Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-04-04

G NN suburban vil- % SM~ v lage, in search V &5S of better air for / AS%[E the children and .~S for his own & j| <: ;. x. <. <. }. <: <: <: ULfZ"X ss lbINE a st h m 0 c WRHhL/N> t$S MNlWI lungs, he told 1LL&zSA ESSAIIIIlR his wife that NIt5M@EA\\NSNMW now she could HIIIINMMiI-\\\NS have the pleas Wk%NEM N\ ure of knowing W$N% her ncXt-door ncighbors-an experience she never had been granted in the city. Mrs. Bortley, born and roSred in a thiclly settled portion of the metropolis, believed her husbands statement, for had not Zenas always been country boy until he came to New York to make his fortune? Had he not described to her, again and | again, the ideal society of his native village of Grasshoppor Falls, where l everybody knew everybody elsewhere one man was as good as another so long as he earned his living, paid his bills | and went to church on Sunday, and ! where every woman was R lady if she had n black silk dress, no matter how plain, in which to receive calls? Had not Zenas' own mother, wife of the bookkeeper of the local lumber com pany, been asked by the congressman's ! wife Co help entertain some distin guishcd guests from another state? And | it had been so delightful when Mrs. Zenas had been ill or feeble, in her little flat in the city, to hear her hus- band tell how in the country any man whose wife was feeling poorly could borrow neighbours carriage or sleigh and take the dear woman out for an air | ing. Mrs. Zcnas never had an outing | except in n horse car, for her husband, | though strong in affection and sclf-sac- | riGtce, had but small salary, and the ! olive branches which were the fnmily's only riches always needed something | which cost about aS much as carriage for an hour or two.
 So the Bortlcys went to the country, and a blessed change they found 1t. The children began to grow like weeds, their mothers checks became fuller of | roses than the garden, and XcnHs him self, though he was obliged to break fast early and sup late in order to make | Q full day nt the store in which he was entry clerk, found his asthma disappear ing with unexpected rapidity. lis cot tagc cost less per month than Q city flat; he had little garden which, thanks to his boyhood's experience, yielded many | vegetables which tasted better than any he had ever bought from groccri the children had swing under an old ap- pie tree and rolled in the grass to theiT hearts content; the pastor of 0 church called after seeing the heads of the fam fly in his congregation, and Zenas wns Invited to join the local club of his po- liticul party, and also to subscribe Co O course of lectures to be delivered in the local academy of music during tho fol- lowing winter.
 Yet Zcnns was not happy. Tho neigh borly utilization which be hGd promised his wife did not como about He woit- ed for 1t few weeks, for he waS dig nified little fellow, and had some lznowi- edge of tho manners of good society, but when his wife reminded him that the summer had nearly passed and nc one had called who had not some semi
 business purpose, ho informed himself
 with mighty pull nt all his faculties
 that something ought to be done. What muSt irritatrd him was that his next
 door ncighbor, handsome woman whose husband, so the agent of BortleJ cuttagr had said, would be obliged tc | nc away from home for some tilnc, ha(
 never called. Mrs. Mnytham, the Indy | in question, was distinguished looking as well as handsomr; her house WIS ! palace compared with the house Whicl
 ZcnaS had hired, and shc drove Almos
 daily behind n fine pair of horses Sh'
 was d good woman. toOs or Zcn2S wa
 no judge of human n0SurC, and as sh
 had no children tho little mnn, Nhi
 could not imagine that anyone regard
 ed boys and girls except with the adnru
 ton which he bestowed upon his dar
 lings, was sure that if Mrs Mnythn
 could know his brood she would in he
 loneliness have m unfniling source O
 consolation. As for Mrs Bortlcy , Zcnas' loyal soul profoundly piticd any
 one and everyone who did not knoy
 that Cstimablc woman.
 Yet the two women did not bccOIn
 acquainted, Mrs. Maytham did not cal
 and, when Mrs. Bortlcy felt hurt. he
 husband suggested that perhaps tn I older resident was from ono of tn 9 southern states in which calls mus f first be made by newcomers upon th
 old families. Mrs. Bortlcy acted upo
 this suggestion, but was unfortunate select an hour when her ncighbor we
 out; she made a supplementary c1fo'
 when her husband explained thnt couI
 try people usually became HcQuaipte
 by borrowing small necessities fro, ono another, but when Mrs Hortlc Q begged the loan of cup of ground co
 fec ono morning she saw only her nCigl
 bor's servant, and tho same result a tended the payment of the loan. - vain, too, did she display her childrc.
 who really were pretty and we
 dressed, when her ncighbor walk' , alone through tho well-kopt gardG D which the Bortlcys coveted for it's ra
 display of flowers; Mrs. Maytha
 seemed to ignore tho very existence the wcll-bchavcd children for whom {
 emperor might have been glad to c
 change his crown.
 Zcnas, however, had no idea oa gfvaI
 up, and the unexpected lack of new 6
 quaintances-a pcculiarity of suburbs
 villages-added to his determination
 know his nearest neighbor. While "