Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-10-07
MENDING A PAVEMENT.
Mrs. snooxieby Tomkyrs Has Hers
FIXED With Artificial stone.

FIXED With Ard aciai stone.
Don't say word about the sidewalk. nv
oear' SAID Mrs. Snoozleby Tomkyns to her
most ihumate friend one morning this week
Il nave suffered mores on account of that
pavement than you can well imagine. Last
winter three Of the fiays were 50 badlv
broken Up that my husband declared we
must have them replaced. So IN the spr,ns
ne engaged some people to DO the lob They
started In at IT and removed the DAMAGED
part OF the sidewalk. but at that point they
paused
shoozieby went down to the shop 70 pro-
test The boss told him that he was ex-
tremeiy busy. and that two OF his men wee
on on sprees which could not be expected
10 terminate at any particular time They
inieht De at work again the next day, or
the next week, or the next month-he could
not tel. meanwhile the completion of our
pavement must be deferred ON the xhola
think IL was the most inanudent trick I
ever mead or. Nothing that i have ever
mao TO do with plumbers approached IL
wnich Is saying a good deal
wen, you know Mr.. Tomkyns He IN
the most easy-going creature imaginahle
witnout much demur he permitted the af-
Ialr 10 run along, the Job remaining un-
iihlshea. Inc consequence was that on wet
Gays there was an area Of about twenty
square feet Of moist clay right in front OF
our steps. SO that nobody could reach the
door without getting into the slough was
mad as hops. i can tell you When we
came back to town a few weeks ago the
situation was UNCHANGED
Snoozleby went down to see the people
again, and they stood him on as he ex-
pressed IL with some vague excuses and q
promise TO attend to the matter without
much further delay. OF course, nothing
was done. My opinion is that the boss him.
ser Is the one who goes on sprees and that
| a .-RE
in on another. I rely for my Impressions in
TINS regard partly on intuition and partly
on the appearance of the individuals nose
lou can perhaps imagine my satisfaction
with large canvas bag and a trowel who
came to the door and Offered 20 fix NV
pavement for me. He said he was a maker
OF artificial stone.
small He only wanted "a to put the side
Walk IN perfect order. He proposed to
cover the bare space with flags of artificial
stone. ,ne materials for the manufacture OF
which he had with him. That was some
thing like business. as Mr.. Tomkyns would
say. 1 accepted the offer, and he began
work at once: To start with. he took from
mis- canvas bag a quantity Of material
wnicn looked somewhat like coarse earth.
This ne mixed with a small portion Of wa
ter In a couple OF pals, which he borrowed
from the kitchen for the purpose Then he
spread ~ Out In continuous layer over the
place that was to be paved. using his trowsl
TO make II perfectly smooth and finally to
cut away the lines between the artificial
nags.
He did II % cleveriy that 1 watched him
for some time while he was spreading the
stun. which looked for all the world like
mud In three hours he had finished the
task, and paid him the "a very gladly. He
returned the pals. got planks from the eel
lar and placed them across the new section
OF pavement. and instructed me with great
politeness that the artificial stone must
have time to harden. He told me that at
the end Of two days II would be like %
much rock. but that I must not permit it
to be walked upon In the meanwhile. Then
he went away. I tod Snooz,eby about it
when he got home. and he looked at the
new piece OF Sidewalk somewhat obviously.
OF course men always think that women
know nothing OF how to manage such
| things.
We'll. we gave the artificial stone three
| days to harden instead Of two. Then Q
hard rain came. When the shower was
over. part Of my new sidewalk was gone
1t had actually been washed away, and
with disgust / saw II discolor TO blackness
the river of water which flowed through
the gutter. The next two days being sunny.
| what was left OF the section Of patent pave
ment turned to dust and blew away. leav-
ing matters just as they were before any
| thing was done. As Mr.. Tomkyns says. the
| artificial stone was nothing more nor less
| than plain mud. Now. what do you think
OF that. my dearT