The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1884-10-16
o TELEPHONE.

We were among the first in Deepclif
to have one. Mother thought it would
be $50 useful to us, q household of wo-
men," aunty thought it would be las
good as a man in the house, and not
half the trouble. We girls agreed
with the higher powers, of course, with
the additional reflection that it would
ave us many a wet, windy, or warm
walk after forgotten %trifes, which in
our housekeeping were not few. Only
Lulu laughed and laughed again, break
ing at intervals into ecstatic chuckles,
and picturing mother and aunty with a
vocabulary of telephone slang, calling
out, .sHellot helloFdo you get itp'. etc.
You're just inviting the world, the
flesh and the devil into Spinsters' Snug
Harbor," she said-a remark which
Mortified arnty, who said she had no
idea wouldfbe obliged to use such
language. But mother did not hesitate,
declaring in her stately way that she
should leave all personal contact with
the thing to us girls; what she thought
of was the convenience and the safety.
So it was decided, and the man came
On Saturday to put the " ~ up. There
was some discussion as % whether we
should have a bell which shorld ring
only our own call, or one of the less ex-
pensiye ones which sounded the call of
every one on the line. The latter was
finally decided upon. 1t would be
company auntythougbt, to hearthe
little porsical tinkle; and, after all,
there we're only seven subscribers on
each line. Mother, with a dignity
which forbade all suspicion of curiosity,
inquired who the other subscribers
we're. 4 ~@
"The 0rmes," the man said, s.and
the Peytons and brakes were all, SO
far; but he was to go to Dyke House on
Monday to see about it. They had not
yet settled on It."
We girls exchanged chances. Lulu,
who was sitting on the lowest step of
the staircase, chuckled with fun and
mischief; mother drew herself up and
concluded the conversation, We all
felt it a sort of triumph that our tele-
phone should have been put in first.
There vas a bitter feud, long-stand-
ing and deadly, a sort ofMontague and
Capulet affair, between the Macartneys
of Dannemora, and the Somerindykes
of the Dyke, beginning, of course, in a
dispute over ~propertysin old days when
the families had intermarried, and con-
tinued, by judicious litigation, to- our
time. in the shape of dispute over q
perfectly worthless piece of land-a
mere rocky gully which divided the
two estates. In our early years there
had been a rotten bridge over the Dyke,
|, which a fearful fascination led us TO
prefer as a playground to many prettier
spots. And there had taken place
meetings, more or less clandestine, for
the purpose of playing s.jack" and
other innocent games with the one hope
and heir of Dyke House. But the
bridge had long since fallen down,
Frank Somerindyke was away over
seas, we had grown up TO the family
enmity, and the Dyke was crossed only
by warlike glances.
The man was to come on Monday
morning to put up the instrument in
the hall.
Lulu continued to giggle and ehuckle,
and to produce choice bits of
slang, learned Heaven knows where
she said from her Sunday-sehool boys
until at las. on a Sunday morning,
when she informed US that the church
bells were ringing us up" mother
ruled sternly hat mot another word
word was to be said about telephones
until Monday. So the subject was
dropped, though 1 think in Ter hearts OF
hearts mother felt that she had added
one more cause of pride to the list OF
her triumphs over Mrs. Somerindyke,
before whose envious eyes, as she sat
in her lonely pew, she week by week
paraded her five blooming daughters.
For once, however, this amiable
triumph was not complete; the lady Of
Dyke House was not alone. As we
rustled and fiuttered up the aisle, a
handsome, manly head appeared above
the high pew door, and scanned us
with merry blue eyes.
There was some subdued excitement
among us; we noticed an additional
shade of pink in Lulu's cheeks, and
though when standing up she kept hel
eyes strictly at home, we surprised
some furtiye chances across the aisle
before she disappeared into a corner Of
the tall, green. lined box which we
called u pew.
Werecollected some s'sweethearting''
which had taken place years before. al
an age when sweetmeats were as i'm.
portant as love affairs, and we laughed
a little among ourselves. but we
did not mention the Somerindykes be.
fore mother or aunty; and little Miss
Lulu, though the youngest, had a way
of being let alone, so no allusion was
madetoher bushes. And next morning,
the interdict being raised, we began
again to talk telephone. The man