The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1884-06-12
THEIR FLAT.

THEIR FLAT.
Mr.. and Mrs. Charles Through had
mar led on love, which was their joint
possession, and on Il salary of $4,000 per
year, The love answered many OF
their demands to the fullest extent, but
manifestly there was no way in which
it could be applied to the settlement OF
the family bills. AS for the $4,000, the
young husband was so determined that
his wife should have whatever she
wanted if money could buy it, and Mrs.
Through was so anxious that her dear
Charley should enjoy every comfort
priced by man, that the couple discov-
cred an amazing deficit the first year,
and then an equally annoying one every
month about rent day. For little
while they found sympathizing parents
to help them out; then the head OF the
family discovered the fatal art of draw
ing his salary in advance; later came
an accumulation of tradesmen's bills,
and, consequently, an accumulation of
duns. There also resulted some sleep
less nights, and headaches, and domes-
tic explosions, the effect of which were
only partly removed by tears. Finally
of course everything else was tried
first-the couple determined on heroic
measures of economy. They would
give up the house they had furnished
SO prettily, and go into fiat They
knew other young couples who lived IN
flats-real nice people, too, SO why
should not they? 1t might seem some
what Of "come-down," and they could
not have as much company as they had
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 flats ?
Flats were not city houses-each one
exactly like every other one; there
were large flats and small ones, flats
with elevators, flats in which the top
story was more desirable than the first
floor-better still, there were flats on
the best avenues, whereas the Ebrough's
present home was on a cross street. and
startingly near the plebeian part of the
city.
So they went fat-hunting, and the
very 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
costly, but at the end of their first day
of search Mr.. and Mrs. Through were
painfully 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.
Atlast they found one. 1t was only
one flight up, it was in 4 corner house
with light all around it, the rent was
only one-half as much as they were now
paying, 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 fat was empty, and could be
taken at once, at a pro rata price, for the
unexpired portion Of the month, so the
moving could be done before the dread
full May-day, on which no carpet-ayers
could be found and cartmen were ex-
tortioners.
And what cosy home the Ebroughs
made in single day! 1t is true that
they were compelled to devote one room
entirely to storage purposes, for they
had altogether too much furniture for
the collective floor space. They had
also to put the piano. for the first night,
across the line that divided the parlors-
an arrangement whic'l,as Mrs. Through
very truly observed, spoiled the effect of
depth. But they hung all their pic
lures. their bric-a-brac furnished the
rooms more fully than it had done their
old parlors, and there was no running
up and down stairs to do. In fact,
they were 30 delighted that Mr.
Through had to run out and bring up
an old friend or two to see how nicely
they were getting on.
They retired late, but no sooner had
Mrs. Through fallen asleep than she
dreamed that some one was occasional
striking her sharp blow on the top o
her head with a hammer. She finally
escaped the blows by waking but al.
though she felt them no longer she heard
them distinctly; and they came with
such moDotonous regularity. about ont
in five seconds, that Mrs. Through was