The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1901-08-29
ARMED NEUTRALITY
BY Barry Pain.

semblance. They were about the same
age and had about the same moderate
income. Both were plain. slightly &C.
centric, sturdy and eyelS pugnacious.
Both of them hated men and loved
gardening. Both were independent.
methodical and hot tempered. Both
had quarreled with all their relations.
1t was chiefly on that account that
at the age Of 80 they decided to join
their forces and take house and gar
den in the country together. The re-
lations 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 to
see that the only possible modus viven-
di was one which as far as possible
left to each her independence. A book
4 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 To- the predominant partner.
Gradually the spirit Of an accurately
measured give and take grew up be-
tween them. The compromise might.
for instance, have been traced % rule
7S, which ordained that fires in the re-
ception rooms were permissible only
between p. m. Of Oct. Is and 1870
p. m. 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-
bic about it.
Thanks to the rules and compro.
misses. Miss Blake and Miss Wynch
mana ged to live together for 20 years.
They did not pretend to have much
mutual affection, but they enjoyed a
little sharpness of the tongue. Perfect
calm would have bored them. They
had. however, certain amount of mu-
tual respect, since neither was person
who could be put upon. and from the
similarity of their tastes it was pf0ba-
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 miserly they liked
good management.
But in the twenty-third year. in the
springtime, 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 it's 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.
vfded 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 cult
They employed no gardener and need
ed none. These two ladies of so could
do piece of hard digging. and mo non-
sense about it. as we'll as most men.
There were rules that 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
cultivators had been early recognized.
When a difficulty did arise, short
squabble and a sternly just compro-
mise settled it. The rest of the allot-
ments. the flower gardens. never came
under discussion at all. There each
proprietor by rule Is 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 contehts.
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 it by mistake. 1t was prob
ably rubbish. and she should burn it.
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 Annabel
could have the packet for penny. and
the money was paid. Annabel sowed
that seed. and it fourished exceeding
~. 1t was foreign weed. as ugly.
vindictive and prolific as a Chinaman.
Where it was putin there was it's base
Of operations for evermore. So the
war began. And so far Miss Wynch
had right or her side.
Miss Blake made heap of the weed
and set fire to it on a day when the
wind carried the smoke across j essica's
allotment. For this infringement of
rule IS she was fined fourpence. Jessi-
CA then threw healthy collection of
large snails across into Miss Blake's
flower beds. Miss Blake appealed to
rule 80, under which rubbish from one
allotment might not be deposited on