Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1888-06-05
Filling in a Corner Lot.
A jon THAT HAS LASTED rouRrEES
yEARs.
lAtlan,a Coastliullon.i

ATLANTA constiiuiion.I
"He ha. been At tnat for II years.
And the speaker laughed - he wa,ehc
an old man gathering up . bucket 0
stones and broken bricks. The old ma,
continued hi. work until bis bucket We
filed. and then started back toward
Spring street. stopping on the way TO res
ureot . ru.,ed old hoop that was nsarl,
buried In the gutter. After walkin,
aboa, three block. he stopped ., the cor
ner Of Spring aud Janis streets. and. lay
ing the rusty hoop carefully upon = grea
heap Of hoops Of all kinds and 'ires. h'
carried the buckle, 10 the back Of bis lo,
. par, Of which va. considerably lower
,hAn the frohi, and smp,i,d the bueke,ful
OF bricks aud .,oEes. lie was abou, 20
years old. spparen,ly-in hi' 'hir, sleeves
aud ~sarins dingy straw hat. lie was
feeble. too. and bis steps were slow. but
be stopped only to se, drink Of water
a, the back door aud then ambled of ~ith
the empty bucket
The little frame structure is half store
aud half residence. Jus, inside the door
to the store ga, pOr'ly old lady Of GO OF
iheresbour.
"wko |, ,h., old man yOnder with
th., empty bucket, ?"
"ilim' Why. that's old man Lewis
Powell. and he. my husband. Though,
everybody knew him."
81. iha, all be does ?"
"Fill up the lot, you mean' No, no
be put. hoops on barrel. aud kegs. and
raise. e,l,,. and such like. ba, that. bis
main business. He. been =, !, nigh on
TO II years"
"And how much h.. he filed 10 y
"Oh. from the sidewalk on back. The
10, |. SO by so. and IL used to be jus, one
big hole. Nov here on Spring street,
where the from, Is. the bank ven, nearly
,,raish, down. cause the eye Of III. sew
sr va, rish, there. Then the sewer vas
open and ran In sulley the Whole length
Of the 10, and jus, sbou, in the middle Of
the lot. Here on James street. at the
side there. i, ~..n', so steep. The iron,
Of the old house was .bou, half way down
the bank. and the pillars q, the back vas
over 10 feet high The house wasn't
mor,'n II feet that way either. And
right a, the back door the sewer passed. y
"How deep VAS IL !"
"wsll, night here =, the fron, the city
men measured the sewer once, aud IL vas
. little over 20 feet below the sidewalk.
The back Of The 10, "a. little lower.
I, va. one big hole so by so. and almost,
in the bottom Of it vas the old house.
Fourteen year. ago We bOugh, !, from
Jack Smith on time. I, WASH, much.
ba, me aud Jenny aud Joe and Sell. jas,
buekled down and worked like tigers.
The nsishbor made fun Of Us At first.
Nov. | ain, telling you thi, because I'm
stuck up abou, IL, bu, Il jus, shows what
the Powell family has done, aud !, shows
VIA, poor folks can do II they stick =,
H."
"Didn', the old m.n help
"Ye., . little. Ba, We bad TO live.
.nd then he .psn, lots Of ki. time = oil.
In up. so the brun, Of the money par, fell
on me and the children. We bought the
mud hole and he made the mud hole
wha, /, !. now"
And the old lady smiled As though the
though, was avery Plea'An, one.
"Ys.. sir. she continued. "it' worth
good deal now. and first thing you
know. wien the streets get paved along
here. Il will be worth 10, more than Il
/, now"
"And the old man p
"The old man has worked mighty
faithful. Li,,l. a, time be ha. fetched
dirt and rocks. and bricks, aud Trash.
Then the city pu, pipe there for sew
sr. and he begun at the sidewalk on
Spring street and filed back. The bank
KEEP, g,t,in' further and further. aud after
| don't know how long. We bull, this lit.
tie house on the tillsd.in part. The old
man kop, film back till we've got a
pretty biz back yard and there. only
= little par, lsf, to Gil back there. You
see. he never tore up the old house-jas,
,hrowed in around il, and in !, ill be has
Almo., buried Il.
"wky"
"oh, IL. jus, q notion Of his. He
didn', want to see the old house tore up,
and there /, /. now. with jus, the roof
.,icLin' out. In a little while !, will be
one level yard. so by so, and corner
lo,, too. And by the time il all get. fill
ed up-w,ll. me and the old man are se,.
tin feeble now. and We wont last much
longer. hut, nov that we are ell on, OF
deb, and jus, enough lef, to do TO keep
the old man. hand in, II doe. me good
TO think Of ,ha, Old mud.hole, aud how
We bid to save and slave and pinch to
pay for il. And think the old man
likes to stand there st the corner and look
back and rtAse, how level aud smooth !,
l., and how |, was done, a handial a, a
time. through the rain and the snos and
the sunshine. Fourteen years IL was
big JOB. bu, We stuck to IL, and I'm
rs.,in' now. for my work is done. The
oil man dor, work like he used TO. bu,
be say. hi. JOB Amt finished yet. and he
keeps film up
"And when bis work is done"
Then he'll rest, too"
What's in n Name2
OmahA man-"That bill is all nigh,
aud I'll give you q check in = moment"
.E..L..k an a.,