The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-08-23
!: ALpHEUS CHUBBUCK'S
|; HEN CART.

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fcrent. She took great pride in her little
village home and its trim yard. She cared
for the flower garden, but il was the duty
of Alphcus TO hoe the vegetables and
NOW the lawn. He did this under pro-
test and had to be asked many times
before the work would be satisfactorily
done In a year from the time of his
marriage he had the distinction Of being
known as the LATEST man in town.
1t is said that satan finds some mis-
chief still for idle hands to do. Whoever
furnished II, mischief was certainly done
by Alpheus Chubbuck-not by his hands,
TO be exact, but by his lively imagination
and his active tongue.
BY gentle ridicule. sly insinuation and
the repeating of things people said lie
soon had the whole town unsettled. Old
family feuds were revived, new ones
started, while half the people would not
speak TO the other half.
One day-it was April Mrs Alpheus
heard strange sound in the yard. She
went to the window and saw gathering,
rickety, dingy hen cart drawn by raw
boncd soIrel horse. On the seat of the
cart sat her husband and another man
n shabby, souching, disrcputable looking
man. Both jumped to the ground when
lIe cart Culnc 10 IL 6lop III INC lllluult vi
the side yard and with apparent haste
Embarrassed the horse.
Then Alpheus took out his pocketbook
and gave the man some money. The
man swung himself on the horses back
and, with his legs dangling against her
thin sides. ambled out of the yard and
down the street.
"Well, of all thngs" said Mrs. AL
nh nd ybn ft ~ Tpngn inUni-
ries
"I'm going into the hen business" said
Alpheus. "And, just think, Loizy,
bought that cart for $3."
"And got cheated too" she said sharp
ly. but then it's your own money"
she added.
Yes and I've got 81 left to fix it up
with"
"A dollarr' she said contemptuously.
GLOW far will that go? 1t won't set the
tires to say nothing Of painting 1t and
fixing the broken doors"
"Oh, wcll,' said Alphcus easily, Il
shall have some more money next month,
and I'll do all can on it myself"
For more than two mopths Alpheus
was missed from his old hGtnts, ana the
relations of the villagers became less
strained. One pair Of lovers after anoth-
er became reconcled and Il number Of
the family feuds were as if they had new
er been.
All this time Alpheus was at work on
his hen cart and people began to drop in
to look at it.
"I've got it just about in condition to
paint" he would say proudly. ITS TAX
en- me good while to get it ready, but
believe that if anything is worth doing
mt all it is worth doing well, and my wife
will tell you that it was n pretty hard
looking old trap when | got it. You see,
it's fixed up pretty nice now. OF course,
it won't show how much I've done to it
till after it is painted. ! had the tires
set and that broken shaft mended and
two new spokes and n part of a rim in
that hind wheel. I've scraped and sand
papered it and put new snaps on all the
doors. Why. they were fastened with
clothespins when | got it. And I've fixed
n little railing around the top so | can
carry things there If | want to. and I've
got hinges on the seat, and, you see,
there is box under 1t where | can carry
my dinner. and I've put up that frame
for an awning so | won't get sunstruck." "
"When are you going to start in bus-
nessf"
"Oh, don't know; time enough for
that when / get my cart finished"
In due time the cart was painted. But
now, instead of going into the hen bust
ness, Alpheus began again to loaf about
the grocery store and to resume his old
habits. When he went home at noon, he
would look proudly ut his hen cart, and
he always smoked his after dinner pipe
and read his evening paper in the shade
of its striped awning.
Arthur Wade was walking home from
his ladylovc's house one evening in July.
He was one Of the lovers who had been
estranged by Alpheus the previous
spring. Tonight he was gloomy and mo-
rose. Alice had shown marked coldncss
that evening. and he remembered how
their former trouble began in just that
way.
"He's up TO his old tricks again." Ar
thur muttered as he came opposite the
Chubbucll cottage. He frowned darkly
at it and at the hen cart that showed
plainly in the moonlight.
He walked on to the next corner,
where he stopped suddenly. He turned
about and retraced his steps, and for a
long time he stood looking at the pink
and green hen cart.
"l'll do it, he said at length. es,
I'll do it the very first cloudy night"
And with that he walked briskly away.
1t was several mornings later that,
when Alpheus, as was his habit, went to
the dining room window to look out at
his hen cart, he gave start of surprise
and exclaimed, "What in thunder"'
Then he snatched up his hat and ran out
into the yard.
There stood rickety, dilapidated hen
cart. Alpheus looked Mt it blankly; then
! his eye caught sight Of an envelope tack
ed to the side. On it was written the one
word Boot" With trembling fingers
he tore it open and drew forth So bill.
When he went in to breakfast, his eyes
were sparkling.
It's worse than the other one" he
said enthusiastically, "and the wheels
are dished like pie plates, The color OF
the other one did not Just suit me-" he
said after a pause. Il think I'll paint
this one yellow and purple, and II won't
take me so long as it did before, either"
Just before the last coat of purple
paint was dry Arthur Wade and Alice
We're safely married.-Cincinnai Com
mercial Tribune.