Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1888-09-13
GRAN'MAss NEW HOUSE.
8 Su8prise Prepared For q Dear
Ola Mother.

9he o1ks OaS here have had enough
GO do Shis summer @aeching and work.
6ng osee Sheir erUps OF hay and barley
and corn, Qraying eor gain Co fall and
&or Gain t@Geases carrying butter and
eggs to ana9keQo and za aorS7s, But
they have @akG4 Cine every aow AND
then when @hey have 9neS as che store
Ito talk owes ahe gna5fePGf Timothw
Bottoms new &onsee 9s 10 che frsg aew
house that llas beea buils ia Tamarac4s
in fourteen years. ane iS ia serious
matter6 Ther@ gre biga 'strapping
boys here doing mems work who
never saw a yellow shingle before in
their lives They have been suppos-
ing all along that shingles were always
of that dull, drab, weather color that
they appear to be on the old houses.
And they never knew before that q
single was foot and half long.
How could they know it when they
had never seen more than four inches
of one in their lives? a
"What are they thin at one end forp'f
asked Deifcon Bibb's boy one day.
SOS the water'n run off," replied
ono VI tuc carpenters.
"Oh. yes" said the boy, and he does
not know to this day why the carpen-
tiers all haw-hawed so loudly.
The way Tim came to build the new
house was: His mother, Gran'ma Boil
ton, as all the folks call her, went back
East last spring to visit around among
her sisters and the few old friends that
were still alive in Vermont-to see
them all once more before they died,
as she said. It was Tins doings.
Gran'ma didn't believe she could ever
in the world make up her mind to take
such a long trip and be away from
home a whole summer, but Tim is a
gO-ahead fellow and when he set his
mind on it last fall it was pretty sure
to come out that way. Tim had been
to the city good deal, and clear to
New York once, and the world didn't
seem SO big to him as it did to
gran'ma, who had Lived right here in
the old house since long before Tim
was born. q
Well. gran'ma got away early in
April and in less than a week Tim had
some carpenters out from the CITY and
they began to tear the old house down
and pile it in the pasture lot back of
the barn. Tim, who is an old bach,
slowed the furniture away in the
buggy-roOm and went over to Aunt
Becky Todd's to live till the new house
was done. Every day he was on hand
doing more work than any two of the
carpenters. for, said he:
ats just like mother to come pok-
ing back here before the times up and
want to have every thing ready so as
to give her genuine surprise
''Tm's good son." said all the
folks.
'There amt many boy that'd skite
around the world as he has and come
back and stick to his ma and not
marry" said Job Harding one evening.
as a lot of the men were sitting ON the
big platform in front of the store.
mo. Look at Gus North" said
Charley Gibson; sswent off and left his
ma and sister to look out for them
selves and wrote to his sister that he
was too busy to come to his mas flu
neral''
YES" said Jim Mason, land sent
fifteen dollars to buy flowers with
when flowers was as cheap as dirt and
his sister wanting bread, to say
nothing of black clo'es.,.'
"but Tim never got so high-toned
ne couldn't come back and keep the
Old farm up. OF course he likes to
have things, nice. and that's all right.