Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1897-10-13
xNRHODY KIRBY. *
X \ X \ \ \ \ Y


@ THINK fate mus
So have decreed it
g@S%gY One day I wrote
NIX thus:
@I3k@ rHO LET-A frame
@oS!5EGSS i cottage, contain
LARI9>- ing nine rooms, subdi
INsS@- vided into parlor, re
s@SEGSsS@- ception. and dining
l=33GzS room, library, kitchen
=~ and four bed chambers
&>S@ with broad halls. Tn,
house is encircled by a veranda and situa
ted in grove OF about three acres cX
tent. Well and cistern on the premises
stable and outhouses. Three squares tc
station and about half mile to electric
car line, now in course OF construction
and which will pass place. Rent $50 pei
month. Apply on the premises, Clover.
syde, st. Louis County.
I am not a college-bred man, just
plain "readin' writin', rithmetic'
sort of a mortal, not given to beat.
ing about the bush, but trying with
all my heart to speak and write SO as
to be plainly understood. And so,
when, after writing this advertise.
ment, looked it over, it seemed to
express in fairly intelligent way the
desire that moved me to its compost
tion and the subsequent expenditure
of coin necessary to secure its publ
cation in the Republic. L desired to
secure tenant for my property. The
premises and the location were de-
scribed with sufficient attention to de-
tail aud accuracy to enable the reader
to arrive It q decision as to whether
that was such place as he or she
might have in view for residential
purposes. The rental was set out as
distinctly rs my knowledge Of the
English language would permit me to
state in words or figures. These pre-
liminaries disposed of, there remained
for me nothing to do but reflect upon
the bereavement by which /, a con-
frmed bachelor, found myself in pos
session of something for which I had
no earthly use, and to trust to the
power OF the press for q measure of
assistance in the preservation of that
possession or its disposition in man
ner satisfactory from q financial and
personal standpoint.
81 It was plain -taats-city raised -assI
had been cou1u uoJ resIue- Uoarviiu-
edly in such place. I was ignorant
of the management of q house OF the
control aud guidance OF corps OF
servants. The location was against
INV taking up my abode there. 1t was
too retired and quiet, decidedly. The
ten days I had spent there while the
carpenters, painters and decorators
were putting the place in shipshape,
were the most lonesome and dismal in
all my experience. The nearest neigh
bor was about two blocks distant, but
had he been next door it would not
have relieved the isolation, for he and
his family extinguishcd the lights and
retired at 9 o'clock, ''leaving the world
to darkness and to me"
In m old-fashioned rocker 1 would
sit for hours, my re7erie only DIS
turbed by the rattle and roar OF pass
ing train and the accompanying bark
of every dog or the circuit, these dy-
ing away and intensifying the solitude
aud loneliness.
T have said that was plain
speaking man and plain writing one.
Perhaps, in the interest of truth, L
should qualify that statement by add
ing that L thought I was until the re-
suits of my rushing into the want col
umns of a metropolitan newspaper
disabused my mind of the idea. My
appeal to house hunters met with a
generous response. They came singly,
in pairs and quartets, in crowds.
Every train bore delegation of them.
Not all house-hunters are demented,
not by any manner of means. But a
goodly percentage of those who fav-
ored Cloversyde with their presence
on that beautiful Sunday just year
ago to-day were, am bound to think,
weak mentally. Either this, or there
was a gigantic conspiracy among the
guild to harass and annoy me, and
thus add to the embarrassment of the
predicament in which I found myself
through this sudden acquisition OF
landed property. To particularize
The first person to call was a pudgy,
red-faced gentleman, who, after he
had toilsd up the hill and relieved
himself of q snort or two, requested
to be shown over the place. When We
had returned from the inspection my
caller protested that there was nc
sewer connection.
How under the shining sun there
should be such thing with the near
est sewer FIVE miles away is beyond
my feeble comprehension, but that he
did expecti it and came out there pur
posely to realize his expectations. the
manner in which he mopped his bale
head and grunted left no margin fo1
doubt. As he bade me good day an(
waddled down the hill to take the mex
train cityward fancied 1 could detec
phantom sever connections in tn
heated atmosphere above his heac
The next, tsain landed half dozel
crank - jostled each other in thei
anxiety to-. ach me. AS they wedge'
their way through the gate and alon!
the gravel walk there was fire in thei
eyes.
Another tour of inspection and the
the jargon commenced. An old tellc'
in glasses expressed his astonishmen
of the discovery that the house was
frame and nota brick structure; ma
who snapped his words with metalli
rattle was startled because there wa
no city water; another, with blood
red scarf and green shoes Il would nc
have had him for tenant under al
oircumstances), mourned the absenc
of gas; still another was sorely dlsal
pointed because there was no stree
car line within easy walking distance
During that and the succeeding fou
days they came out, trotted u
through the inspection racket az
then completed tha torment by firm