The Winslow mail., 1899-11-23
No Signs Of Peace
ON THE street side the Auberly fiat
III 4 ,,,onOcir n
War Is Still Raging in the
Auberly Flats.

ON THE street side the Auberly fiat
~ building presented an imposing
and unbroken front to the world. The
doorway in the middle of it was wide
and beautifully arched, all the windows
were trimmed with stone carvings, all
the window shades were alike. The
landlord had carefully seen to the latter
point; he said that it made the building
look more like private house, al
though not even Klondike millionaire
would have been likely to build palace
as large and impressive as the Auberly.
But the landlord made great point of
the eprivate-house-like appearance of the
great building; he rented several fats
annually solely upon this ground.
The back of the Auberly building,
however, was less imposing. Long,
skeletonlike porches stretched along it
at every floor, and these porches were
not divided off into sections as were
the fiat to which they belonged. If
they had been so divided various things
would never have happened which did
happen. But the only point of division
which broke the long line of the porch
on each floor was strip of two-inch
boarding which marked the place at
which one section of veranda territory
was merged into the next. And it was
this little strip of boarding which
caused all the trouble between the Hal
lams and the AlcNaughtons.
Mrs. Hallam, to begin with, instruct
ed the man who sometimes worked for
her to build a support for her porch
box of flowers with this strip of plank
for a foundation, and she quite forgot
to mention the matter to Mrs. Nc
Naughton, who occupied the next fiat
on that floor, until the box was in
place. Mrs. McNaughton, in spite of the
summer-long friendship between them,
was inclined to look upon this pro-
ceeding with disfavor.
tSuch impudencei" she exclaimed to
her husband, as they sat at dinner. ''To
put box on top of my boarding with
out even consulting me. I'll just wait
until tomorrow and see what she SAYS;
that's alll''
Mrs. Hallam, however, being annoyed
in her turn by the disdainful glances
she had received from Mrs McNaughton
upon the occasion of their stepping out
upon the back porch simultaneously,
said nothing whatever, and Mrs. Nc
Naughton's anger Increased nightly.
The next day, aided and abetted in her
decision by the gossip of the building,
Mrs. Brewer. who zealously famed the
flame of the growing disagreement, she
ordered the mar who occasionally did
little work for her to take down the
box, lift it over onto the HalIam side of
the dividing line and remove the sup
port upon which it stood
Mrs. Hallam, bitterly indignant, or
dered her man to rebuild it and went to
the matinee with a sense of triumph
She returned to find the support once
more demolished and to hear Mrs. Nc
Naughton eXultantly relating the story
to Mrs. Brewer by means of the air
shaft. That evening the two husbands
were called into the quarrel and each
instructed to settle the matter. They
met, pacifcally at first, upon the back
porch and argud the question across
the miserable bit of boarding around
which the trouble had grown.
At heart each man was more than
willing to let the matter drop, each
considering the quarrel silly in the ex-
treme; upon the surface, however, each
was determined to uphold the dignity
of his wife and to maintain her undis-
puted right to the possession of that
strip of planBing. The consequences of
this insincere attitude of mind were
several. The first and most noticeable
was that the two wives, who, from be-
hind their respective screen doors, lis
tened eagerly TO the affray, were pres
emily imploring them TO stop hammer
ing each other.
Dent notice him, dear; he isn't
worth it, screamed Mrs. Hallam, wild
ly, rushing out and seizing her husband
by the tail of his coat.
Il wouldn't bemean myself by touch
ing such a mani" Mrs. McNaughton
shrieked, catching hold of her husbands
arm.
They managed TO stop the fight, after
much persuasion and entreaty. but
after this incident the two men, who
had gone to the city together and re-
turned in company every day since mov-
ing into the building, only glowered at
each other when they met on the rail-
way platform and took opposite sides,o of
the pavement as they went to and from
the depot Nor did they longer go arm
in arm TO the suburban lodge to which
both belonged. The lodge met upon-the
evening following tbe battle upon the
potchi however. aad both attended, i