided until, in due
time, Mr.. Murzleroot began to under
stand that Mr.. Middlerib, owing to
some bad speculatiOns and unforeseen
embarrassments, had been disabled
from proceeding with the summer
house, and had disposed of all his right,
title and interest therein to Mr..
ThrOop, at an immense sacrifice, and
as soon as this was made plain to him,
Mr.. MurZlerOOt crept into himself,
withdrew all his objections, and yield
ed without murmur to Mr.. Throop's
directions. And then to see Mr..
Throop go off down street, you would
think that all the wisdom in that quar-
ter of Burlington was trailing away in
one OmniScient stream, spreading itself
in a flood of free advice wherever it
flowed through this ignorant town.
The carpenter took a Ratchet and ran
down to the corner of the lot and hid
behind syringa close by the fence;
but Mr.. Throop crossed over to the
other side of the street before he got
that far down, to tell mason how to
build chimney, and the carpenter came
back looking very detected, and when
he resumed work on the summer house
with the ThrOop improvements, he
sighed heavily and told Mr.. Murzle-
root that he met with diSappOintments
sometimes that were enough to make
a man lose faith in the goodness of
Providence The work was not inter-
rupted again until Mr.. Bostwick came
by. He said:
"Sorrowful John! What on earth
has happened?
Mr.. Murzleroot said that nothing
had happened that he knew of.
"Where on earth did that come from,
and what is it 2'