The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-09-26

up a fifty foot ladder.
| A desire for the country always smoul-
dered, however, in Mrs. Bu,1's heart, and
she never gave up the hope that some time
they light live on whole acre of ground,
and have three or four trees, and may be a
glimpse of brook, like the one she used to
wade in when she was q girl 1t was this
hope that sustained her through all these
years, and led her to toll bravely on, and
| make the best of the cramped and dismal
! house-that was one comfort-and had
none of that wretched breaking-up and
| packing about from one rented place to
another, which thny observed in their less
| fortunate neighbors. l suspect that the
Bunns had great affection for even the
leaky kitchen roof, and the rickety pump,
because of the dear fact that they owned
| them.
| And yet, although these shabby premises
were their own, it seemed as if in this
spring of 1884 the house had never seemed
quite so small and quite so sickly. Both
| Tom and Annie were down with low fevers.
| Baby Bum was Grossly cutting some
double teeth, and a series of long, hard
rains had interfered with hod carrying to
! such an extent that Mr.. Bum, in a tattered
rubber coat, had taken to looking for jobs
of wood-sawing. Dismal, indeed, was the
outlook, and it required all the Bum forth
tude to eat suppers of corn meal cakes and
|
complainingly to breakfasts of corn-meal
mush and sky blue milk.
''If we lived in the country" began Mrs.
Bum, and then checked herself. She was
in no mood to be laughed at She went on
thinking, however, that if they lived in the
country on an acre of land, they could at
| least have potatoes and turnips and fresh
eggs, an occasional chicken, and, perhaps
oh mercy of mercies-they might keep
a cow, by letting the children lead her
along the roads to crop the free pasturage
! there.
Probably Ms. Buan was getting a little
| feverish herself, for whenever she closed
| her eyes she seemed to see fair green fields
and dancing brooks, and white'cow feed
ing upon the hillsides and happy children
| gathering violets in the spring sunshine;
and she could hear the thrifty cackle of
ambitious hens, and the carol of robbins
on the tip-top branches of the budding
trees She closed her eyes as often as her
work would permit, through this last
! gloomy day in the Flats, and felt some
what cOmforted and cheered by her strange
fancies.
A river runs by the Flats, separating that
| locality very distinctly from the heights of
| Upper Lowell. Every spring it rises and
runs away with its usual petty larcenies of
woodsheds, chicken coops and the like {;
but in this spring of 1884 it meant more
| Uheih ptuOy lttl OtlIs ~ lItduU IL DDlI anu
and defiant raid. Its gray, swirling waters
almost reached the high-arched bridges,
and its usual insinuating murmW was
| turned to a menacing roar. But the Flat
people did not fear it; and even when it
! crept up to their back yards and Tapped
! hungrily around their door-steps, it was
! still but a new and refreshing excite
ment-this big rise of the peaceful Little
| Wolf" The men and women living along
| the banks looked after such small, loose
articles as We're likely to be carried away,
| and the children made RATS and padded
about in the pools of back-water in great
glee. Some authoriSies rode over to the
Flats, and suggested that the houses along
| the river had better be vacated, and the
families living there only laughed and
said they were not afraid; and every one
went to bed that night feeling entirely
safe, and thankful that the weather had
cleared and that there would be chances
for going to work on the morrow.
But ''at midnight there was a cry" Mr..
and Mrs. Bum did not hear it, for Annie
and Tom were sleeping soundlv for the
first night in a week, and the father and
mother, tired out with vigils, were ais o
| deep in slumber. They were all sleeping
up stairs as the doctor had advised Tom
and Annie in their hunks near the window,
where a breath of fresh air coJld touch
their fevered faces, three small boys in the
| VI uutllb-btu. Ntll13 blb ep-tSb RlII, On Il
lounge, and Baby Bum with his father
and mother.
The cIy came from some of the houses
| along the river, and there was only time
for the bewildered snatching of little
| clothing and frenzied escape to higher
ground, every one, in those first wild mo-
ments, thinking but of himself and those
achieved street lamps, and only the pale
glimmer of the stars lighted the terrible
scene.
The little Bum house stood lowest of
any in the Flats, and the river had been
nosing about it for an hour or more before
it took its final grip. When it really set its
jaws together, Mr.. and Mrs. Bum were
awakened by the queer, straining creak
and jar, and they now heard the wild
shouts outside, the lap and swirl of the
waters about them, and knew, with freez-
ing hearts what it all meant.
With the instinct that makes all woman
kind want to die decently, Mrs Bum
dashed into her gown which hung over the
foot of the bed, and even gave her hair a
| swift twist. Then she caught up Dicky
| Bum, who gave a sleepy cry at such dis
turbance, and she breathed the name of
Christ's mother, as she held him tightly to
her breast Mr.. Bum - steering with
great presence of mind through the sea of
sleepy children-lOolled from the window
Was there a torch-light procession? And
had all the stars joined in it? For the
lamps that were now flashing out from the
windows, and the bright stars above were
all moving in the same direction. No, il
was his own house that was moving-they
were atloatl MIR. Bum staggered back &c
the bed and drew on his trousers, and felt
about for his stockings, and said not a
word. Nellie, the oldest child, who had
awakened, sat up and called out: SO
mother" even as her mother had called
upon that other sacred name.
"Be brave, darlin' and don't wake the
other children! We're all goin' together
anyhow"
'eIaybe she'll hold together" said Mr.
Bum, who always found the hopeful side
of things. "We'll light the lamp and see
where we are" And soon all the people
who were disinterested enough to be mere
sightseers, noticed a glimmer out on the
dark river-like the light of a will o. the
wisp-except that it was little steadier;
a light that moved farther and farther
away and was finally lost to sight
She did "hold together" Through all
those long hours of terror, the little house
-reeing and staggering at times, and
thumped and jammed by floating debris
held together and in the early dawn sailed
along "all there" as Mr. Bum expressed
it,; and all the children, except Nelly
slept peacefully, as if lulled into deeper
slumber by the rocking of their one com
mon cradle. They appeared to be in the
middle of the river, for there was plenty OF
room, as Mr.. Bum said, but the shore
on either side, was shut out by a heavy
|