The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-11-01
NY UNWILLING NEIGHBOR.
BY FRANK r. STOCKTON.
Copyright, 1896, by Frank r.. stockton)

J
/ ing from its foundations and upon the
slippery surface of the hillside, proba-
/ bly, dashed into liquid mud by the pour
/ ing rain, it was making its way down
/ towards the valley. In flash my
minds eye ran over the whole surface
{ of the country beneath me as far as I
/ knew it L was almost positiye that
! there was no preciDice, no terrible
chasm into which my house might fall.
/ There was nothing but sloping hillside,
! and beneath that wide stretch of fields.
Now there was a new and sudden
/ noise of heavy objects falling upon the
I roof, and l knew what that meant; my
! chimney had been wrenched from its
! foundations and the upper part of it
/ had now topDled over. 1 could hear
/ through the storm, the bricks banging
| and sliding upon the slanting roof Con-
! tinuous sounds of tracking and snap
! ping came to me through the closed
! front windows, and these were caused,
/ 1 supposed, by the destruction of the
/ stakes of my vines as the heavy house
moved over them.
OF course. when 1 thoroughly under
stood the state of the case my first
/ impulse was to string out of bed and,
as quickly as possible, to get out of
! that humping and sliding house, but
! restrained myself. The floor migkc be
! covered with broken glass. l might not
I be able to find my clothes in that
darkness and in the tumble of furni-
ture at the end of the room, and even
! if l could dress myself, it would be
folly to jump out in the midst of that
raging storm into probable mass of
/ Wreckage which I could not see; it
| would be far better to remain dry and
J warm under my roof. There was no
reason whatever to suppose that the
mouse could go to pieces or that it
would turn over; it must stop some
/ time or other, and, until it did so, I
would be safer in my bed than any-
where else. Therefore in my bed [
Staid.
Sitting upright with my feet pressed
against the footboard | listened and
! felt; the noises of the storm and the
cracking and the swapping and grind
! ing before me and under me still con-
| tlnued, although l sometimes thought
that the wind was moderating a little
and that the strange motion was be-
| coming more regular. l believed the
mousse was moving faster than when it
flrSt began its strange career, but that
II was sliding over a smooth surface
Now l noticed a succession of loud
! cracks and snaps at the front of the
/ house, and, from the character of the
sounds, concluded that my little front
porch, which had been acting as a cut
water at the bow of my ship-like house.
| had yielded at last to the rough con-
tact with the ground and would prob
ably soon be torn away. This did not
disturb me, for the house must still be
| firm.
1t was not long before 1 perceived
that the slanting of my bed was be-
| coming less and less and also l was
! quite sure that the house was moving
more slowly. Then the crackings and
snappings before my front wall ceased
! altogether; the bed resumed its ordi-
nary horizontal position, and although
l did not know at what exact moment
the house ceased sliding and came to
standstill, L was sure that it had done
| so. 1t was resting at last upon level
surface. The room was still perfectly
dark and the storm continued. There
| was no use for me to get UP until day.
light camel could not see what had
happened-so 1 lay back upon the pill
low and tried to imagine upon what
level portion of my farm 1 had strand
| ed. While doing this 1 fell asleep.
When l awoke a little light was
! stealing into my room through the
blinds of my shutters. 1 quickly slipped
out of bed, opened a window, looked
out. Day was just breaking, the rain
and wind had ceased, and l could dis
Germ objects, but it seemed as if
needed some light in my brain to COM
prehend what l saw. My eyes fell
| upon nothing familiar
l did not stop to investigate, how
ever, from my window. / found my
clothes huddled together with the fur
niture at the front end of the room,
and as soon as l was dressed 1 went
into the hall and then to my front
door. I quickly jerked this open and
was about TO step outside, when sud-
! denly l stopped. l was positive that
my front porch had been destroyed,
| but there 1 saw a porch, a little lower
! than mine and a great deal wider, and
on the other side of it, not more than
eight feet from me- was a window
the window of a house-and on the
other side of the window was face
the face of a young girl, AS 1 stood
| staring in blank amazement at the
! house which presented itself at my
front door, the face at the window dis
appeared, and I was left to contem-
plate the scene by myself. l ran to
my back door and threw it open.
There [ saw, stretching up the fields
and far up the hillside, the wide path
which my house had made as it came
| down from its elevated position to the
valley beneath, where it had ended it's
onward career by stopping up against
another house. AS L looked off the
back porch 1 saw that the ground still
| continued to slope, SO that if my house
building, it would probably have pro-
| ceeded somewhat farther, and I saw
bushes and fences and little outbuild-
ings-in a back yard.
Almost breathlesS with amazement
and CONSERVATION, 1 ran again to the
front door; when [ reached it [ found
d young woman standing on the front
porch of the house before me. l was
about to say something-I knew not
what-when she put her finger on her
lips and stepped forward.
please don't speak loudly" she
said. Il am afraid it will brighten
mother; she is asleep yet 1 suppose
you and your house have been sliding
down hill ?''
THAT is what has happened" said 1,
but 1 cannot understand it; it seems
to me the most amazing thing that
ever took place on the face of the
EARTH
1T is very queer" said she; ''but
hurricanes do blow away houses, and
that must have been a hurricane we
had last night, for the wind was strong
! enough to loosen any house. l have
often wondered if that house would
ever slide down4lill''
My house?''
Yes" she said. soon after it was
built, began to think what a nice
J clean sweep il could make from the
/ place where it seemed TO be stuck to
the side of the mountain, right down
! here into the valley
I could not talk to a girl like this
at least 1 could not meet her on her
/ own converse iOra1 grounds xuoc 60