Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1895-05-08
A FEUD.

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said Mrs. Burnett, and as she spoke sh,
raped at the small knuckles that wer,
moving toward the sugar bowl Nor
ton, aged 8, jerked his hand out of thu
way and laughed at his mother, wht
pursed up her lips to conceal smile.
Don't do that, Norton" said Mr.
Burnett. Then, turning to his wife, hi
asked, "What have they been doing
now?"
''That boy and some more of his GROVE
put tin cans along the top of the fence
and then threw at them to knock then
off. About every other stone went ovel
the top of the fence and went sailing
across our back yard. If one of them
had struck anybody, he wouldn't have
known what hurt him."
"What did you do?''
"What did do? Invent out and told
them if they didn't stop I'd send for O
policeman. said to that Deakin boy,
It's shame your mother can't teach
you to be a little better than a savage. u
"Maybe she didn't know they were
doing it,"
II do believe she puts 'em up to it.
That boys enough to try the patience
of saint.
"Next time he comes into our yard
I'll bet I throw something at him, "
put in Morton, whose chin was dripping
with mild mixture of milk and coffee.
"You leave him alone" said the
male parent. "You get into enough
fights already"
"Well, Frank, these boys are forever
picking OH him." said Mrs. Burnett
''Boys are a good deal alike" re-
sponded her husband. 'I'll bet when he
gets out he's the same as the rest Of
them. -
Morton grinned and said nothing.
The only member of the Burnett fam
lily who had not joined in the arraign-
ment of the neighbors was Alice, 6years
of age. She knew all about the feud and
shared in the suspicious of her mother,
but at present she was too busy with
her supper.
The Deakins lived next door, and al
though there was dividing fence it had
not kept the two families apart
In the year during which the two
households had dwelt side by side there
had been growing enmity. Yet Mrs.
Burnett had never spoken word to
Mrs. Deakin, and her husband knew
nothing of Mr.. Deakin. except that he
worked with his hands for a living and
spent great many evenings at home.
Itwould have been rather difficult for
either the Burnetts or the Deakins to
explain how the feud started, but it was
operated from the first through the chill
dren.
There were two Deakin children
Lawrence, or Larry, aged 10, and little
Willie, who, at the tender age of 8, had
learned to regard the Burnett-tribe with
scorn and hatred and suffer to some de.
gree under the indignities heaped upon
his family by that arch fiend Of jhvenil.
ity, Morton Burnett.
For when the Dealzins sat around the
supper table and cast up the accounts Of
the day it was Larry who posed as the
prosecuted and abused child, while
Morton Burnett was pictured as an in.
FAINT of dark intents, headed straightfor
the bridewell.
IF was a man, Tom Deakin," said
the wife, "I'll warrant you I'd 60 over
to that house and give notice that things
are simply going too far. Today that
boy got up on the fence and called Law.
renee all kinds of names. +"
He said that his mother had said
that ma didn't have clothes fit to wear"
suggested Lawrence, who had begun to
breathe hard during the recital of his
grievances
Anyway, ! don't try to make my.
self look like a peacock every time I
start to church, /" said Mrs. Deakin.
This comparison Of Mrs. Burnett to
peacock tickled the children, and they
laughed imInoderately. Tom Deakin re-
strained them with quiet tut, tut!"
and said that the proper way to get
along was to pay no attention to the
neighbors.
"I'd like to know how you can help
it," said his wife. "That boy is up to
some mischief every hour of the day,
and his mother seems to encourage him
in everything he does He throws things
over into our yard, leases Willie and
makes faces at him.. !"
''Next time see him pick on Willie
I'll give him another licking" suggest
ed Larry.
you'll do nothing of the kind" ex.
claimed his mother. Don't you re.
member the talking to I gave you the
other time you had that fight with
him?''
Lawrence remembered the mild re.
buke, and his inward resolution was
not changed. Tom Deakin went for his
pipe, oppressed with the thought that
he had been very unlucky In his selec-
ton Of neighbors.
These complaints had come to him
day after day from the downtrodden,
members of his family.
The feud had grown from q thousand
aggravating circumstances.
Suppose Morton Burnett to be on the
fence. His mother would open the back
door and say loudly enough to make
herself heard through the open windows
Of the Deakin house: "Morty, get down
from that fencei Haven't told you
about thatp"
Mrs. Deakin would hear and under. '