Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1876-07-06
A COTTAGE TRAGEDY.
(From Peterson. Magazine for April,

1
residence of a wild Arab tribe o
IO'Flaherty's, whose over-full quivel
of the poor mans blessings were I
constaM affection to their neighbors
to a rustic lodge, where poets and
artists might rejoice to live. We had
done it all ourselves, too, and done il
well, because we were women.
| We had been obliged, of course, te
see greasy coat or two hung on oul
front fence for days in succession,
while the owners put our very irregu-
lar grounds into some sort of order
the trees had to be hewn down here
and there, every stump of which was
instantly converted into rustic
flower-vase and the garden had to
be laid out and planted first, to give us
a fair start. One obstinate rocky
mound, that could neither be moved
nor ignored, was, by sudden flash
of inspiration, transmounted into a
rockery. Ferns, and all manner of
pretty things, were planted over it ;
and we congratulated each other up
on being on the outskirts of the
woods. Afterward, however, we
changed our minds. The wild things
took kindly to the soil, and in many
instances, were prettier than we
bought of the florist.
Meanwhile, our house was unique,
and so pretty, as we told each other
every hour in the day. We had fur
nished it principally with packing
boxes, with the addition of few such
trihes as creton, small mattresses,
Swiss muslin, pink and blue ribbons,
ETC., and hereby developed gift for
upholstering that, but for the circum-
stance of going to housekeeping with
next to nothing to spend for furniture,
might have kept company with that
countless array Of gems of purest ray
serene, and flowers that are born to
blush unseen. To be sure, the nature
of our belongings required us to move
among them as carefully as though
they had been made of glass, or were
likely to vanish like the baseless fab
rio of a dream and each day was
sandwiched between an immense
amount of folding and unfolding,
trying and untrying, putting up and
taking down ; but, so far as mere
prettiness went, they were certainly
very pretty.
1t was really exciting to take old
kitchen chairs, and paint them a
bright vermilion, putting in seats of
broad scarlet and white worsted
braid or w convert u fossil .o.ao;->
FROM some ones great grandmother's
parlor into an ebony affair, with a
strip of dead gold. But dabbling in
vermilion is almost as dangerous as
tigers taste of blood, and we find it
difficult to refrain from giving every
thing a coat of melted sealing-wax.
Shellac, too, is a delusion and a
snare and one of us was found walk
ing in her sleep, with the varnish-
bottle and brush in hand, just about
to try it's virtues on the countenance
of her unsuspicious relative.
Aside from our creative faculties,
our cottage may be said to have been
furnished from other peoples garrets;
and while collecting together our
households goods, we find ourselves
casting covetous eyes on every piece
of furniture that looked at all out of
the common way. The possessive
pronoun, applied to a local habltatlon,
was particularly fascinating to Bohe-
mians like ourselves, who had hith>
erto haunted city boarding-houses,
until the obliging demise of a distant
relative somewhere in the western
wilds put us in possession OF an ele-
giant insufficiency, on the strength OF
which we became landed proprietors;
for the cottage was offered to US tor
ga mere song," and we had strong
kankerings after roofof our own
So, after singing the song, of which
meant making quiet a hope of our
bank stock, we set about transform
ing our purchase with such womanly
energy, that we were soon regarded
as the especial tormcnts of all the
shiftless men in the neighborhood,
who protested to do odd jobs. They
did not like being interrupted in the
amusing occupation of twirling their
thumbs to do things right off, or not
at all. "Just like women !" they
grumble !; and, with an injured ex-
preston of countenance,t they crowded
about their tasks, and accomplished
about as much in day as w could
have done in two hours, had W. been
gifted with the physical strength
But things got done somehow and
having worked like bees inside of the
house, and provided ourselves with
the traditional respectable woman
who seems to be the Indispensable APP
pendage of such household, we were
ready to stop existing, and begin to
live. So delicious as that first meal,
under our own roof, toasted, though it
consisted of bread and butter, and
round hearts, eaten off a packing
box and we felt very much like chill
dren playing "baby-house."
By-and-by, visitors came visitors
from palatial mansions, who assured
us that our little nest was charming
$50 like things one sees abroad" But
one lady, an envious sort of person,
after glancing rather superciliously at
our rockery and ferns, and other
rural belongings, asked, carelessly.
And you don't feel afraid here,
with all these dark woods so near ?"
afraid - We laughed at the idea.
We never thought of such thing.
Every one told US that it was such a
particularly safe place.
Every place is SAFE replied the
visitor, sententiously, until some
thing happens
Now wasn't it hateful of her /? We
had very little peace after that ; and
although one side of the cottage was
close upon the road, we could not for
GET that the other was in the shadow
of the woods. 1t was one-storled
affair, too. Our sleeping-room was
down stairs, and up stairs was only