The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-05-22
A NFIGHBORLY FEUD.

I'll tell you, Frank, its got 10 the
point where something must be done, :
said Mrs. Burnett, and as she spoke
she raped at the small knuckles that
were moving toward the sugar bowl;
Morton, aged nine, jerhed his hand
out of the way and laughed At his
mother, who puGsed up her hps 10
conceal a smile.
Don't do that, Morton, s2!d M
Burnett. Then turning to his wife
ne asked: What have they been Co
in now:
THAT boy and some more OF his
crowd put tin cans along the top CT
the fence and then threw al them to
knock them off. About every other
stone went over the top Of the fence
and went sailin' across our back yard.
If one cf them had struck anybody he
wouldn't have known What hurt him.. :,
What did you do?
What did I do? I went out and
told them if they didn't stop Id send
for policeman. I said to that Dea-
kin boy: It's shame your n!other
can't teach you to be little better
than a savage
Maybe she didn't know they were
doin' it.
II do believe she puts EN- up to it.
That boys enough to try the patience
of saint"
'sNext time he comes into our yard
I'll bet I throw something at him,
ut in Morton, whose chin was drip
ping with mild mixture Of milk ana
coffee.
You leave him alone said the
male parent. You get into enough
? fights already,
s'Well, Frank, those boys are for
ever picking on to him, said Mrs.
Burnett.
Boys are a good deal alike" re-
sponded her husband. III 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
family who had not joined in the ar
raignment of the neighbors was Alice,
six wears of age. She knew all about
the feud and Shared in the suspicious
of her mother, but at present she was
too busy with supper.
The Deakins lived next door, and
although there was dividing fence 1t
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, aud her husband
knew nothing Of Mr.. Deakin except
that he worked with his hands for q
living and spent great many Of his
evenings at home.
1t would have been rather difficult
for either the Burnetts or the Deakins
to explain how the feud started, but
twas operated from the start through
the children.
There were two Deakin children,
Lawrence, Or Larry, aged ten, and
little Willie, who, at the tender age
of three, had learned to regard the
Burnett tribe with scorn and hatred
and suffer, to some degree, under the
indignities hesQsaupon his family by
that arch fenaDf .juveniity, Morton
Burnett.
For when the Deakins sat around
the supper table and cast up the ac-
counts of the day it was Larry who
posed as the prosecuted and abused
Child, while Morton Burnett was pic
tured as an infant of dark intents,
headed straight for the Bridewell.
s.If I was man, Tom Deakin,
said the wife, III 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 Lawrence all kinds OF
Names"
''He said that his mother 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 l
start to church, said Mrs. Deakin.
This comparison of Mrs. Burnett
tickled the children, and they laughed
immoderately. Tom Deakin restrained
them with quiet tut, tut, and
said that the proper way to get along
was to pay no attention to the neigh
bors.
'sI'd like to know how you can do
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 Will
lie and makes faces at me-"
Next time see him pick on Willie
I'll give him another licking. suggest
edLarry.
you'll do nothing of the kind,
exclaimed his mother. Don't you
remember 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 ne had been very unlucky in his
selection of neighbors.
These complaints had come to him
day after day from the downtrodden
members of his family.
The feud had grown from thous-
and aggravating circumstances.
Suppose Morton Burnett to be on
the fence. His mother would open
the back door and say loud enough to
make herself heard through the open
windows of the Deakin house: ''Morty,
get down from that fence. Haven't |
told you about that:
Mrs. Deakin would hear and under
stand. Then she would wait her op-
portunity to appear on the back stoop
and retaliate.
In summer time, when both women
were out of doors much Of the time,
they occasionally exchanged glances
which were more significant than any
thing they could have said.
When Mrs. Burnett put out her