The Press., 1903-03-19
and vigorous but unsuccessful effort

ana vigorous but unsuccessful EFFORT
made to devour handle and ribs.
Mrs. Cantwell drove home without
having looked under the seat and
realized what a wreck accompanied
her. 1t was only as she reached her
own door and Mrs. Peabody came
across the road that the tragedy was
discovered. Excuses and apologies and
offers to make repairs didn't CO. With
the wreck Rugged to her bosom Mrs.
Peabody retired to her own house, and
good will to men few out of the back
door as she entered the front.
A quarrel over broken f1atiron may
be confined to two neighbors, but q
difference of opinion over q remarkable
umbrella is a different thing. No one
charged Mrs. Cantwell with deliberate
ly bringing about the wreck, but she
was blamed for not keeping one eye on
hungry cows outside the store while
she had the other on seven cent calico
inside. She knew the associations and
sentiments surrounding that relic. and
sooner than submit 1t to peril she
should have hired a boy to watch it.
The pros and cons were discussed at
every fireside in the village, and of
course a feeling of bitterness was en-
gendered. In less than a week neigh
bors who had always borrowed sugar
and tea of each other were refusing to
lend, and back gates were being nailed
mp.
Deacon Peabody was q good man.
So was Deacon Cantwell. Together they
had passed the contribution boxes in
church and counted up the receipts aft
er the sermon. They had worked out
their road tax side by side and had
stood elbow to elbow in temperance
crusades and town improvements. That
long friendship was now broken. After
looking at the dilapidated umbrella for
the fiftieth time Deacon Peabody had
said to his neighbor:
deacon Cantwell, / never dunned a
man in my life, but you owe me 80
cents.'
81 do, and here it isl replied Deacon
Cantwell, land I'm free to say / think
you are q mean man."
II don't want any words with you"
"Nor with you"
you'll take your boss out Of my pas
turep'
"And you'll keep your hogs outer my
gardenw l
The minister naturally heard Of the
rise and fall of the remarkable umbsel
la, and, although he refused to become
an adherent of either side, he felt 1t
his duty to touch upon the affair from
his pulpit. He didn't mention the um-
A,,al hr1 h& Tor n,A
upon the hungry COW. He didn't hint
that Mrs. Cantwell was careless or
Mrs. Peabody impetuous, and the meet
ing between the deacons was passed
over entirely. He simply found a Bib
hcal parallel and worked it up for the
benefit of both sides, and the result al
most wrecked the church. For the
next three months there was more
backbiting in the village than should
have been heard Of in ten counties,
and there were no signs Of q let mp
when incident stepped In b sageBEe
peace.
One day Deacon Peabody's wife went
up into the garnet to overhaul on old
trunk. The place needed airing, and
she raised window. A hand organ
was playing down the street, and she
held up the sash with one hand and
leaned out to see and to hear. Next
thing she knew she was hanging head
downward on the outside of the house,
while the sash rested on her ankles
and held her fast
Deacon Cantwell's wife was sewing
carpet rags in her sitting room when
series of shrieks lifted her out of her
chair and propelled her to the front
door. For a few seconds she was over
come by the sight opposite. Then she
made run for it, and two minutes lat
er she was in the Peabody garnet. Co
lonial umbrellas, hungry cows and the
tongue Of gossip were forgotten as she
tugged and pulled at the hanging bur
den. When it was finally drawn back
over the window sill, both women faint
ed away and tangled up with each 9TH
er, and Silas Goodheart, who had heard
the last shrieks and come running,
stood over them with uplifted hands
and said:
"Now let the heather rage, for um-
brellas is nowhar, and peace is restored
to Chenille forevermorew