Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1878-08-14
A Rural Nuisance.

A Rural Nuisance.
"Pm going to move" said Mr.. Butter
wick; 81 can't stand those ,Thompson's
next door to me any longer. They're
the awfulest people to borrow things that
[ ever saw. Coffee and butter and sugar
and flour [ don't mind so much, al
though, when woman borrows high
priced sugar and Java coffee, and sends
back sand and chickory, man natur-
ally feels bilious and mean. But
they've borrowed pretty near everything
in the house. First it's one thing and
then it's another, from morning till
night right straight along" 'a5
:" Now there's the poker. A poker is
piece of machinery that you would
think anybody might go around and
buy, or, if they couldn't afford it, thew
might use a fence paling to shake up
the fire. But Mrs. Thompson seems to
banker after our poker; she borrows it
fifteen or twenty times q day, and last
Saturday she sent for it thirtv-four
times. She pays a boy two dollars a
week to run over and borrow that ook-
er; and she's used it SO much that it's
all bent up like corkscrew."
"Now take chairs, for instance. She
asks us to lend our chairs three times a
day at every meal, and she borrows the
rockingham whenever she wants to put
the baby to Sleep" 't#@
"a couple of times she went over for
our sofa, and when the boy came back
with it he said Mrs. Thorn pson was mad
as thunder, and kept growing around
fho oil
castors on it. Last Monday she Dor
rowed our wash-boiler,. and we had to
put off our washing till Tuesday. She
did her preserving in it, and the conse-
ouence was all our clothes were full of
preserved peaches. I've got on an I'M
dershirt now that Pm mighty doubtful
if I'll get it off, it's stuck to me so
tight" --Lr....t Oil
Every now and then she has COM
pany, and she borrows our hired girl
and all the parior furniture; once be-
cause [ would not carry the piano over
for her and take down the chandelier,
she told our girl that there We're rumors
about town that was a reform ed pi-
rate" 0tfd:H,- bAG .3flj.t-
/' Perfectly scandalous! They think
~
of bedsteads or the entry carpet;
and the other day Thompson says to
me-" :t0nauvA.(E z.Iff
-. :" Butterwick, does your pump-log pull
up easy?' r.,.- ,.r .r.'-.e
sAnd when I said l thought it did, he
said:" 5a. ...., .o... -.I a.-
swell. I would Like to borrow it for
few days till / can get one, for mine is
all rotted away 80 sasl. r.s
"The only wonder to me is that he
didn't try to borrow the well along with
it," ,-.y -.< ...rr.
r"And then on. Tuesday Mr.. Thomp-
son sent that boy over to know if Mrs.
Butterwick1 wouldn't lend him our front
door. He said theirs was away being
painted and he was afraid the baby
would catch cold. WhenI asked him
what he supposed we were going to dc
to keep comfortable without any front
door, he said Mrs. Thompson said she
reckoned we might tack up bedquilt
or som ething. And when refused. the
boy said Mrs. Thompson told him if
wouldn't send over the front door, to
ask Mrs. Butterwick to lend her pair
of striped stockings and horsehair
hustle, and to borrow the coal-scuttle
till Monday" 6',' $a'+i7.io@
ii ''What in, the, name Of Moses she is
going to do with a hustle, and coal-scut-
tie can't perceive" .saotIim
4, "But they're the most extraordinary
people! Last Fourth of July the boy
came over and told Mrs. ,Butterwick
that Mrs. Thompson would be much
obliged fshe'd lend her the twins for a
few minutes. 4 Said Mrs Thompson
wanted 'em to suck off a new bottle,top
Because it made the baby sick to taste
fresh India-rubber.uzChee wasn't it?
But, that's her way nsshh She dc don't mind it
any more! 81
n0" Why rtee Known her to take off
Johflny's pants when he's been playing
over there with the children, and send
him home bare-legged to tell his mother
that she borrowed them for a pattern.
And On Thompson's, birthday She said
her house was 50 small for a party that
if we'd lend her ours we might come
late In the evening and dance with the
company five iWlo2ulldnn't let on that we
live there"
q Yes, sir. Pm going to move. I'd
rather live neXtto lunatic asylum and
have the lunatics pouring red-hot
shot across the fence every hour
Of the day. Indeed I would't." -Maa