Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1884-06-20
THEIR FLAT.


Mr. and Mrs. Charles Ebroug
mar 'ed on love- which was their
possession, and on Il salary Of S30C
Y year The love answered mar
4 'helr demands to the fullest extent
lnanllestly there was no way in "
il could be applied to the settIeme,
'ne FAMILY bills. As for the $1,000
young husband was So determined
y MS wife should have whatever
- wanted If money could buy it, and
EOrough was 50 anxious that her
:; marley should enjoy every com
-. PilAed by man, that the couple disc
~ e''u an amazing deficit the first v,
as ''iiu Ihen an equally annoying one ev
ty "on'h about rent day. For a If
"a "',iie 'hey found sympathizing pare,
IS - neip them out; then the head of +
e ia'hlIy discovered the fatal art Of dra
. '''o ''l'ry IN advance; later can
an accumulation of tradesmen.s M,
and consequently, an accumulation
'oilS' There also resulted some s,oo,
.'' ni8ntS' and headaches, and dome.
'ic explosions, the effect of which n,o. '.
'"'y partly removed by tears. FINAL
or course everything else was trio,
80 -'lie couple determined on heroic
measures of economy. They wn,,l1
give up the house they had fIrnisbad %
p'0''iiy' and go into fiat Tbov
0ats o'ner young couples who lived in
ua's.real snns,, nice people, .too. So = -
assssa asssJa not they? 1t mi.s~<.1sEA,
what u a -TccomsEsae------sssz y s SMa
not have as much company as t1cs ~
before; but, after all, what company
did they really care for, except each
other and their few most intimate
friends? Besides, were there not some |
quite rich families who lived in Hats
Flats were not city houses each one
exactly like every other one; there
were large flats and small ones, hats
with elevators, flats in which the top
story was more desirable than the hrst
noor-better still, there were flats on
the best avenues, whereas the Ebroughs
nresent home was on a cross streetand
,tartingly near the plebeian part of the
city
So they went fat-hunting, and the
yery first suite of apartments they saw
was on Madison Avenue, and had every
convenience and elegance that heart
could wish. They would have taken it
at once had not the rent been five thou
sand dollars per year, Some smaller
apartments on Fifth Avenue were less
costlv, but at the end of their first day
of search Mr.. and Mrs Through were
painfullv silent and detected, for they
had seen nothing desirable except what
cost more than the house they were IN.
The next days experience depressed
their spirits still more; they were now
quite willing to take any sort of fiat, IN
almost any sort of street, if only it were
clean.
At last they found one. 1t was only
ono fIioht m. it was in corner house
with light all around it, the rent was
only one-half as much as they were now
having, the house was too new to have
shown signs of wear, and the landlord
insisted that. as there were no children,
the house must be quiet Beside THIS
particular fiat was empty, and could be
taken at once, at pro rata price, Tor the
unexpired portion Of the month, 50 the
moving could be done before the dread
full May-day, on which no carpet-layer'
could be found and cartmen were ex-
tortioreTs
And what a cosy home the Ebrough'
made in a single day, 1t is true thai
they were compelled to devote one room
entirely to storage purposes, for the9
had altogether too much furniture To-
the collective floor space. They ma,
also to put the piano. for the first night
across the line that divided the parlors-
-, orr,nrement which as Mrs. EbrOugl
very truly observed, spoiled the effect 0
depth. But they hung all their PIC
lures their bric-a-brac furnished IN
rooms more fully than it had done thel
old parlors, and there was no runnlh
up and down stairs to do. In iac'
they were so delighted that NJ
Through had to run out and bring u
an old friend or two to see how nicer
they were getting on.
They retired late, bat no sooner ma
, Mrs. Through fallen asleep than 81
dreamed that some one was occasional
striking her a sharp blow on the top
her head with hammer. She hhal
escaped the blows by waking ou'
Z. though she felt them no longer she heal
them distinctly; and they came WI
such monotonous regularity, about o.
in five seconds, that Mrs. Ebrough J"