Litchfield enquirer., 1881-05-26

Cu Iuc Uduk uc was pOdhCcu itupOusDy Cnc gFO~ cer and the banker, followed by Miss Hicks, maiden eye on one of the brothefs) who in her haste hadforgottenl tot put of her specta- cles, and to put her cap straight Then aup came the butcher, and out eape theexeisemaal and then another and another, each one quick eriand more eager thant the last (which is the lawfof accretion among ihuu1au and other pafl ticies) till quite crowd had gathered. But bless you no one need have hurried, for every one ''knew" the case would have gone SO, and the parish boundary ran SO ;-it was clear. A man with half an eye, old Cocker said, could see tbat, much more then Judge and jury. 'An' they two born idiots gone an mayhap spent hundreds O pounds on set- tlin' what might ha' been settled over two- penny pot O ale!" a.s .-"
 "An' it a goes out O t town?" exclaimed
 Except what the witnesses get, said the
 It proved to be terrible blow to John Grewelthorpe, the miller. He was for the first time 'dene out' by his brother; he was mulcted in heavy costs and he was left in possession of the most ridiculous fragments of property man ever inherited-three. quarters of house and small triangular section of back yard. If all the property had been won
 
 loss would have been serious but people would have regarded it seriously. As it was, he fel t that every one laughed at him, and that every one had right to laugh. His brother sent his lawyer with kindly meant offer to surrender the right the law allowed him to part of the house, but the lawyer came back with bounc ing flea in his ear.
 s'Noo," said the miller, ssiust tell Gearge, you, if he send onYbody here wi out, or come himsen I'll stick him head first f that sweet duck -dabble Dom his favors Dost knaw he began wi doin' me favor? Dom! Nae mar! Law gi'es him quarter O hoOse, an quarter O hoose he'll ha'e Moo, Sir, thoo can wag." .
 The miIler's answer, of course, soon got noised abroad; and it became question of great interest at gosipings corners, and in the tap-room aed bar of the old inn, how the di- vision of the house was to be effected.
 ''Run up petition wall," said old Cocker i; ''that's wa'a' they'll do."
 ''Faix," cried Dr. Mahoney, ''Id manage aisier nor that. Let it out in rooms to tenants and divide the rints."
 "Ah, well," said the excseman, ''they might just as easy let It to one tenant and di- vide the one rent"
 "Yes, of of course," said the Irishman, "ot course. It comes to the same"
 But one day Fulford became aware of the curious fact that scaffolding was being put up about one end of the hOuse-'the Gearge end, D as it was called. On closer inspection it was observed that line of white wash had been drawn obiquely across the roof and straight down the wall. The very curious went to question the workmen, and got for an answer that it "warn't to be told; but" (with sly twinkie) .'this bit be comin' down." People watched the work of demolition, how carefully it was conducted-the slates taken from the roof whole, and bricks cleared of mortar and piled. TLey looked at each other and laugh ed ; no one had expected such solution of the difficulty as this.
 'Tell ye what, said old Cocker in conf dence to the exiseman, "that John be dom'd cliver. malicious divil"
 It may be guessed that George was enraged at getting his quarter of the house handed over to him in this useless broken shape. But he said nothing, at least not in public, and at home he had none but deaf old housekeeper to talk to. Perhaps he was the more inclined to be silent because he had already prepared a scheme of retaliation, which threatened to De so serious in it's consequences to his brother, that he hesitaed to carry it into execution, till he was etung to it by this new instance of lm- placable brotherly malice. On one piece of ground which his Aunt Kitty had by will un- willingly assigned to him, and which he had for some years tried, with a little success to pro- duce cabbages, he determined to build steam mill He knew his purpose was fratricidal, and he feared others would see it was, and would cry shame l" upon him. So he tried to cover it, for decency's sake, with talk about the necessity in these pushing times, when business had SO much increased, of town like Fulford bestirring itself ts supply all the wants of the neighborhood; it was notorious that the mills of Barford did much of the grinding of the Fulford district; why should thls be? By lucky chance he possessed 8 piece of worthless ground he would risk the building of mill for the good of the commu- nity Ae took very few in by his talk, and bors do not very severely condemn question able act when they expect to profit by it.
 The mlll was built and became very popu- lar. Steam power was then in it's youth Cat any Tate in that district) and was believed to be capable of the greatest marvels of work at the smallest possible expense. The belief, in- deed, still obtained among the older and the more ignorant folk, that it was manifesto tion of the evil one.
 "But if it be devip' said old Bidker, Gas soon say, it will be very good devil; eh, Cocker?"
 Carts and wagons of grain from the uplands, instead of rattling and numbering on to Bar ford now turned to Fulford, and miller John had the chagrin of seeing them slowly come down the hill, tearing open the side of the road with their clumsy skid -paus and dash past him with fierce cracking of whips and wild ''woa-hoos' to take the opposite slope up which the great broad hoofed horses pant ed and scraped on their way to his brothers If any one came upon him at such time and ventured to console with him on that "devil- ish trick of Gearge," he would face him with sFolk'll soon find difference atween divil's steamsan' Gods waiter, and till that time, Godamoighty can look alters ain waiter an can look after mysen," and then he would turn sharply off and enter his mill.
 Big Johns faith that the popularity of steam was mere passing whim was severely tried. All that year, even through the busy grinding months that follow on an abundant harvest, team after team of toiing horses dragged their rich load of wheat, of barley, or of pulse through the hollow, past the old water mill, on to the town, and drew up under Aunt Kit tvs house. which still stood as the workmen had left it, with one end completely open to wind and weather, woeful witness to the foolish strife and spite of kindred. It became a general belief in the town and among the farmers that the occupation of big John and his ancestral water r-mil was gone. There was no unseemly rejoicing over the fate of the miller and his mill on the contrary, there was much expression of sorrow, of calm and un- productive sort. A few indeed, who did not like to see an old friend and neignbor and an old institution grow Jnoldy and pass away without an effort to save thenp took John an occasional hurried job or. two-a sack of oats to hash for next days provender, or busel of wheat to grind for Fridays. baking. But the work was done so badly-"The grit. and dirt int" said one. ''be just as if 'twere swept of barn f1oor'-and customers were received 90 grumpily-"Why," he asked them, ''didna ye tog' this where ye took t'rest ?''-that they were not tempted to return to him. And their censciences were the more at ease in for saking him, in the knowledge that he had curtly refused one or two little jobs," saying that he could get plenty to do without such dirty bits, and in the comforting belief that slnce he said 80 it must be true. And certain ly in thls belief they were sustained by the evidence of their own eyes and ears. When