The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1891-04-18
NOT GOOD NEIGHBORS.

get into it. The old residents of the
town have no place among the arls-
tocracy, and the relations between
the two classes remind one of those
tender sentiments which bind the
North American Indian to this gov
ernment. The common herd is kept
within its reservation.
The wealth and fashion of Bacil-
lusville extend themselves along
Greenlawn ave-, which is regarded
as the finest street in the world by
everybody who lives on it. And
without doubt it is wolthy OF re-
mark, for it Is lined with handsome
residences, whose owners look out
through their mosquito bars upon
beautiful and extensive grounds.
The greatest vigilance is exercised
by the elite toprevent any objection
able person from coming to live on
Greenlawn-a ave. Once when a man
of doubtful social standing was en-
deavoring to buy a house there, a
committee representing the virtue
and exclusiveness of the avenue
waited upon the owner of the house
and lied about the intended pur-
chaser's financial condition so assidi-
ously that they broke off the trade
and preserved the respectabilty OF
! the neigbborhood.
1t was by huke, therefore, that a
rusty old codger like Farmer Al
phonso Hopkins secured the mag
nihcent residence and corner lot
which Broker Lemuel Skinner had
lacked the time to dispose of pre-
vious to taking the fast mail for
Canada. Skinner had been one of
the brightest ornaments of Green
| lawn ave-, and his departure was the
more regretted because not even
extradition proceedings could bring
him back.
There was nothing ornamental
about Farmer Hopkins. Forty years
spent in wrestling vegetables from
the unwilling bosom of Long Island
had not given HIM those graces of
language and bearing which had dis
tinguished Skinner. Hopkins pos
sessed such dilapidated and melan
choly exterior that one might have
doubted whether he could buy land
enough at dollar an acre to secure
a comfortable burial. For that reason
his negotiations were not suspected
by the Greenlawn-ave., people, and
he bought the place quietly for cash
before they were aware of his lnten-
tons. He could afford il, for a life
of hard-hsted economy and an un-
expected inheritance had made him
rich.
When the golden wind-fall came
Mr.. and Mrs. Hopkins decided that
it was time their two daughters LETT
off washing dishes and learned to
play on the piano. Mrs. Hopkins
favored moving to Fifth-aye., be-
cause New York society was gay
and the girls were of an age when
they naturally liked going intoscom-
pany. But Alphonso objected. He
said that the moral atmosphere Of
New York was impure; and, more
over, the fifth-ave houses had almost
no ground around them. He did
not want to be obliged to scrape his
boots at the gate every morning for
fear of carrying away his entire front
yard.
Bacillusville was the result of
compromise. The Hopkinses took
their new neighbors by surprise, and
the first intimation of the true state
of the case was derived from the
sight of Alphonso in suit of faded
blue overalls sitting on the front
steps of his residence, loading clay
pipe with plug tobacco. The gentle
zephyrs of early May waited the
smoke to the aristocratic nostrils OF
Mrs. Roche-Jones, mistress of the
mansion on Alphonso's left, as she
was preparing to enter her carriage
for an afternoon drive. She turned
and looked at Alphonso with hor-
ror he nodded pleasantly and
called Good day, ma am, in voice
which made the cultured air OF
Greenlawn-ave. shudder.
I'm afeared them folks below us
amt goln' to be neighborly, he said
to Mrs. Hopkins when she appeared
on the porch shortly afterwards.
Oh, | would not borrow no
trouble about it, father, replied Mrs.
Hopkins. The woman folks can
most generally fix those things. up
quickest. I'll kind O make an
errand over there in the mornin',
maxim out as if | wanted to borrow
little yeast. | can alters get ac-
quainted with a woman best in her
own kitchen.
Mrs. Hopkins did not find Mrs.
Roche.Jones in her own kitchen,
which may account for the failure OF
her pacific mission. Neither did
similar visit to the residence of Mrs
Van Alpine, their neighbor on the
right, result in the establishment of
socialrelations. Then Alphonso tried
the experiment of smoking his after
supper pipe sitting on the little orna
mented fence which separated his
grounds from thosa of the Roche
Joneses. He assumed an easy atti-
tude, calculated to draw Mr.. Roche
Jones into friendly discussion ofpoli
tics or the weather, but that gentle
man only glanced out of the parlor
window and scowled. The pipe of