Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-05-26
MAkSHELL'S BARN
A NEW ENGLAND STORY.

New England Town, lying III az chaIM-
ing a bit of country as one would wish to
see. Soon after leaving the village, the
road towards the south passes an old
stone house which has been standing
there since Revolutionary times, and still
looks strong enough to be the future
home of generations yet unborn.
About and beyond it lie broad fields of
grain, growing yellow under the August
sunshine, and acres Of corn rustllng IN
the summer breeze.
And all this is the property of one
fortunate man. Standing upon the
broad balcony OF the old stone house, he
can look toward the east, and toward the
west. and call it his own almost as tar
as he can see.
But some years ago the farm had two
owners, and Richard Dean, who lived in
the stone house, and John Marshall, who
owned the land opposite to it on the
other side OF the road, were no friends.
about landmarks and Capulets and Mon
tagues; the families had nursed their
enmity, and transmitted it from father
to son along with the family acres
There had been Deans and Marshalls
in Silverton almost from the time when
the town first had q name; but they were
from widely different walks in life. The
first of the Deans was an English gentle
man of fortune, who, in travelling through
the country, was charmed with the nat
ural beauty Of the place, bought large
tract Of land there, and built the stone
house of this story.
The first Of the Marshalls came into Sill
verton with all his worldly goods in the
bundle which he carried under his arm,
and the bundle was not heavy. He came
as SHRED man" to one of the farmers in
the neighborhood. After years service
he married the farmers daughter, who,
being an only child, in process of time
dutifuily inherited her fathers acres, and
handed them over to her lucky lord.
Since those days there had been great
changes. None of the Deans had ever
added to their original inheritance, and
one of the race had so crippled his re-
sources by extravagant living that 1t be-
came necessary for him to sell portion
of his estate.
The Marshalls, from father to son, had
ever been frugal set and the grandfath-
or Of John Marshall was, by this time,
able to buy the land his fast-livlng
neighbor was forced to part with. It was
from a dispute as to landmarks, arising
from this sale, that the quarrel which we
have mentioned sprung. Tie case was
carried to law: the Deans came off victor
ious, and the Marshalls never forgave it.
Moreover, it was rumored that when
Richard Dean, of this story, married the
beautiful daughter of the old Silverton
clergyman, it touched John Marshall
very nearly; so that between the old
wound to the affections, the family quar-
rel seemed in no way like to die out.
It reached its Climax when the two
farmers, who belonged to opposite parties
in politics, became rival candidates for
election to the State Legislature. John
Marshall was beaten, and choosing to
consider his defeat as a direct personal
injury inflicted by his neighbor, vowed
that he would be even with him. And
Richard Dean, when he came hone at
the close of the session, found that this
had been no idal threat.
Across the road, directly in front of
his house, doomed up before him the
frame of a huge barn. Workmen were
busy plying their noisy hammers, loose
timbers were scattered about, great heaps
OF boards lay piled up here and there
ready for use, and all the dirt and rub
bish of building defaced the once beauti-
full meadow.
Mr.. Dean stood aghast, and could
hal Hio ~
daughter tripped out upon the balcony
to meet him; but almost before the kiss
with which she greeted him was off from
her pouting lips, she exclaimed:
20, Papa, is it not shame? Could
you have believed that any man would
be so mean2 Is there nothing to be done?
Must we have that horrid barn a1ways be.
fore our eyes9" E -.
eyes. that barn was there, and stayed.
Mr.. Dean found himself powerless. A
man has right to build where he will
on his own land, and the law cannot pre-
vent him putting himself to any amount
oftroublc, expense and Inconvenience for
the very laudable object of executing his
spite on his neighbor. In the eye Of the
law the barn could not be made to appear
nuisance, whatever it might be to the
jewellers in the stone house. So there
was nothing to be done but to pocket
their wrath, and, if possible, to possess
their souls in patience, while the monster
grew, day by day, until at last it stood
complete in its ugliness, cutting off the
view of the beautiful western hills and
the pretty pond which nestled at their
feet, hiding the big knoll where group
Of gigantic pine trees kept watch and
ward over the meadows below them, and
shutting out even the sunset.
The acme of ugliness was reached. and
the disappointed farmers revenge must
have been fully satisfied when the build
ing had been painted the brightest
tawdrlest yellow that ever disgraced a
paint-pot, "Marshall's Barn" had become
by-word in the neighborhood.
"'What cant be cured must be en-
dured,'" Mr.. Dean remarked to his daugh-
ter, by way of saying something original
and comforting.
But Miss Alice had no idea of sitting
down patiently to endure, when, though
cure was not to be hoped for, matters
might be at least mended. The mountain
would not move for Mahemet. and the
barn Was not likely to be more accom-
h,1r Ii .