The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-11-27
A THANKSGIVING, TURKEY.
The Office It Performed In On AZ
-aas Uav fair of the Heart. 48lj
The Old Sea Captain and the Aged spinste,
--A Divided House-How the Ciialk-
Line Was Obliserated-A
- rg- Happy Ending.

sea, midway between ESSEX and Sussex,
lies the town of Kleinhof. The chief
occupation of the inhabitants is the oc-
-cupation of doing nothing. In the
pleasant seasons they entertain visit
-ors, and during the unpleasant part of
the year entertain themselves with the
great and necessary help of what the
summer guest left behind him in the
shape of board money. But be they
and if what they are, we have naught
tc do with the town. and naught to do
with the inhabitants save two, named
Mark Silas, Captain, retired to private
life, and Cynthia Budd, spinster, also
retired to private life.
Captain Silss was called retired
sea Captain, because, as the story ran,
he had once commanded a ,staunch
three-znaster, and plowed the main
with it from his childhood to his latter
days. But whether he had ever been
n sea Captain, or knew q gunwale from
a center-board is another matter, be-
cause every man in Klemhof who did
WIN dUutludnB re-
sources to help him do il, was called a
retired sea Captain. Therefore it was
not easy to draw the line between the
genuine and the counterfeit sea Cap
tains who settled in Kleinhcf, and
there, by degrees, to the great delight
~of the inhabitants who had not retired
on anything, emptied their money
bags A rumor, however, to the slight
sdisparagenient of the Captains sea-
going qualities had been started on a
pleasure sailing excursion when in a
-sguan Captain Silas, in his excitement,
shouted: "Haul in the spanker boom.
and take a reef in the center-board.
Captain Silas lived in a shaded street
In the town, in double house of an
fique pattern. The Captain lived on the
west side and Cynthia Budd on the east
side. Cynthia Budd was comely per
son of forty odd years, and had re-
manned in the bud, as far as matrimony
was concerned, for that dreary length
of time. Ii was said and proved after
ward that Miss Budd had designs upon
the Captains affections and his
money, or his money and his az
fections. When the Captain returned
from his wanderings to take possession
of his ancestral house Cynthia Budd
waylaid him at odd intervals. in order
z 20 ensnare hiu to a declaration of his
Unbounded love for her-by offering to
feed his chickens for him on stormy
mornings, inquiring thirty-seven times
day IN regard to his precious health,
and by other acts and actions that spoke
her mind to great perfection, and made
1T as easy to read as the big lettered
sentences in the primer
e Is was said and proved afterwards
also that the Captain was at once srnit-
ten with the charms of the designing
spinster, but he was so pleased with the
fair onslaught, and derived SO much
chuekle and amusement from it. which
relieved greatly the tedium of a life
somewhat monotonous, that he sought
70 prolong it, But when another de-
signing ''old maiden" disrespectfully
so-called, whispered to Miss Budd that
the Captain made sport of her, and
1eered and laughed at the Bachelors
Club about her, her wrath was unbound
ed, and hard, unwilling hate took the
place of soft and willing love.
80 AT the ancestral double house a new
order of things was introduced. 1t was
a divided house in more than one feat
ure. The only access from the street
was front door, in the center. that
accommodated both tenants. Inside
was large hall, from which the differ
ent paris of both parts were reached.
There were two stair-cases and two
doors here and there. making the two
parts Of the house independent of each
other, except the front door accomnlo-
datiQn. a fine rag mat of Miss Budsl's
k2ndiwork had been in use before the
door. This was drawn to tie east side
Mt once The Captain supplied q, a
boughten mat, but il was quickly thrust
10 his side. Later, hiss Budd drew a
Z chalk line from the center of the door
% the opposite side of the hall. The
Captain understood this, and was care
ful to keep on the west side of it. : 1t
was said that when Miss Bndd entered
the house she threw wide thedoor. and
gathering her skirts carefully around
her, tripped it on the east half of the
door. and at any and all times observed
the chalk line to hairs breadth. The
Captain kept two dogs, and Miss Budd
supported half dozen cats, more OIL