Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1884-06-11
THEIR FLAT.

THEIR FLAT.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Through had
mar led on love, which was their joint
possession, and on II salary of 5000 per
year. The love answered many OF
their demands to the fullest extent, put
manlfestly there was no way in whicA
it could be applied to the settlement oil
the family bills AS for the $1,000, the
young husband was 50 determined tha'
his wife should have whatever she
wanted if money could buy it, and MIS-
Through was so anxious that her dear
Charley should enjoy every comfort
priced by man, that the couple d'scoV-
cred an amazing deficit the first year.
and then an equally annoying one every
month about rent day. For a little
while they found sympathizinS parents
to help them out; then the head OK 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 oil
dnns 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 hal furnished
so prettily, and 60 into fiat Ihey
knew other young couples who lived il
flats-real nice people, too, SO why
should not they? 1t might seem some
what of q "come-down," and they coult
not have as much company as they had
before; but, after all, what company
did they really care for, except eacl
other and their few most intimat,
friends? Besides, were there not somt
quite rich families who lived in flats
Flats were not city houses-each ont
exactly like every other one; ther
were large flats and small ones, fiat
with elevators, flats in which the tol
story was more desirable than the frs
1oor-better STILL there were flats OF
the best avenues, whereas the Through
present home was on a cross strccCa1'
Btartingly near the plebeian part OF tn
city.
So they went nat-hunting, and tn
very first suite of apartments they saV
was on Madison Avenue, and had ever.
convenience and elegance that hear
could wish. They would have taken i
at once had not the rent been five thou
sand dollars per year. Some smalle
apartments on Fifth Avenue were les
costly, but at the end of their first da
of search Mr.. and Mrs, Through wer
painfully silent AMI detected, for the
had seen nothing desirable except wha
cost more than the house they were in
The next days experience dcprcsse
their spirits still more; they were no'
quite willing to take any sort of Hat, i
almost any sort of street, if only it wer
clean.
AT last they found one. 1t was onl
one flight up, it was in Il corner hous
with light all around it, the rent WI
only one-half as much as they were nov
paying, the house was too new to hav
shown signs of wear, and the landIor
insisted that, as there were no children
the house must be quiet, Beside, thi
particular flat was empty, ana could L
taken at once, at a pro rdtdprlcc, for til
unexpired portion of the month, 50 th
moving could be done before the dreat
full May-day, on which no carpct-laycl
could be found and cartmen were e2
tortiorers.
And what a cosy home the Ebrougt
made in single day! II is true tn;
they were compelled to devote one rool
entirely to storage purposes, for th'
had altogether too much furniture +,
the collective floor space. They ha
also to put the piano, for the first nigh
across the line that divided the parlors-
an arrangement which, as Mrs. Ebroug
very truly observed, spoiled the effect
depth. But they hung all their pi
lures. their bric-a-brac furnished Il
rooms more fully than it had done the
old parlors, and there was no runnii
up and down stairs to do. In fac
they were 30 delighted that NJ
Through had to run out and bring
an old frienl or two to see how nice
they were getting on.
They retired late, but no sooner hi
Mrs. Through fallen asleep than 81
dreamed that some one was occasiona!
striking her sharp blow on the top
her head with hammer. She final
escaped the blows by waking, but ;
though she felt them no longer she hea
them distinctly; and they came wi
such monotonous regularity, about o.