The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-10-16
OUR TELEPHONE.

We were among the first in Deepclif
to have one. Mother thought it would
be $50 useful TO US, household of wo-
men," aunty thought 1t 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
save us many wet, windy, or warm
walk after forgotten trifes, which in
. our housekeeping were not few. Only
Lulu laughed and laughed again, break
inc at intervals into ecstatic chuckles,
and picturing mother and aunty with
vocabulary of telephone slang, calling
out, Hello. hello! do you get it?' etc
You re just inviting the world, the
flesh and the devil into Spinsters' Snug
Harbor," she saba remark which
Mortified aunty, who said she had no
idea one would be 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 wire up. There
was some discussion as to whether we
should have tell which should ring
only our own call, or one of the less eX-
pensive ones which sounded the call of
every one on the line. The latter was
finally decided upon. 1t would be
company" aunty thought, to hear the
little musical tinkle; and, after al,
there were only seven subscribers on
each line Mother, with d dignity
which forbade all suspicion Of curiosity,
inquired who the other subscribers
were.
The Ormes,n the man said; ''and
the Peytons and brakes were all, so
far; but he was to 90 to Dyke House on
Monday to see about it. They had not
yet settled on it. u!
We girls exchanged glanccs. Lulu
who was sitting on the lowest step of
the staircase, cbackled with fun and
mischief; mother drew herself up and
concluded the conversation. Ne all
felt it sort of triumph that our tele-
phone should have been put in first
There was bitter feud, long
ing and deadly, sort of Montague and
Capulet affair, between the MacartneyS
of Dannemora, and the Somerindykes
of the Dyke, beginning, OF course, in 4
dispute over property in old DAYS when
the families had intermarried, and con-
tinued, by iudiciouS litigation, to our
time. in the shape of 4 dispute over n
perfectly worthless piece of land-a
mere rocky gully which divided the
two estates. In our early years there
had been rotten bridge over the Dyke,
r,-hsnl, fo,-f,sl focnino lnl -
prefer as 4 playground to many prettier
spots. And there had taken place
meetings, more or less clandestine, for
the purpose of playing Jack" and
other innocent games with the one hope
Erd heir of Dyke House But the
bridge had long since fallen down,
Frank SomerindSke was away over
EeaS, we had grown up to the family
ennity, 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 chuckle,
and to produce more choice bits OF
slang, learned Heaven knows where
she said from her Sunday-school boys
until at last on a Sunday moning,
when she informed us that the church
bells were ringing us up" mother
ruled sternly that not another word
word was TO be said about telephones
until Monday. So the subject was
dropped, though think in her heartoi
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 sal
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 fluttered up the aisle, 8
handsome. manly head appeared above
the high pew door, and scanned u:
with merry blue. eyes.
There was some subdued excitement
among Us; we noticed an additional
shade of pink in Lulu's checks. ant