Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1895-02-23
MOVED HIS Big
HOUSE ON SKATES.
lie Counts Furnished Dwelling
Didn't Cut Amy Curleycucs,
but Misfortune Befcl II.
WENT DOWN IN THE LAKE
IL Had Nearly Completed Its
Mile and II Half Journey
Across the Frozen
Surface.
A CONNECTICUT TRAGEDY
Only the Life of II Good House
Lost, but Hundreds Of Farm
erS Are Moved by the
Horror of II.

MIDDLETowN, Conn, Feb. l6-The
country boys over East have had great
sport in the last two or three days
skating Mr.. L. LIE Counts cottage
across the crystal surface of Gardhcr'.
Lake.
The lake is a beautiful sheet Of water
among the high hills of old Salem, an,
lecount, green grocer, Of Mantle
several years ago, built a fine tw,
story dwelling in pleasant grove on
its southern bank.
The Lecounts spent six months oi
the year there with their dogs and
chickens. boating and fishing or driv
ing n village cart about the country
lanes. Mr.. Lecount would visit them
on Saturday regularly. skiltully land
ing several four or five pound bass,
and returning to his salt water home
on Monday.
He bought wild, rocky farm re.
Gently near Salmon Gardner's, across
the lake, that is in region even more
isolated and sequestered than his
pleasant quarter-acre homestead among
the trees on the southern shore. There
was no house ON his new property,
however, aud since he had one to spare
that was of no further use to him at
the old place, naturally it behooved
him, when he should remove with his
family in the spring TO the other
shore. to trot the cottage along with
him and plant il there.
LECoUNT's PERrLExITY.
But how To do it without tedious
toll and great expense, that was the
bothersome question. II was feasible,
of course, TO hitch twenty yoke of
country steers to it in the spring and
pull it, numbering and groaning, along
the winding brush lined highway. but
it is three miles bv the road around
the curved shore.
Iecount shrank nightly from any
prospective peregrinating undertaking
of the sort. Rather than let loose his
dwelling on an excursion of the kind,
traught with so many possibilities of
catastrophe, he had about made up
his mind to take the whole thing
down. piece by piece, and transplant
il in that way. But while he was
still hesitating, 10, Jack Frost sud
denly came To his aid, AMI solved the
whole problem in Il twinkling.
For two weeks he camped out on
that particular lake-,Iack Frost did -
actually roasted and brooded there, in
the coolest snap, said the oldest in
habitant. that was ever knowed. with
Just one exception, perhaps, and that
was the blank cold Jiniwary of 81. ="
lie Count was struck with an idea.
He slapped his fist down on the
counter of the grocery and cried hilar-
ously -" Boys. I've got it now, sure :
YOU re born. What's the matter with
just prying up that two story cottage
house of mine, planting skates under
her and cantering her across the lake -
sCEPTICAL WAS THE ISHABTTAHT.
"Waal,' somewhat sceptically re.
marked the inhabitant, slowly and
refiectively. Il don't see no special
objection to the scheme, pervided you
can work a pair of sails onter her, fore
and aft. say, and sorter engineer her
across as new model of 'pungy' ice
boat y
But the inhabitants retaliatory
irony elected no sympathetic merri-
meut or verbal reply; the fact is all
the boys had promptly and enthusias-
ticalIy fallen in with lie Counts novel
project, and the leader OF the gather
ing-brawny, and six feet, two inches
in his cowhide boots -boisterously
lavowed his conviction that "more u
half the boys in Salem and Bozrah
would he ON hand To take IL hand in
the fun and spool the new craft across
the frozen lake.
So early next day lie Count chopped
hole or two in the ice aud got the
thickness of il, which ranged from
ishtecn to twenty inches thick
enough. at any rate, said II capable
huge, 10 ioII lfti utiiil nui.
menagerie, or every vessel in Uncle
Sans new fleet
Thick enuti,' repeated the in
habitant, who had come forward,
"waal, | sh'd say twas thick enuii.
An you kin tell all yer folks thet
'tain't neever been no thicker. at
least" qualifying his statement a
trihe "at least, 'tain't been no thicker,
accordin' to the records, not scnce the
snowy winter of 1880. anyhow. My.
they say in tibet winter
| PLANNING THE WORK.
But the prospectors had rctreated
precipitatcly to Halls. TO plan out the
projected undertaking and talk the
whole business over.
In the first place. there was Il foot
sc baa,-,, s,,,,,,, -, tho ,ra onI a t-naI