The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1901-08-27
ARMED NEUTRALITY
BY Barry Pain.

centric, sturdy and even pugnacious.
Both of them hated men and loved
gardening Both were independent,
methOdcal and hot tempered. Both
had quarreled with all their relations.
1t was chiefly on that account that
at the age of 30 they decided TO join
their forces and take house and gar
den in the country together. The re-
latlOns smiled and said they would
give that arrangement just one month
to last.
But the relations were wrong. Both
Of the ladies were shrewd enough 10
see that the only possible moduS viven-
Iii was one which as far as possible
left to each her independence. a book
of rules was drawn up in manuscript
each lady possessing her own copy. As
the years went on the rules grew in
number TO meet every occasion. They
were agreed to by both parties, and
there were fines for breaking them,
and the fines were always paid. The
making Of these rules caused a great
deal of friction. generally ending in an
even compromise. Neither lady could
claim TO be the predominant partner
Gradually the spirit OF an accurately
measured give aud take grew up be-
tween them. The compromise might
for instance. have been traced In rule
rs. which ordained that fires In the re-
ception rooms were permissible only
between 6 p. N. of Oct. 10 and 1870
D. IN. Of the following April %. 1t
took two evenings of animated discus
sion to make that rule. Once made
it passed into the things beyond dis
cussion, and there was no more trou-
ble about It.
Thanks to the rules and compro-
misses. Miss Blake and Miss Wynch
managed TO live together for 20 years.
They did not pretend to have much
mutual affection. but they enjoyed n
little sharpness Of the tongue. Perfect
calm would have bored them. They
had however q certain amount OF mu-
tual respect, since neither was person
who could be put upon. and from the
similarity Of their tastes 1t was proba-
bly, easier for each TO live with the 9th
err than with anybody else. Besides.
there was a distinct saving of money
from living together. and though they
were not precisely misery they liked
good management
But In the twenty-third year, In the
sprlngtime. when the birds were sing
ing prettily and the blossoms were
looking lovely and nature generally
seemed smiling and peaceful the great
war broke out between the two ladies.
The war had its origin in the garden.
The paths and lawns were common
ground, though the care of the paths
was assigned to Miss Wynch. while
Miss Blake was responsible for the
lawn. The rest of the garden was d.
vided into equal parts. BY rule Miss
Blake owned and cultivated that part
of the garden on the left side Of the
path and Miss Wynch owned and Guilt
waited the other half on the right side.
They employed no gardener and need
ed none. These two ladies of 80 could
do a piece of hard digging, and no non
sense about ii. as we'll as most men.
There were rules that q certain proper
ton Of each allotment was to be kitch-
en- garden, and the crops for these were
TO be settled in January by discussion.
Otherwise the two ladies might have
had too much of one thing and none OF
another. This discussion was much less
fiery than might have been expected.
The capabilities of the land and Of its
cultvators had been early recognized
When a difficulty did arise, a short
squabble and a sternly just compro-
mise settled It. The rest Of the allOt-
ments, the flower gardens, never came
under discussion at oil. There each
proprietor by rule 10 was supreme.
Now it happened that Miss Wynch
in turning over her seed packet one
evening came on one that bore no
label and no indication of its contents.
Miss Blake expressed her opinion, to
give her exact words, that JeSSica
Wynch was careless fool. Miss
Wynch said she had never seen the
packet before, and the scotsman must
have sent ii by mistake. 1t was prob
ably rubbish, and she should burn 1t.
She added that people who forgot to
get the crumb tray repaired should
not call other people careless fools.
Miss Blake said that people who burn
ed seeds deserved to live to want bread.
to eat. Jessica said that Annabeli
could have the packet for penny, aud
the money was paid. Annabel sOwed
that seed, and it fourlshed exceeding
ly. 1t was a foreign weed. as ugli
vindictive and prolific as O. Chinama
Where it was put In there was its base
Of operations for evermOre. So the
war began. And so. far Miss Wyneh
had right on her side.
Miss Blake made heap of the weed
and set fire to it on a day. when the
wind carried the smoke across Jessica's
allotment. For this infringement Of
rule rs she was fined fourpence. Jessi-
ca then threw a healthy collection Of
large snails across into Miss Blake's
flower beds. Miss Blake appealed to
rule 3J, under which rubbish from one
allotment might not be deposited on
the other Miss Wyneh objected under
the plea that rubbish meant something
dead, and the snails were alive. Miss
Blake said. VERY WELL" and spent an
afternoon In getting together an army
Of fat eaterpillars for Jessica's roses
In weeks time the two ladies had
ceased TO speak to one another when
ever speech could be avoided and took
their meals separately.
They would undoubtedly have sep
arated altogether and lived apart, but
one day in July, when Jessica was hur-
rying to the nearest town to get bo~
will altered, she was knocked over by a
...A oud lyiIIad That cfopp.e.1 @ha 20 r