Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1900-12-01

! ALPHEUS CHUBBUCK'S
I HEN CART. !.
I BY Susan Brown Robbins.

!.
Alpheus Chubbuck was rather theoretic
than practical. His wife was very diff
fefent. She took great pride in her little
village home and its trim yard. Sac cared
for the flower garden, bat it was the duty
Of AIpheus to hoe the vegetables and
NOV 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 be had the distinction Of being
known az the LATEST man in town.
Ii is said that satan finds some mis-.
chief still for idle hands to do. Whoever
furnished It. 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 he
soon had the whole town unsettled. Old
| family feuds We're revived. new ones
started, while half the people would not
speak 10 the other half.
| One day--it was April Mrs. Alpheus
heard a strange sound in the yard. She
| went to the window and saw Gathering
/, rickety dingy hen cart drawn by a raw
boned sorrel horse. On the seat Of the
! cart sat her husband and another man
a shabby, slouching. disreputable loolisg
man Both jumped to the ground when
! the cart came to a stop in the middle Of
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. ambied out of the yard and
down the street.
well. OF all tbings!' said Mrs. Al
| pheus. and she went out to make inqui-
| ries.
I'm going into the hen business" said
Alpheus. And, just think, Loizy,
bought that cart for S..
"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 1t up
with"
"A dollarr' she said contemptuously.
| "fIow far will that go? 1t won't set the
| tires. to say nothing of painting it and
| fixing the broken doors"
.Oh. WELL" said Alpheus easily, u
shall have some more money next month,
| For more than two months Alpheus
was missed from his old haunts, and the
| relations of the villagers became less
strained. One pair of lovers after anoth-
| err became reconcied and 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 il 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
at all it is worth doing well, and my wife
| will tell you that it was a pretty hard
! looking old trap when | got it, You see,
| it's fixed up pretty nice now. OF course,
/ 1t won't show how much I've done to il
/ till after it is painted. | had the tires
! set and that broken shaft mended and
| two new spolSes and a 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
| cothespins when | got it. And I've fixed
little railing around the top so r can
carry things there if ] want to. and I've
! got hinges on the seat, and, you SEE.
! there is box under it 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 bust
ness?"
| ooh. | 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 10 resume his old
/ L. l. b. Of ho
would look proudly at his hen cart. and
be 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 la1ylove'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 GOODNESS
! that evening. and he remembered how
! their former trouble began in just that
| way.
Hes VI to his old tricks again." Ar
thur muttered as he came opposite the
! Chubbuck cottage. He frowned darkly
at il 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 aud retraced his steps, aud for
| long time he stood looking at the pink
/ and green hen cart.
| .'Ill do it," he said at length. Eyes,
| I'll do ii the very first cloudy night"
! And with that he walked briskly away.
1t was several mornings later that.
when AlDheus. as was his habit went to
the dining room window TO look out at
| his hen cart. he gave a start of surprise
and exclaimed. What in thunder"
Then he suatched up his hat and ran out
into the yard.
| There stood a rickety, dilapidated hen
cart. Alpheus looked at it blankly then
his eye caught sight OF an envelope tack
| ed 10 the side. On it was written the one
word Boot" With trembling fingers
he tore it open and drew forth So bill.
| HIthnr no x.nnt In 10 hrnn inst his ewes