Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1893-06-10
THE HORRID TOWNSHIPS.

place, it was the middle of July, aud
we had to move. Old Mr.. Townsend
died, and every stick and stone that he
owned in Dolliver was sold. His heirs,
two sons, (oh, how we hated their very
names, knowing no more of them), had
been abroad; had come home intending
to divide their time between their New
York residence and the old family
estate at Chester Grove. But they did
not want to bother with lot of rented
houses in Dolliver, and these were per-
emptorily doomed to be sold.
Old Conway pounoed upon ours at
once. Of course he didl Mrs. Con.
way and her two homely daughters had
been hankering for our house for
years, for, though we did "only rent
it" we had lived there for thirteen
years, and, oh! the additions and i'm.
provements we had made to it We
had doubled its value, 1 am certain;
we beautified it. inside and out; we
lavished our artistic tastes upon the
panels; we adorned the walls; we had
the floors puttied, painted and polish
ed, and Teddy had actually painted
the most beautiful border and corner
pieces of oak leaves and acorns round
the entire sitting.room. And now, to
give it all up! Obi those hateful
Townsends
What added to the distress was the
fact that the only house we could find in
all Dolliver to rent was little two
story cottage. quite distance from all
the neighbors to whom we had become
attached, and in locality we detested.
However, there was no help for it, and,
as said before, we had an awful time.
1t was bad enough to know the dear
old home was lost to US, and that the
Conways were to enjoy all our labors Of
love on the walls and floors; it was
sufficiently e1asperating to be COM
pelled to take up our abode at Jenk's
Corner, locality we abominated, but
these were only the beginning of our
tribulations.
The day we were to move was hot
oh, so hot! and the dear mother, hay
ing done the work of about three men
the previous week, and weighing at her
best times about ninety-four pounds,
broke down with binding nervous
headache; Martha, treasure of SER
want, had already laid herself up by
spraining her wrist in moving trunk,
so there were Teddy and Jim and to
"do" the moving.
Teddy is my eldest sister Theodosia,
and Jim is Jemima, my youngest sis
ter; am Thomasine, always called
Tom in the bosom of my family. We
are all young, we are all blondes, we
are all small, and we are all pretty.
We have incomes of our own of $500 q
year, and the dear mother has about
twelve hundred a year, so we can live
very nicely. indeed, in quiet place
like Dolliver.
When mother patiently tainted away
just as the first furniture van drove up
to the door, Teddy and I detailed Jim
for active duty in the hospital depart
mont, and promised to have mothers
room made ready the first thing. In
the mean time she was made comforta-
BILE in Jim's room, and Martha under.
took to superintend the loading OF the
vans, while Teddy and I scampered off
to the new house to see to receiving the
furniture.
Up drove the first van with one man.
Both Teddy and I were at the door,
and exclaimed:
where's the other man?"
Sure, marin, he was sent for by his
old woman. One of the childer's
scalded hisself, and it's half over Dol
liver I've been, thrying to foind some-
body to take the job, and niver one is
there doin' nothin at all, at alll'
Here was dilemma.
"Well," said Teddy, "those things
have got to be taken into the house.
You and can carry some of the light
ones"
Neither Teddy nor I knew that we
had an audience. Not until long after
wards were we aware of the wicked
trick that was at that instant devised.
From round the corner of the house
appeared two men in flannel shirts mi
nus collars, neckties or hats, with hair
in wild confusion, and extremely dirty
hands and faces. In the richest Of
brogues one of them respectfully ad-
dressed Teddy, and requested work.
l really wonder now that we didn't
embrace them. But we engaged their
services at once, and how they worked!
They did a considerable amount of
laughing whenever they were alone
and they required the most minute di-
rections for everything they undertook,
but they put down carpets and put up
pictures and carried in furniture and
unpackcd glass and china in fact,
worked with might and main, leaving
to the driver of the van only the task
of going to and fro with the goods,
which he managed to load with Mar.
tha's assistance.
AT noon we unpacked substantial
lunch, and as Bill and John, our new
help, showed no signs of going home,
we spread out a meal on the kitchen
table, and sent them in to it. never
in my life heard men laugh so much
over sandwiches, hard.boiled eggs and
coffee
In all this time, you may be sure
Teddy and 1 were berating those hor-
rid Townsends at every turn. We
called them all sorts of names express
slve OF meanness and selfshness, hoped
their own house would burn down and
let them know how pleasant it was to
be turned out of a home they loved.
We were sure they were sour, grumpy
old bachelors, and we hoped they
would nevery marry unless it was to
some old witch, who would worry all
the year round. ALI this we said in