Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-09-23

A New England Country sketch.
By ANNIE ELIOT.

There are people living In any Of these
houses"
Dot raised her eyes from her interminable
crocheting for moment. and glanced ND and
down the village street. at doesn't look much
like It," she assented
We were sitting on the top step of the front
entrance of an old farm house in Maine village.
mad been reading but had dropped my book.
leaned my head against the door post and medI-
tated for some minutes. had never imagined
quiet so abSolute-save for the distant sound.
constant. soothing and magnetic, of the unseen
breakers rolling up the sand below the opposite
slope-aS the quiet of this Maine village street
Ihere were houses on every side, well-to-do-look-
ing country houses, with elms shading their front
doors and front gates; but nobody ever went In
or out, no servant-maid shook q dust-cloth out
of any of the windows, no children tumbed over
each other in any of the front yards. There was
dog residing opposite that | was watching-a
Skye. which seemed to suggest civilization and
blue ribbon and city streets. He trotted out
moment ago, and lay down In the road with an
air Of sullen apathy. There was no society
inside the fence perhaps there might be some
in the highway. 1t almost seems as II he was
willing to be run over for the sake OF creating a
little diversion. But he soon trOtted back i'm a
subdued manner; the society. such as it is, is
not to his taste. He tried feeble bark at
man in a broad hat and woman In water
proof, but 1t was not success; he felt it was
not himself
DOT" said I, ''they talk about the hard
working New England farmers"
'-WhO do 2"
ooh, they-everybody How can they work
hard in such an atmosphere as this? In the
rush and competition of city life it is natural
to work, to be occupied is ones normal con-
dition-"
Its singular how successfully some people
accustom themselves to an abnormal one"
IF one Is not working hard to get money,
one must work hard to get rid of it. But here
among these silent houses and under these ems
and within sound of these breakers, work is out
of place. 1t Is like playing crOquet on Sun
day-it may or may not be wrong, but it is dis
turbing."
Did you make that up, or did you just read
it,"
Il made it up. Don't you think it's rather
good?'
''It's not bad"
''DO you notice that whenever wagon drives
by. it's such an event that we watch it, from it's
first appearance down the road to it's final dis
appearance up the road, with the rapt absorp-
ton generally given to an election parade at
homer"
i've noticed that you do"
''YOu seem so much interested in my specu-
lations that I'll tell you what the wagons have
in them almost without execution: two women
with shade hats and half-grown boy sitting
between them and driving. The women look
at US rather curOusly, but the boy has some
thing better to do. This is the Sabbath still
ness Of the country. You've heard of it, you
know"
1.-THE devil you do! Mind your game. and I'll
mind mine" The words came through the
closed door that led into the living-room at our
right.
Yes" said Dot, dryly, ''this is the Sabbath
stiffness of the country"
will readily ha Saan nv tho most noro1oSu
reader OF the above conversation that Dot was
given to snubbing me at every turn. feel 1t
only due TO myself to state that l am really very
nice and very sensible; but If had not been well
grounded in the facts of the case she would
often have cOntrved to make me feel rather
foolish. This time. however, 1t was difficult not
to acknowledge the force of her SATIRE and 1
laughed.
-Four men were playing euchre in the next
room. They were our only fellOw-bOarders In
this out-Of-the-way farmhouse, and, as we had
made out from their conversation at the table,
had come out for some shooting. They played
euchre during most Of their odd hours and two
of them were always quarreling over the lead,
the play, the deal or the score. One of the
Others tries to clear the air by genial laugh
when words wax too warm, but it is not effect
uai, and the fourth contents himself with silence
till. weary of contention, he shouts, IL said
Pass What do you say?" This brings them
back to business for the time being.
devoted much of our time to speculatiOns in
regard to these four men. They took not the
slightest apparent notice of US. though we took
breakfast, dinner and supper at the same table,
and met them at every turn.
do you think it would seem odd II went
and rang the doOr-bell opposite, and asked
Please. do any folks live here? And If thew do,
had they just as lief come and stand around In
the front yard few minutes each day?"
II don't know" said Dot, dOubtfully. sit
might seem odd in some places, but perhaps
here they always wait to be urged"
Il shall try it. if we stay here week. must
know if they always climb the back fence so
as not to disturb the front walk, when they
come to make real nelghbOrly sit-down visit,
and why"
''Why do you let it worry you SOP"
because | can't help it. I've been In this
place two whole days, and l know no more
about my neighbors than did the evening
came-and never want to know anything more
except about my neighbOrs. I've laughed and
been contemptuOus about the petty curiosity of
country villages. but nOw-curious! If lived
here six months I'd know just how much this
girl gave for her new bonnet ribbon, and whether
or not it was remnant. while If young man
went to see her. I'd go and ring the dOor-bell,
and insist upon knowing his middle name"
We'll take a drive tomorrow, if you like,
and see II we can't find out something about
somebody"
The next day 1t rained, and my Impotence
grew with delay. / think Dot was impatient
and curious too. but she wouldn't allow it. Ger
tainly, when the sun came out the day after
she lost no time in telling Mr.. Stubs that we
wanted q carriage, with horse We could drive
ourselves, at three in the afternoon. Mr.. Stubs
was not hard of hearing. nor particularly dense
of understanding, but he liked to have things
reiterated; so about half an hour after we had
clearly expressed our wishes he came into the
room, looking for his hat. and remarked:
said We wanted that Vaughn at bout three
O'Clock, didn't yep
Yes. Mr.. Stubbs," said Dot and I.
Then he went away again, and didn't come
back for an hour. this time with his hat on his
head.
'Hullo, Mr.. Stubbs," said Cadwallader, one
OF the men, a hopeless invalid, come for the sea
air. with whom the rainy day had made us ac-
quanted. Found your hat? Lucky you come
in Jest when You oldest thinkin' bout adver-
tisin' for it in the Boston papers,"
Cadwallader was man of about fifty. q gen.
uine Yankee. with none Of the Yankee culture,
whose native humOr had not been driven out by
years of Illness
''Wa'al, vase. found 1t; 'twarn't gone for
long" Mr.. Stubs was never quite at ease
under Cadwallader's chaff Lessee. You said
YOU wanted that boss long bout half past two,
didn't ye?"
EYES," said Dot, acridly.
ssYaSe I cac'latod that was fha time vo